Here there be Dragons (Shapiro)

[Lani Hunter]

Lani raised a brow at her and nodded his head a little at her lack of answer. Well now he knew there was something there. But Lani was more like a secret investigator and he would probably visit the files room in a few days if this mystery really bothered him. He smiled at Shapiro, he would figure it out one way or another, she had to know that.

It was unfair indeed, but Lani had to be honest and admit that it was better that a friend had a hold on his life rather than his old boss. Lani took a moment to imagine what would be happening right now if Odion hadn’t been there. Chances are he’d still be here but he would be used to do all the more heists because of his power. There was a reason he kept it a secret anyways. Lani wasn’t aware of Shapiro’s internal declaration but sometimes it wasn’t a choice. He hadn’t chosen to befriend Odion it had just kind of happened. But he was having mixed feeling about it at the moment, if he hadn’t let it happen he wouldn’t be so torn up but then again the thought of losing Odion had done this to him so… who knew.

He shrugged tipping his hands up and making a face. “I suppose I can’t argue with that.” She would grow into quite a woman, not the type to be walked over, not in the least. She would plow the way for a lot of women, he could see that. He really hoped she never lost her ‘couldn’t give a crap what you think’ attitude.

Lani twitched as she poked him and he forced out a smile. “No, it’s nothing just philosophizing.” He grinned at her and chuckled trying to make a joke out of it. But now that he had thought about it that would be nagging at the back of his mind. Though, if he went to a priest they would probably tell him what he already was thinking. The problem was that Lani didn’t want to repent and change the thieving part of himself.

Lani burst out in laugher unable to help himself. “Nice one,” he approved, some things don’t change from boys to men. He made the face again and laughed swirling the sour candy around his mouth occasionally clenching it in his teeth.

Unaware of her worries Lani just shrugged. “I don’t know, I’m not going to school that’s for sure. But I don’t know beyond that.” He might just stick around or he might leave he didn’t know. Little did he know that his sister would get a power and that would set his mind pretty thoroughly on staying. “I’ll probably have to stick around for a while though, at least for power training.” He made a face at that. Oh the banes of being a late bloomer.

[Haley Shapiro]

She ignored his brow raising and busied her hands with something else. If he cared enough to ask, she'd probably ask him to mind his own business. The poor guy. He was trying to be nice but Haley wouldn't have any of it. That smile of his did nothing to endear her to telling him anything. If anything, it just made her want to clam up even more.

Had Haley known exactly what Lani had had to go through, she would have been more cautious. Of herself, of Lani, of everything else in the world too. Her paranoia would have escalated and she would have had more reason to not have any friends at all. Even though she was doing so good at that department already. She really couldn't fathom a time where she would depend on someone so much that she could lose herself and whatever semblance of control she possessed now.

"You bet you can't." She forced a grin at Lani's surrender. Standing on the tips of her toes, she reached over and patted Lani's shoulder lightly a few times. "It's really best for you, I'm just sayin'. Arguing with me is just a...waste of my time." She joked.

"Phil...what?" Haley raised an eyebrow. It was a big word that the young girl couldn't even say. "That even sounds dirty. Is it dirty? I bet it is." She munched on her chocolate bar as she tried to figure out what it could possibly mean.

She waggled her eyebrows before popped her collar in pride. "I know." She nodded. His face made her chuckle.

"Oh." She nodded like it didn't effect her at all. "For a while huh." She commented, hiding her glee. "But you got control, don't cha? I mean, if it was me, I'd probably have to stay for the studies more than the training." She shrugged.

[Lani Hunter]

In many ways Shapiro reminded him of himself. So adamant in refusing to ask for help and refusing to admit that there was a problem. Hell, Lani was still like that, but the problem was that Lani was one of those people that wanted and almost needed to help people. His problems were never as important as someone else’s. At least they hadn’t and then his problems had swallowed up his friends and suddenly he saw them as they were. They weren’t small. They were mountains.

Lani wanted Shapiro to trust him. But then it worked both ways. He justified it by thinking that she was so young. She couldn’t handle it. But then again, Lani was only fooling himself. Hadn’t she already shown a wisdom that was beyond her years? It was that that fooled Lani the most. She spoke as if she were wiser and older than he was and then in other things she acted her age and perhaps that was why Lani was holding her at a higher standard than he meant to. It was simple that Lani expected a lot from her, after all, she had bested him this day and that had gained her respect but also a raised bar.

“Ha,” Lani pretended to laugh as she patted his shoulder. “A waste of time is a horrible thing,” he mused, “But what if it isn’t a waste of time after the fact. What if in the future what you think was a waste of time comes up in a conversation and you find yourself recalling what the argument was about?” He opened his hands throwing the possibility at her.

“Philosophizing,” Lani corrected around a laugh. He only laughed harder at her assumption that it was dirty. He opened his mouth to protest but then again, that wasn’t to say that sometimes philosophy wasn’t dirty, just not the dirty that he was pretty sure she was thinking. “It’s not, it’s just thinking about things.” He said with a shrug. What a terrible definition.

Lani rocked back as he laughed. He chewed on the sour ball before looking back at her and nodding a little more solemnly. “Well…” he shrugged and laughed a little more, “Yeah well that’s what kept me here this time,” he said with a little wince. “But right now my control is minimal. And I might graduate but they won’t let me go far. I’m too ‘unstable’.” He held up his hands and air quoted the last word. “But you gotta keep up with your studies, lemme tell you being a super senior sucks a lot.” Ok so it wasn’t that bad, but hey she didn’t need to know that.

[Haley Shapiro]

Another thing Haley was a little put off by in friendship or any kind of relationship is how much you're supposed to live up to the other's expectations of you. Even when they say they love you just the way you are. Haley did not like living up to people's expectations. She didn't even know how.

Lani's laugh had Haley rolling her light brown eyes before she snorted and shook her head, like she was disappointed with Lani. "You're pulling things outta your ass, dude." Haley said, still shaking her head.

"Philosophising...dang." She paused to hear his explanation before snorting. "Yeah, dirty things." Haley mumbled with a snorting laughter.

As Lani spoke, Haley looked around for a long spoon to scoop out the milkshake bits down the bottom. "Eh, you can't be as bad as Gabe Underwood. I mean...unless you wanted to be. Then I can be unstable witcha." She shrugged before shaking her head at the suggestion. "No way. If I can milk this school for what it's worth, I'd do it. I got free food, I got people watching my back. I'm good." She finally found a spoon and momentarily forgot that Lani probably forgot that she was an orphan with no family to go home to.

Scooping out the bottom bits, she turned to Lani once more. "So like...how stable do they want you to be before you can be sent out into the world?"

[Lani Hunter]

Lani could relate, living up to someone else’s expectations was hard, but he still did it to Shapiro. Now he could see why. Because he could see the potential she held and because he knew she could do amazing things. But that was also part of the reason Lani was going to be very careful not to voice them. For all he knew she could have expectations of herself higher than anything Lani could imagine. Oh well, Lani wasn’t about to start ruling over her life, she was independent, far more independent than anyone else her age, and she was doing rather well for herself.

“Am I?” Lani asked pressing her to think harder about it. But really, she had a point, now he was just making things up. There was a lot about the world that seemed useless until one realized how useful they really are. Like Algebra, no one ever things they need Algebra until that one time they do.

Lani laughed and shook his head at her. He mimed a blow at her, “Not dirty things!” He protested. Really, Shapiro was too young to have her mind in the gutter! He shook his head at her and laughed.

Shrugging Lani didn’t really make the connection to the person. He laughed, “We would make a rather spectacular destructive team unstable,” he agreed. Lani smiled as he listened to her, it was kind of refreshing to get a different perspective on everything. He personally saw Hammel as a prison, somewhere to be run away from when the doors were open for good. Lani hadn’t forgotten and he gave her a little smile. Ah, that made sense, she had more of a family here than anywhere else, she had friends… or rather ‘allies’. But it was worth it for her to be here, Lani had never had to deal with things on his own, even now when the world was crashing down around him he was perfectly willing to pull people down with him.

Lani shrugged again, “Well I’m guessing that not tossing things without meaning to. I should probably also learn to not just blast things too.” He shook his head really he was just plain sick of hearing about how dangerous he was to people and how much of a danger he was to himself. He could understand where they were coming from but they were acting like he was a time bomb!

[Haley Shapiro]

Haley stared at Lani when he made her question herself before she raised a fist in his direction with a grin starting on her face. "Don't even." She threatened jokingly before stuffing her mouth with the remainder of her roll.

Lani's protest only made her think it was dirty. And her mind was already a permanent resident in the gutter. It was running for presidency, even. Lani had no idea what Haley knew. Oh when the time came...

"All I heard was spectacular. Everything else you just said is rubbish. Now. We need to think of some sort of identifier for ourselves if we want to make this happen. I'm thinking a picture of bricks bursting in the air. Like...a combination of both our powers right? You lift the bricks and I smash 'em. Good eh?" Haley nodded at her genius.

Her perspective of Hammel may just very well be skewed and she wouldn't even know it. It wasn't like she didn't want out. But if out meant having to go through what she had to go through in the orphanage again, she would much rather hole herself up. Yes, she was scared but she knew she wasn't a coward. There was a difference.

"Oh come on! Blasting things is awesome! Adults don't know anything. They're a buncha pansies the lot are." Haley shook her head, not satisfied with how they were being treated. She too had heard pretty much the same thing from her trainers but she chose not to listen to them anymore. She learned control, she went through hoops during training like a good monkey. But the moment training was over, lockers could be seen smashed to bits.

Haley's stomach grumbled and she made a face, rubbing her belly a little. "Okay...hungry." Having to give out more energy with her power, Haley's metabolism had spiked up dramatically. She ate like a horse and even then she still felt lethargic sometimes. "Could you get one of the cooks to make something for me? The slop in front just isn't enough for a growing gal like me."

[Lani Hunter]

Laughing Lani raised his hands in yielding as if he would ward off her blow. Though in reality if Shapiro wanted to hit him he wasn’t sure that there was anything Lani could do to stop her, save from using his power. Lani wasn’t foolish enough to think that she wouldn’t hit him. No Lani had to admit that after she had wielded a stick in his direction his power had coiled behind him to do something before she had a chance to hit him again.

Lani shook his head at her, she was too young to be thinking about dirty things. Lani wanted to be off of this topic as fast as humanly possible and so he was glad that she didn’t say anything else about it. It was not a topic for them to be discussing.

It took a lot of self control for Lani not to hit himself in the forehead. Hearing her out his smile came easily. Bricks bursting in the air? He gave her a look and shook his head laughing. “So are we going to make t-shirts now?” But now that he thought about it that would be rather interesting for people to see. If they ever ended up on a team sport together that would have to be the symbol. Maybe if Lani was some sort of tagger it would be interesting, oh well, perhaps he’d have to learn.

Lani shrugged, “I don’t know, I’m kinda starting to think they might be right. I mean it’s not a good thing to go around blasting cars up or anything.” He scratched his head. So lucky for him no one had found out that Lani was the one who had launched that car when he had been drunk, but the fact that he could do it when he was drunk terrified him a little bit. He could see where she was coming from too, she probably was just as sick of people telling her she needed to be careful as Lani was. It really wasn’t like Lani was trying to hurt people, but that seemed to be his way of doing things. He sighed but refused to lose his smile in front of Shapiro. “But either way, I’ll be here a while if only to keep an eye one you, Shapiro.” He winked at her.

His eyes widened, how could she still be hungry? Lani laughed and shook his head, “Sure thing, you should probably meet them too.” He chuckled, “And don’t call their cooking slop to their faces,” he advised. He peered around and it looked like the cooks were in the break room and Lani went over beckoning Shapiro to follow. He rapped on the door before poking his head inside. The warmth of the greeting he got was refreshing and he smiled. “Anyone feel like cooking up my friend here a good meal?” He asked pulling Shapiro into view. There was groan and then seeing Shapiro come into view the cook's face warmed and she walked over and ruffled Shapiro's hair and asked what she would like, all the while Lani was stifling a laugh behind his hand.

[Haley Shapiro]

Haley didn't think she was too young. Mostly because a lot of what she knew came from the older kids at the orphan. How was she supposed to stay away when things happened right underneath her top bunk? And that talk was rampant among the teens at the orphanage. She couldn't even go to the bathroom without someone spouting off random facts about dirty things.

"Heck yeah! I mean, I don't have money but I got a lot of markers and t-shirts." It was hilarious to think that she was actually mildly serious.

Frowning at Lani's run down attitude, Haley shook her head in disappointment. "I don't know about you but as long as I ain't hurtin' nobody, I think blowing shit up is like way better than killing people." She spoke, her simple logic seemingly flawless to her. "It's better to release that energy you got building up inside you than keeping it in, forcing it down. You don't know what that pent up energy could potentially do. Like...you control it as much you want but in the end, it might eat you alive."

The prospect of having Lani around longer had Haley feeling warm inside. She really didn't understand what exactly she was feeling and frankly, she really didn't want to know. "Augh," she groaned over dramatically. "You're going to booore me." She whined before chuckling, making sure he knew she was joking.

His widened eyes had Haley glaring at him. "What? I'm a growing girl okay!" She justified herself. "Okay, okay fine. Augh, you're such a bummer." She rolled her eyes with a crooked grin. Her heart was beating a little fast though at the idea of meeting new people. People she knew she can't play pranks on.

Like the little kid she was, she hid behind Lani when he introduced her. She almost knocked him down when he pushed her forward. "Damn it." She gritted her teeth before waving shyly at the adults. The hair ruffle was something she really had to get used to. It...actually felt good, frankly.

When the cook asked what she wanted, her eyes widened. "You mean I get to choose?" She asked, wide eyed. The cooks laughed and the one that had ruffled her hair nodded. "Anything you want, kiddo."

"Kiddo. I like that." She nodded slowly. "Okay. Um...can I have a burger?" Haley asked, notthing else coming to mind. It was what she knew. It made the cooks laugh, which made Haley wonder exactly what they were laughing at but she shrugged. She was getting a free burger, she shouldn't complain.

"Uh...do you mind if I watched?" Haley asked. "Not at all, kiddo. Come on." Haley watched as they prepared everything, pointing out the things that they needed. She said no to onions and ketchup but everything else was a go. At one point, she looked over at Lani and gave him a small grin.

[Lani Hunter]

“Don’t worry,” Lani said with a smile, “I can find the money, we’ve gotta have legit t-shirts.” Besides Lani was bad at art. But then against Lani didn’t really think they would go out and make shirts. He just thought it was all fun and games. Although he was a little more than enthusiastic about the idea of their symbol being a brick breaking in air. Really, he had to start making partnerships that didn’t deal with stealing or causing havoc. But really, what else did Lani do?

Giving Shapiro a look Lani sighed. “But what if you hurt someone without realizing it. That could happen.” He said and crossed his arms considering what she said next rather seriously. She had a point and he frowned. “I know that feeling,” he said with a soft smile, “So I guess it’s better to control the destruction than to let it do whatever it wants.” He said not completely agreeing or disagreeing. He did know what it felt like to have so much energy that it felt like his head was spinning. He just hated that people told him he was dangerous. He didn’t want to be dangerous, ok well, he wanted to be a dangerous thief but he was not a thug. He didn’t want to hurt people.

Lani laughed and elbowed the younger girl. “We haven’t even begun to cause trouble and I’m already starting bore you?” He asked with a just as dramatic pout. He winked at her, “I’m just hoping you’ll be able to keep up.” he teased ruffling her hair. If anyone could keep up with his trouble making it was Shapiro. So many people liked to make trouble and vanished, but Shapiro was the perfect person to get into trouble with. Lani was pretty good at talking himself out of trouble. And it was the recognition of the security guards every time they heard his name that made it all so sweet.

Lani shook his head his smile not fading. “You’ll have to learn anyhow, besides I know the cook with absolutely love you.” He had a feeling that she tolerated Lani because he just kept appearing but he knew how much she loved children. “And she’s not a bad cook, just has to cook for a lot of people.” He acknowledged the challenge presented in that and keeping all of the food warm as well. And he didn’t see why playing pranks on people one knew were bad, he did it all the time. He thought that he was going to be skinned alive by the cooks for his meat moving stunt but Lani hadn’t been able to stop laughing at their scolding and so they had just given up on him.

He hadn’t expected Shapiro to be so shy meeting new people, considering when she met him it was because of mud slung onto his head. He snickered behind his hand as she became suddenly shy, shy was never something he would have expected of her. But the cook took over ruffling her hair. He grinned watching the exchange. “You want anything, Lani?” The cook asked following Shapiro’s choice of a burger. “I’ll have one too, if you wouldn’t mind.” He said inclining his head at her.

The woman reached out and pinched his cheek making his wrinkle his nose at her and bat her hand away. He gave her a look and she pointed a finger at him after pointing to her eyes. He raised his hands and gave her an innocent look. She muttered something under her breath before giving him a smile. Lani backed off at this point and found some free counter space and hoped up and watched. When the cook called out something Lani would grab it for her with his power and hand it over. He smiled and tucked his legs up underneath himself crossing them. He rested his elbow on his knee and his head in his hand and watched them cook and Shapiro looked on.

He grinned back at Shapiro, Lani had been trying to learn a few things from the cooks but they made it clear that they doubted that he could ever make anything more complicated than ramen. Soon the smell of cooking meat filled the air and made Lani’s mouth water. His heart took a blow, Odion had tried his first burger at Lani’s insistence. He took a deep breath and looked at his hands, he needed to stop thinking about it but everything reminded him of the redhead. Everything. He looked back up at Shapiro and forced out a smile. “Anything I can help with?” He called out. And so he was put on vegetable cutting duty. It was so much better when he could do something with his hands.

[Haley Shapiro]

The prospect of Lani actually getting the money shocked and excited Haley. Of course, she wasn't actually expecting to make those shirts. But the idea of having Lani as excited as she was was kind of...exhilarating.

Lani's question jarred her for a minute. It was a legitimate question. What if she hurt someone? There was always that possibility. With her power especially, there was that huge possibility that she could hurt someone without meaning to. A hug, a shove, a touch...

Even as he continued to talk, that thought played in her mind. It was a constant reminder of why she shouldn't ever be close to anyone. Wasn't it?

When he ruffled her hair, she just gave him an absent smile. The twelve year old couldn't hide the fact that she was majorly disturbed by the new revelation. Frankly, it wasn't Lani's fault at all. She had thought of that even before he voiced it out but hearing from him just struck a whole new nerve.

Shaking her head, she followed Lani, nodding as he spoke about the cook. "Yeah, yeah."

Her mood was immediately lifted, though that Haley could control. She put up a curious but distant facade as they made the burgers even though she was actually excited about learning how to cook something that would be a staple in her diet forever.

Haley didn't catch the longing look Lani had adopted as she helped flipped a burger patty on the grill but when he called her attention back to him, she moved to give him some space, wondering briefly if he was feeling any better from before. The concern surprised her, not at all expecting that she actually cared about him.

"Feeling any better?" She nudged him gently.

[Lani Hunter]

The look on Shapiro’s face made Lani laugh. What did she think he was going to do? Steal it? He only laughed harder at the thought. No that would have to be a secret he couldn’t pull Shapiro down that road with him. It wasn’t fair and she was young and still had several choices yet to be made. Lani was only a little bit younger than she was when he started to steal and he didn’t want anyone else to follow in that path.

Lani hadn’t expected her to take his words so much to heart and Lani realized that something had snapped in Shapiro by that look on her face. Well, at least now she was thinking about it and she was young. It had taken Lani too long to figure that out and he was glad that he at least had Shapiro thinking about it, he didn’t want her to be afraid of hurting people he just wanted her to be aware. That was where most of the trainers here went wrong. They were the main reason Lani kept such a tight hold on his power, because he was afraid of it.

The absent smile said it all. Lani gave her a joyous one in return, after she had chewed on it for a while perhaps she would work out the solution on her own. “’Ey,” he said gently shoving her shoulder, “I’ll work on it if you work on it.” There she knew she wasn’t alone in this. Lani was more than willing to help and God knows that Lani needed as much help as she did. He might sound like he had it all figured out but that was just a very good act. He grinned as he watched her Shapiro was making herself a nice cozy home in his heart and he really wouldn’t have it any other way.

Lani set in with a knife cutting slices in anything they sent his way. It wasn’t long before the cooks jokingly slid the rest of dinner’s vegetables in his direction. So Lani grabbed another two knives and set his power to helping him slice into things as well. He was glad to be working and doing something. He didn’t notice Shapiro coming up beside him until just before she nudged him. He set the knife, well knives, down and turned a little toward her. He smiled at her question and his heart melted and it was hard to believe that before his heart had been filled with shards of glass and ice.

“Loads,” he answered pulling Shapiro into a hug, “Thank you, Shapiro.” He released her and went back to cutting vegetables. It was easy to focus on several things at once so he glanced at Shapiro. “See, I told you they’d love you.” He grinned at her and gave her a wink. Shapiro was really such a sweet girl under that rough and rocky surface.

[Haley Shapiro]

Her shock had nothing to do with Lani's method of acquiring cash but now that she thoroughly thought about it, how would he get it? She actually wanted in on it too! She could steal change from anybody, really, but to get actual working money was a bit of a stretch for her. And something about Lani told her that he wasn't going to teach her how.

The solution to it will probably not come to her any time soon. Haley wasn't the type to immediately think there even was a solution other than isolation. And anger. And, to her, a lifetime of loneliness she deserved. At that moment, she was glad Lani wasn't a mind reader. That would just be the saddest thing anybody could ever hear her think, really.

"Yeah," she laughed hollowly. "Sure." She didn't know what and how to work on it so why bother?

Losing herself in the cooking, Haley tried not to let her depressing thoughts overcome her being. At Lani's reassurance that he was all right, Haley gave him a lopsided grin, the hug almost something she wanted to reach around herself but she kept her arms to herself.

"Heh, why wouldn't they love me? I'm a bundle of joy." She teased. Once their burgers were done, Haley dropped a huge dollop of chilli sauce on the patty and got herself comfortable in the corner of the kitchen. As the cooks talked, Haley just listened, feeling more at home then she ever had.

[OOC: :') How cute are they as pseudo siblings? ^^ Hows about we wrap this bubba?]

[Lani Hunter]

Well, she was right about one thing, she would hopefully never figure out how it was that he came into his extra cash. That was just going to have to be one of Lani’s mysteries. He smiled absently. He was so happy. Happy? How strange. But he was happy. Happy that Shapiro happened upon him, happy for her refusal of his excuses and happy for her stick. Perhaps life wouldn’t be so impossible after all. And perhaps Lani was too happy naturally for this depression to be an ongoing thing. Sure he knew this was not the upward slope, not at all, it was merely the summit of the first mountain. And as he looked out to the horizon he knew the mountains to come would be just as hard but they were not so steep or so high. And the only thing to do was take it one step at a time.

Lani smiled at her and gave her a wink. She would figure it out in time, she was smart and he was pretty sure in a contest of stubbornness she would be neck and neck with him. Lani hated that reality was such a hard pill for both of them to swallow, but one could never fix their mistakes if they never realized that they had them. So he would be there for Shapiro when she needed him. How strange was it that he seemed to have obtained a new little sister? One that was certainly the polar opposite of Caroline but still as precious.

Her smile reassured him and he didn’t want to say that he had a project but it was the fact that he knew that there was someone out there that still perhaps could use his help and he couldn’t let them down. It was something that Lani could live for. It was a small seed but Lani could nurture it and let it grow.

Lani laughed his thought interrupted as she spoke again. “Chili sauce?” Lani asked wrinkling his nose. “Ew.” He joined her and watched the cooks work as they ate. The bickering and the teasing coupled with the warmth from the oven made this small cafeteria kitchen feel more like home than home ever felt. He closed his eyes for a moment and just listened. Yes. Life wasn’t going to be easy but it was these little things that made life worth living.

((OOC: They are sooo cute! And yeah I'm good with wrapping this up:)! ))