TIMEWARP: Little Help (Zac)

[Tanner Larson]

Canon: September, 2006

Tanner Larson had been attending Hammel for just about one year. While he was over his initial separation anxiety, the boy still felt very new on campus and had yet to make any real friends. Sure, there were classmates he got along with, but having buried himself in his studies and meta training in order to take his mind off his nerves and concerns, he was far from being the big man on campus.

As it was, he wasn't even really a man: just a boy, really, at a mere thirteen years old (about to turn fourteen, he would quickly add to anyone who asked). His short blonde hair was spiked up as it always had been, and his rather scrawny body was clothed in a simple red tee-shirt and denim shorts: even though it was autumn, the young pyrokinetic still felt more comfortable in summer clothing due to his increased internal body temperature, something he was still trying to sort out. A red and blue backpack was slung over his shoulder as he walked down the hallway of one of the academic buildings, looking for his new locker.

A new school year (not that they had a summer break like other schools, but it was a new semester) meant new classes, which brought to an introvert like Tanner a whole lot of stress. Would he make any friends in his classes? Would he try? Would his new teachers like him? Tanner knew it was going to be a pretty nerve-wracking next few days.

What he didn't know, is that it was also going to be a pretty nerve-wracking next few minutes.

The blonde was certain he had put in the proper combination - he never got anything like that wrong - but his locker wouldn't open. Sighing, he tried the combination again, and then again, and then another time turning the lock in the opposite direction, but nothing worked. He wasn't the type of boy to lose his patience easily, but he was starting to get frustrated. He shook the door handle, internally begging it to open so he could put some of his books away before class, but the door simply wouldn't budge.

[Zachary LaRousse]

Hammel had been a blast for Zac.

Sure the headaches he got from using his powers were extremely painful, the animal cries (“voices”, he called them) in his head were distracting and his powers turning on in inopportune times were anything but fun, but still, the mimic’s enjoying it. New place and new faces aside, it’s being in a school where everyone’s a meta that’s making him extremely ecstatic. He’s been surrounded by metas since he was young, sure, but it’s a whole lot different now that the majority of the metas were his age. Finally he really felt like he really belonged.

Fitting in and making new friends weren’t really that much of a challenge. He’d say that it was his confidence and naturally outgoing personality that drew people to him, but if he was truly honest, he had a lot of help from his cousins. Xavier and Lancelot were practically treated like royalty by most of the student body, and since he had the same surname and similar features (he’s just slightly more eastern-looking than them), it stuck to him too. They were mean to him and loved nothing more than to tease the snot out of him yes, but they also made sure he’s almost always by their side during Zac’s first few days in Hammel, teaching him the ways of the Institute as well as ‘informally’ introducing their baby cousin to the world. It was glorious.

The hallways were a little busy, as usual, so it took him a while to get to his locker. Once there, after a few turns of his lock, he switched a few books, checked himself out in the mirror he had in his locker door and was set to go. After closing his locker though, he noticed the blonde boy beside him struggling with his. He’s usually not one to go out and help people (especially since he only had a couple of minutes before his next class and Mr. White wasn’t known to look kindly on latecomers), but what the heck. It was a new school year. Time for a new him (maybe).

“Need help?” asked Captain Obvious as he walked to the blonde, “You look like you’re going to cry any minute now. You sure you remember the right combination?”

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner was starting to get nervous. The boy was never late to class, whether it was back at his old middle school in New Jersey or here at Hammel now for the past year. But as he continued fighting with his locker and the wave of students moving through the halls began to thin out as folks entered their classrooms, it occurred to the blonde that perhaps this would be his first time. The notion that he would actually miss the start of class freaked him out more than a little bit, having always been taught he importance of punctuality.

Eyes drifting to a clock in the hallway - the boy's thin arms didn't exactly look good with a clunky watch on - they took note of the time before moving back to the feisty locker. Brows furrowing, he gave the handle another vigorous shake before releasing it and giving the door an angry punch with his little fist. The introvert normally never lost his temper this way, but the locker was just being unfair. It was like it wanted him to be late to his first day of class, and knowing this made Tanner very upset.

A voice that seemed to be directed towards him perked the boy's ears up, and he turned to see another boy walking towards him. He blanched nearly instantly: Tanner was not good with social interactions, especially with strangers, and especially with strange boys. But it seemed like this kid was offering to help, and given his current situation, he knew it would be illogical to decline the offer.

"I-I have it written down," he said, offering the post-it note with a locker combination scrawled upon it - clearly in somebody else's handwriting - to the other male. "I've tried it like a thousand times." He sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. Okay, he wasn't that close to tears, but he wasn't sure how else to handle this situation. As the hallway grew more and more empty, crying was starting to sound like a more and more justifiable response.

[Zachary LaRousse]

Zac almost let out a loud chuckle seeing how distraught the blonde was over such a simple thing as his locker being stuck; he could see how upsetting it might be, but personally, he would never cry over it. He had a feeling he chose the wrong guy to be the good Samaritan with, but unfortunately for him, he had to stick with it. New year and all that after all. Ugh.

“Ooh. Handy. I think I should do this with mine too,” he said with a shrug, reading the post-it note quickly and turning the knob. “…and five and voil-voil-voil-WHAT?!“ He was just about to brag about how easy it was to open the lock and how it was rather pathetic for the kid to feel and look like the world was already ending for him, but now it had to act up on him too? What? Was the universe suddenly against him now? “Ok there is clearly something wrong with this lock.” Captain Obvious strike two.

He tried it three more times, all to no avail. And their time was running short too. He didn’t need to look up to the nearest clock to see that the short window period their classes afforded them was nearly over; there were less than a handful students in the hallways right now, each of them with a hurried look on their faces. “Kid, you mind if I smash your lock for you? Don’t worry, I’ll tell them I thought it was my locker and all that. Not like they can do anything to me anyway; my family practically runs this school.”

Without waiting for an answer, Zac closed his eyes, held the lock with both hands and concentrated. Find your centre, then look for the animal you’d want to bond with. Breathe. Breathe. Gently, gently. There!

“Woof!”

Instead of crushing the lock in his hands, a loud bark came instead, along with a strong sense of smell. “Oh fuck what is that?” he yelled, quickly covering his nose, “Do you have wet underwear in your locker? What?” Considering how refined Zac’s abilities were at this point, it could easily be from the locker way way down the hall. Not that he would know that of course.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner, who at this point was still very shy around strangers, simply shrugged in response to the other boy's statement that he would write down his own locker's combination. It hadn't been the blonde's idea: rather, someone had done it for him when he'd received his new locker assignment. He wasn't sure why they changed lockers when it was a freaking boarding school, and frankly he was beginning to think the entire concept had been borne out of a desire to stress him out as much as possible. Writing it down had been helpful, though, save for the fact that the combination written down didn't seem to be working.

He watched skeptically as this other boy tried his hand at the combination himself, convinced that it wasn't going to work. Unless this kid had some sort of magic power (a young Tanner Larson still thought that some powers were simply magic) that enabled him to bend metal or something, that lock was going nowhere. He crossed his arms tightly over his chest as the great letdown occurred; this boy was starting to waste his time now.

"Uhh..." he stammered as the stranger asked to mess with his lock. "I don't know about that..." His hand reached for the back of his neck, rubbing it as though trying to bring up some courage within him. But when Zac said his family ran the school - Tanner took the statement literally - he decided he had no right to disagree. "I guess..."

A loud barking noise caused Tanner to literally jump. "Dude, what the heck was that?!" He asked, yellow eyebrows furrowing slightly. Was this some kind of joke? Was this kid pulling a weird prank on him? "And no! this is my first time opening it. If I had anything in there, I wouldn't need your help!" Even a young Tanner was too smart for his own good and very happy to prove it. "Now can you open it or not? I'm not going to be late on my first day of class."

[Zachary LaRousse]

“You sure? Because that stench is just…strong. Too strong,” argued the mimic, crinkling his nose to prove his point as he struggled to breathe through his mouth. A little technique that allowed him to breathe while lessening the chance of him sniffing the odour. Something he learned while going through his roommate’s comic books – and they say comics were anything but useful. “Either that, or you crapped your pants already. God, didn’t your mom tell you to use the washroom early in the morning?” Little did he know that it wasn’t Tanner he’s smelling, but someone actually using the washroom three floors up. (Gross, I know. Lucky for Zac he’d never truly know where that came from). “Oh god, eww. What the hell did you eat-Oh my! Pizza? Are we having pizza for lunch later? This. Is. Awesome.”

Zac’s only had his power for over a year now, and while he has control on whether or not it turns on 90% of the time, he still had yet to learn mastery over the various physiological effects his power gives him.

It took seeing a squirrel run across the courtyard and having this sudden deep urge to chase it around to make Zac realize that he’d tapped on the wrong animal. “Sheesh. Someone’s got a stick up his ass so high this morning,” he grumbled as he turned his power off, rolling his eyes as he did so, “Power malfunction. Give me one more chance.”

Again the boy closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to find the elephant or the gorilla. (He figured either would let him have the strength to crush the demon-lock). And just when he was almost feeling either animal, the blonde boy beside him whined about being late for his first class of the year, effectively breaking his concentration.

“Shut up!” he said with a growl, “You’re not the only one who’s going to be late here ok.” There was practically no one in the halls already. Sure the bell hasn’t rung yet, but still, it’s as good as being late already. “I’m in Mr.White’s English class. You’ve heard rumours about him? Because I sure do! And it’s going to be one hell of a year for me if I have a bad first impression.”

He let go of the lock and turned to the boy, crossing his arms and giving the pyrokinetic the most disappointed pout a young teen boy like him could give. It wasn’t menacing on any accounts, but Zac firmly believed it was mighty imposing. “Now are you going to shut up and let me do my work? Or maybe your power allows you to get this damn thing to open anyway. Oh wait, maybe it’s your power that’s causing the lock to go bad. Would you by any chance control probability or something?”

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner was blushing. "I didn't do anything!" He hollered, figuring the boy's accusations were serious. Heck, they were pretty disgusting, so the blonde wasn't going to let this boy - whose name he didn't even know - just get away with making them. "I don't need my mom to tell me that," he replied, brow furrowing even further as he tried to give the stranger a glare that was probably more adorable than intimidating.

As Zac stated he had a 'stick up his ass,' Tanner was clearly confused, having never encountered such a lewd phrase before. "Do not!" He replied, eyes widening slightly. What the heck was that supposed to mean, anyway? He didn't put things up his butt... did this kid?? He gave the boy a strange look as though wondering if accepting his help was such a good idea after all.

At the mention of Mr. White, Tanner didn't react visibly, but inside he was determining that they did, in fact, have class together at that moment. Well, he supposed if he wasn't late alone, then his excuse might be a bit more plausible. "Is... is he hard?" He asked, a look of genuine concern moving across his face. He didn't want to be late if the teacher was going to be cross with him. What would his parents think??

The blonde shut up, though, when Zac glared at him. "Okay," he agreed quietly, content to let this boy, who was apparently a big shot around here, do his work. But at the mention of his power, Tanner was worked up again. "I'm not melting my lock off!" He cried. "I'll get in trouble!" He wasn't even totally sure he'd be able to do it all the way. Starting little fires was different from melting solid metal. He crossed his arms a second time, head turning away slightly from the boy. "I don't think you even can open it," he concluded huffily.