Jump In! (Lani.)

[Lani Hunter]

Lani nodded, that would be rather interesting if Caroline could talk to fish as well. He hid a smile behind his hand, that had to be one of the strangest powers that was possible. Because really, what use would it be talking to fish. They couldn’t very well help with much, and perhaps it was just Lani’s assumption, but fish were not the brightest of creatures, perhaps once one got to the higher predators yes but then one might not want to hear what they were saying. He could only imagine Kevin running into a shark and as it passed him by it was muttering to itself about that last thing it ate or what delicious fish it was going to go after next. Lani was brought out of this thoughts and he blinked at the boy. “What do you mean you thought about it? You’re not a competitive swimmer?” He asked.

“What?” Lani blurted, before Kevin had said something he hadn’t even thought about such a thing. Really in his personal opinion he would be a better one than those that they had now, but then again Lani didn’t really understand their job. Well, honestly now that the idea had been brought up Lani’s mind was brewing. But no, he wouldn’t want to deal with people like him. He laughed and shook his head, “Never thought about it, but I don’t think that’s where my road is headed.” Lani laughed again and shook his head. Well, alright he needed to remember that not everyone thought about things the way he did. “Basically you should understand how the ocean moves with currents and stuff. That way if a storm blows up you know where you’re likely to end up.” He didn’t think that would help him with his power but it would make it safer, when one had a power of flight or over air one should understand atmospheric dynamics and updrafts and weather patterns, just as much as it held that a telekinetic should understand forces and physics and people with water based powers should understand the ocean.

Lani scratched his head and smiled, “Yeah.” He laughed, at least Kevin wasn’t the kind of person who would freak out about something like that. Lani laughed harder at the idea of him being a wizard. Oh wow, just wait until someone heard that, what a way to make Lani’s head even bigger. He shook his head, “That’s the idea, I guess. But no, not people.” He shrugged he didn’t really understand it himself. Perhaps it was a check on Lani’s already too big power but people, animals, plants, anything that was actively living he couldn’t touch. His power passed right through it and he really couldn’t explain it. But the terrifying thing was once it was no longer breathing or photosynthesizing Lani could touch it. He hadn’t realized that until he had helped those kittens and accidentally touched the mother. Lani’s whole mind felt soiled and sick after that.

[Kevin Bailey]

Kevin shook his head. “No, not really,” he smiled a bit and shrugged. It wasn’t a big deal. “Do you competitively telekinesis things?” Was that even a sport or club around here? He wasn’t sure. As it was, he would be watching all the swimming events. It would be interesting to see how those with different water related abilities competed, and what was and was not allowed. Surely people could use their powers to their advantage, right?

“A power trainer,” Kevin said, happily repeating himself. “You seem to care about powers and stuff, and you’re cool, so it makes sense.” Of course, being cool and stuff were the only qualifications needed to be a power trainer. “Plus you have telekinesis, that’s even better.” Better for what he didn’t know yet, but one day he would. Not that some powers were better than others, but telekinesis was awesome. “How do you know where your road is headed?” Kevin asked, intrigued by this super cool older guy. Lani Hunter, even just his name spelled and sounded like greatness. “Do you know how ocean currents work?” He asked. Kevin was already deciding that Lani would be his new power trainer in training.

“Why not people? Freewill or something?” Kevin asked, his head lolled to the side in interest and relaxation. Lani sure laughed a lot. He must be a happy guy. “But you can move clothes right? So then you can move people,” Kevin reason, his wrist moving his hand in small circles. Swish and flick, swish and... he stopped the movement looked at Lani with bid round eyes. He was such a dork. “Do you read Harry Potter?” He asked, because he had to and it was important.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani shrugged, he supposed that that was a rather good point. “I don’t think such a thing exists. But if it did I’m pretty sure I would win.” He said with a definitive nod. “But do you just like swimming, it might be fun to do it with other people.” It was merely a suggestion, Kevin could take it or leave it, he was old enough to decide things for himself. It was hard to look at Kevin and seeing someone older. But Lani was working on it, Kevin probably had a lot of people treating him like a kid but he was no longer a kid in Lani’s eyes and Lani would treat him like such. He was on his way to being a man.

Lani shrugged, “I mean I guess they’re interesting, but I hardly think that being cool is something to go on a resume.” He teased but rolled his shoulders back, Kevin really should be more careful not to make Lani’s head grow. Lani smiled, what did telekinesis have to do with it? “Why would that matter?” He asked the kid intent on challenging him. Lani opened his mouth and closed it as he considered a better answer for that particular question. He couldn’t very well tell Kevin the truth. ‘Because I’m a thief and no good at anything else.’ But instead he decided on, “Well, I don’t have everything figured out but I have a feeling that the school would laugh at me if I even mentioned such a thing.” He shrugged and laughed at himself. They had been discussing getting into trouble and if there was someone who knew about getting into trouble it was Lani. He shook his head. “I don’t, but I could look up something and see if I can help you out with that if you want.” He smiled, a little favor for a friend of Caroline’s.

“I have no idea,” Lani responded with a shrug. “Just anything that lives it’s like it doesn’t exist and my power just passes right through it. But yeah I can move clothes, but I don’t like to, it’s too possible that someone will get hurt.” He shrugged and wondered why the hell he was telling all of this to a kid? Perhaps just the fact that Kevin was talkative was starting to rub off on him. Lani’s brow raised at the motion that the kid was making. At the question he laughed and shook his head. What kind of question was that? Had Lani read Harry Potter? Was there a person alive that hadn’t? Not really sure where the kid was going with this he nodded. “Of course, why?” This kid was really worse than Odion at topic changes, but he really had a feeling that this kid just said the first thing that came to his mind was wasn’t consciously switching subjects.

[Kevin Bailey]

“I think you’d win too,” Kevin agreed. Lani was super awesome, true fact. “I swim with other people all the time.” Kevin wasn’t trying to correct Lani, he was just making the simplest of observations. The younger boy of the two wasn’t a very competitive soul. He liked making friends and complimenting people on their achievements, and he’d be very tempted to lose all the time just to see someone smile. It just didn’t make sense. Unfortunately Kevin didn’t want to grow up, but that wasn’t something that needed to be said.

“I know you wouldn’t put that on a resume,” he laughed at the joke, “but you could explain why you’re cool. Isn’t that what a resume is?” Kevin thought it was a piece of paper that helped someone show off and showcase their unique talents and abilities to get a job they wanted. Why won’t make it cool? “Because I bet it’s hard to control. That means you could help kids who’re having a hard time with their control.” Just another thing to add to the resume. “Oh,” Kevin said with a stern nod. Maybe Lani was looked down on, that sucked. “I bet you’ll find something you like someday,” Kevin offered as a very valuable solution. Kevin perked up. “Yeah, that’d be awesome! Thanks!” Kevin said. If Lani forgot, that was okay too, Kevin knew how to use the internet. This was just so much cooler.

Kevin’s brow raised. “Why, do you want to hurt people?” Nah, Caroline’s brother would never do that.

Kevin’s face lit up as a little gasp of excitement escaped him. “You. Are. Awesome!” Anyone who read Harry Potter was awesome. “I just joined up on the new interactive website and started reading all the books again because the site explains everything in more detail and it’s just so good every time I read it I could read it like a million times and never get tired, of it.” Kevin shot all this out in one breath and had to stop himself to catch up. “Which was your favorite book? Does Caroline like Harry Potter too?” If yes, they could all have a book club, and well they’d talk about Harry Potter first, but then they could talk about other awesome books. Maybe comics too!

[Lani Hunter]

Kevin should really stop stroking Lani’s ego he was going to have problems fitting through doors if this kept up. Lani shrugged. “Good, some things are more fun with someone to talk to…” He paused and looked at the pool, “Or something.” He was still stuck on the idea that fish had jokes. It was really the craziest thing he had ever heard. Speaking to them he could understand but jokes… wow. Lani would never be tempted to lose on purpose. He was too competitive and really if he didn’t challenge someone then they couldn’t get better. He liked to think that like the time he and Adrianna had race that she had beaten him fairly and he was all the more motivated to beat her.

Lani nodded, “It’s more to say why you are most qualified. But if being cool is a qualification I guess that would help.” Lani really was just humoring Kevin now, he severely doubted that coolness qualified him for any job. Lani cocked his head to the side, that actually made sense. What would he do to become a trainer? Would he have to go to college? If so then that was out of the question. But wait, why was he ever seriously considering this? Lani smiled, this kid was so optimistic. “Yeah,” he agreed. Really he wasn’t looked down on at all, he liked to think that he was looked upon in a light that was more respect. Perhaps not reality, but hey if they could respect him for being a pain in the ass that was enough for him. But he was pretty sure they would laugh at him. “Sure,” Lani smiled. He was interested and he was pretty sure that there were books he could look at. And even if the math was hard, for the both of them, the concepts would hopefully at least be understandable.

Lani shook his head a little confused. “Of course not,” he said the strength of his proclamation spelling it all out. Lani would never hurt someone, well someone that didn’t deserve it. “It’s the idea that because I can do something doesn’t mean I should.” Well, alright so there were a lot of those instances with Lani’s power that he simply ignored but no if he was going to hurt someone it wasn’t going to be because of his power.

Laughing Lani ran a hand through his hair a little bit embarrassed by the boy’s declaration. He started rattling something off about this website and Lani was lost. He had no idea such a thing existed and he really wasn’t that much of a fan. They were brilliant stories and well written. Lani’s brows just rose and he found himself not listening anymore but rather just watching with fascination as the kid just kept going. Was he going to breathe? Right about the time that thought crossed his mind Kevin did stop to breathe. But not for long. “Um… I like the third one, and I think so, I mean we read a few of them together.” It made sense that the third on would be Lani’s favorite. Seriously wrongly accused prisoners were right up Lani’s ally. Though wrongly accused is not something that Lani could claim. “You should tell her about that website thing.”

[Kevin Bailey]

Kevin liked complimenting people and saying truly unnecessary things just to lift them up. It was only because he liked to see the best in people. “Everything’s more fun when you have someone to share it with,” Kevin agreed. It didn’t take much to convince him of something. Maybe he was a little naive, but he didn’t want to grow up any time soon. This boy hadn’t had many hardships.

“Being cool,” Kevin said, making a little air checkmark with his finger, “check!” If someone didn’t have a way with people, they didn’t have a hope or a prayer for getting a teaching type job. They could be on all the honour rolls and it wouldn’t help them any. Optimistic, yeah, that was putting it well. Kevin looked up to Lani already, probably because the older boy came off as so... wise, or something like that. “Awesome,” Kevin said, his mind floating away to the next subject. If Lani did forget by some chance, Kevin probably forgot first.

Kevin’s brow furrowed but he decided to let that statement go. Just because you could didn’t mean you should, and he really hoped Lani never did.

Smiling again, Kevin sighed, lost in la-la land. “All of them were my favorite.” Really at this point, anyone could see reading was his one true love. Reading awesome things anyways. He didn’t think too much about what he said or how he said it, he just liked having friends. “Okay, I will,” he said. Kev was starting to feel cold, and he glanced up at Lani with a sheepish smile. “Can you go stand guard so I can get dressed?” He asked, a quirk of a grin on his face. And then he giggled a bit and sighed. “This is so embarrassing...”

[Lani Hunter]

Lani nodded and laughed a little. The kid was naïve, that was for sure. But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, after all, people needed faith in other people. It was a hard thing to understand, to trust people without proof and extensive tests. He ground his teeth a little as he thought, Dr. Neville wanted him to trust him. Lani wanted to but he had been burned by someone only looking to help before. No he was too dangerous to trust. And with that mind reading it was all the better to be cautious, if his problems would just not come up he would be content. Also Lani was having a hard time seeing the man get enthusiastic about anything because he was so calm.

Lani laughed harder and shook his head at the boy. Really if all Lani had going for him was being cool he was out of luck. But really what was Lani thinking? Did he really have the patience needed to train anyone for anything? He doubted that. He would be probably the only trainer to ever shaking his students in frustration. Lani’s mind was already working on the idea. He figured it couldn’t be too terribly different from the atmosphere. Both were fluids and… he shook his head. No he was not going to think about that today. He sighed, what happened to when he was satisfied just thinking about things, philosophy things? He still loved it but it seemed that there were answers to so many questions now.

Kevin really shouldn’t worry about Lani hurting people. It was the last thing he wanted to do. Well, perhaps Kevin should worry. There were things about his power that were still beyond his control. So if someone got hurt it was because Lani was being careless and something big had happened for him not to want to be careful.

A smile crossed his face. Kevin really was quite a character, he was really starting to grow on Lani. He was enthusiastic about everything and Lani loved it. He had never met a person so optimistic. Lani nodded and blinked at the boy and shook his head suddenly realizing where this was going. “Oh… yeah, yeah, I gotta get going anyways,” he said checking his phone for the time. He ran a hand through his hair and turned back down the path. There weren’t a lot of people out but Lani would feel bad if he left and Kevin got caught so he stuck around a little bit humming to himself wondering how long it would take.

[Kevin Bailey]

Kevin had never been given a reason to distrust people. They’d all ended up being good people. He thought that when given the chance, people were friendly. Obviously he’d met a few that were going to be mean to him, and he was nice to them anyways. Maybe it would end up being his downfall, but he couldn’t believe that people were as bad as they tried to be.

Getting out of the pond, Kevin put on his clothes over his wet self. There weren’t many other options, he hadn’t brought a towel or anything. He hummed to himself and gathered up his things. He wasn’t going to stay outside with wet underwear that was bound to soak through and or get him sick. He caught up to Lani.

“Thanks,” he said, adjusting his backpack, “where’re you going?” Kevin looked up to Lani with interest in his eyes. Maybe Lani had a part-time job or something. "Do you have a part-time job or something?" Lots of older kids had part-time jobs, and he hoped to get one soon too. Then he could buy lots of candy and videogames and books and stuff.

[Lani Hunter]

Kevin was one of those people that was probably going to perpetually worry Lani. Worry that he was going to get into the wrong crowd and take advice from the wrong person, and even just trust the person he thought was trustworthy but behind the smile was a snake. Well at least Kevin could count on Lani to be there if he needed him. If he hadn’t met Kevin he might have let the kid go on his way with no more concern for him other than Caroline’s happiness but now having met the kid Lani had to admit the kid was growing on him. He was glad that someone like Kevin had found Caroline.

Lani glanced down at Kevin and smiled. He really wasn’t sure that he seemed so short just because he was or because Lani himself was tall. “No problem,” he replied and looked ahead as Kevin asked the second question. Well… job, not so much anymore but his hands were just itching of late. So yeah, he had a big job lined up tonight. He had to admit that it had been harder to set up without a middle man and even harder to find a buyer. He had found a man through an old connection in the area that bought stuff like what Lani stole and sold it. He was the middle man and he was as tightlipped as a mute.

Lani smiled, “Kind of,” he said, “I do some work for a friend.” Close enough. And now that the leaves were starting to fall that made sense, he could rake lawns or whatever and no one would know the difference. He would be gone for a little while and be back later in the morning. So he was out late and stayed over wherever he was. Sure the notes on his door were getting increasingly angry, one the most recently had said if he vanished again he was going to be hunted down. That had just made Lani laugh, they were all talk. And if he had to take a few days for a job he would. It was glorious not being on a quota or on a time crunch. He could steal things people wanted or that he just wanted to prove he could take. Freedom was a wonderful taste.

[Kevin Bailey]

Kevin wasn’t stupid, he had his own convictions and no one could talk him out of them. He’d never hurt someone intentionally, and he wouldn’t cross a road full of traffic just because someone had told him to. He had his own brain thank you very much. And Caroline was his best friend, something he was happy to have here at Hammel.

Kevin smiled. “Can I help?” He asked, because any friend of Lani’s was a friend of his. It just made sense in his mind. “You know, I was thinking about getting a job too, but I’m not old enough. But once I am, I wanna make a resume and pass it around.” He had no idea if that would work, or who might want to hire him, but he was going to give it his best shot.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani blinked in surprise and looked at Kevin. Well he certainly hadn’t expected that… What now? Lani mind worked quickly and the lies came smooth from his tongue as if they weren’t even lies at all. “I would love that, but if I don’t do it I can’t get paid and I need the money.” He explained. Nodding Lani wondered if he had dodged the bullet or if Kevin would be more insistent. Great, it was already starting to snowball. He ran through a quick few scenarios in his head, if Kevin insisted, he couldn’t take the money and let Kevin help him, that wouldn’t be right, and Ah! He was buying Adrianna a birthday gift and he needed this full paycheck in case Kevin wanted to split the money.

Lani’s worry was getting him into and out of trouble and he went through several possibilities. If Kevin really insisted, which Lani was really hoping he wouldn’t he had a few friends in town who he could do ‘work’ with and then Lani could do the real work later. Always have a plan to make one’s story true. Lani wrinkled his nose, “Why? You should enjoy a time when you don’t have to work; you’ll miss it I promise.” Lani was actually really jealous, will he actually didn’t technically have a job now or even before it was still something he had to do and he had missed out a lot on what normal kids did. No after school sports, that was when Lani slept, and no hanging out with friends on the weekend that was when the long heists took place.

[Kevin Bailey]

Kevin smiled at Lani as they reached the school. He didn't take it personally. "That's alright, I should probably change or something anyways." Really, it wasn't a big deal. "I just want more money for books and stuff..." Hadn't he just said that? Oh well.

"It was nice meeting you Lani, have fun at work! Tell Caroline I say or! Or I'll tell her you say hi, whoever sees her first!" He said, heading back towards his dorm. Lani was right, why on earth did he ever think about getting a job in the first place? Kevin shook his head. Lani was the coolest.

(OOC: Over and out.)