I'm Not a Good Influence (Harmony)

[Jesse Adams]

It seemed that almost all of Jesse’s free time tended to lead him out of the dorms and into the green spaces Hammel had to offer. He was well aware as a student he wasn’t supposed to be smoking on school grounds, but he made the exception for himself. If he didn’t get some kind of nicotine fix at least once a day, he was fairly certain he couldn’t handle much of his schooling. Especially now he had started back into training.

After classes today he’d hauled out his backpack into the grounds and settled with it behind his back as he sat by the pond. Several cigarette butts had already been tossed at the pond. So what if the fish were stupid enough to eat them?

He’d come back on a leap of faith, and with Fiona’s encouragement. She wasn’t here, though, and that made it harder. A lot of the time he felt like he didn’t have anyone to talk to beyond his sessions with Dr Neville, and his trainer. Even so, they weren’t friends. Not that he’d had friends in the compound. He’d had the twins, more mothers or sisters to him than anything, and Gabriel, who he’d never been able to define. Still, they had been like friends, and now they were gone.

At first he’d thought it would be best to isolate himself from the other students to keep any sort of temptation at bay to bother them. But now he was more settled in, he was less afraid of an ‘incident.’ Sometimes it would actually be nice to have someone to talk to that wasn’t trying to figure out your broken mind.

He pitched another butt near the pond and drew out another cigarette from the rapidly diminishing pack to light. Hopefully security didn’t catch him and put him on stricter probation than he already was.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony didn't have many people at Hammel she considered to be her friend. There were a few who annoyed her less than everyone else. But she still preferred to stick to herself. Most of the students her own age were goody-two-shoes wimps who thought the staff at Hammel were gods or something. And the older students were all busy talking about who likes who or some other such nonsense.

Still there were a few students who seemed to share her feelings. One, Vincent, always seemed to keep things interesting. But Harmony hadn't seen him around for a while and she was beginning to think he'd either graduated or been transferred.

So she spent most of her time moping around and looking for someone to pick a fight with. But even that got boring...and a little lonely. Not that she would admit it.

She smelled the smoke before she spotted the boy sitting by the pond. And although Harmony had never smoked before, she connected the smell with her old life before Hammel. Life in the city. She missed it. So much.

Walking up to him, she gave him a side ways glance. She didn't remember seeing him around much, so she figured he must have transferred to Hammel. Maybe he wasn't even a student here, although he did have a backpack. Harmony hardly bothered to carry her's, unless is was filled with spray paint or some other devious devices.

Still, she had no idea how to start up a conversation. He looked cool. But he could be some dweeb who didn't even speak English for all she knew. Still, she couldn't help but like him for breaking the rules right in the open.

"Yo," she said, trying her best to sound tough. "Uh...can I bum one of those?" It was something she'd heard older kids say often in the city. Besides if he really did give her one, she'd love the idea of breaking a school rule and one of her mothers at the same time.

[Jesse Adams]

Jesse heaved a sigh as he stared up at the clouds moving lazily across the sky. He was just glad it was nice enough weather to stay outside for extended periods. It was nicer than freezing his ass off for five minutes just to get a little nicotine fix. As long as he wasn’t busted by the lame security team, he’d be fine.

He actually started to relax a little as he continued to watch the clouds. The stress of training and sessions with Dr. Neville was starting to slip away. His shoulders were held less tensely as the calming effect of the smoke washed over him. He’d have to find a way to obtain more. Probably by bribing another student, seeing as he wasn’t allowed off the grounds. It was something to think about.

Sadly, that wasn’t making him conserve his supply like it should have. Instead he was chain smoking while he had the chance. He still had a few packs in reserve that he’d managed to get his hands on prior to returning to Hammel. He’d prepared, knowing that he would be sentenced behind the walls for some time. He had no idea when his probation would be lifted, but he didn’t imagine it would be anytime soon.

A voice snapped him from his thoughts. He sat up a little to look at... well, a smaller girl than he would have expected. Hell, she was probably close to Sasha’s age. He arched an eyebrow at her. “These aren’t toys, Princess. Besides, I’m not gonna be responsible for giving you cancer, or something like that.” He also didn’t want to be on the receiving end of a punch from someone who cared about her. He’d certainly be all for punching out someone who tried to give Sasha a cigarette. “What’re you doing out here, anyway? Shouldn’t you be doing homework or something?” Like a good kid? Yes?

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Princess? Did this dude have any idea who he was talking to?

Immediately Harmony clenched her fists, ready to pop this guy in the face. Sure he was older and bigger than her, but that didn't mean she was going to let him call her princess and live. "I am not a princess," she said, spitting the last word out with disgust. "And I do not play with toys."

If there was one thing Harmony hated more than people thinking she was some girly girl who loved pink and flowers, it was people talking down to her like she was a five-year-old. She was thirteen now. A bona fide teenager. And by god, she was gonna get the respect she deserved.

She didn't even really want a cigarette when she'd asked. In fact, she had no idea what to actually do with one. But now, she was ready to grab his whole pack and smoke them all in his face.

"Homework is for nerds and goody-two-shoes," she continued. "I shoulda guessed you were some brainwashed dweeb like the rest of the freaks in this place." She kicked his backpack, not too hard, but hard enough to let off a little of her anger and show she meant business. "So you gonna give me onea those or do I have to take it?"

Of course this whole situation was helped by the fact that the boy was still sitting on the ground while Harmony was standing. Although she was still almost eye-to-eye with him, she was a tad taller at the moment. And much more angry.

[Jesse Adams]

Ooh. This one had a little bark to her. And perhaps a little bite, too. Jesse smirked slightly as the girl clenched her fists. For some awful reason she reminded him of himself at that age. “All right, all right. Don’t have a pissy fit at me.” Funny, there had been a time he would have easily gotten up and picked a fight, even if it was with a girl that was smaller than him. Maybe he really had grown up a little and mellowed.

... Yeah, right. She just hadn’t found the right buttons to kick yet.

At least the kid had a backbone. He’d seen way too many girls around her age with no spine to speak of. He’d tried to teach Sasha to stand up for herself, but he didn’t know how well those lessons had helped being that he’d left for Hammel when she was little. God, he missed her.

Wow. Well, if Harmony knew the truth about him, Jesse wondered if she’d respect him, or run screaming. If he was in her place, and in the same mindset, he probably would have doled out some kind of twisted respect. Just like he had for Gabriel. (Only that respect had been genuine, not twisted.) “Brainwashed dweeb?” He arched a pierced eyebrow and sat up a bit. Good thing, too, being that the kid went and kicked his bag. “You wish, kiddo. Anyone on staff with half a brain should be out here any second telling you to stay the hell away from me.” It was harder to be nice to her than it had to be nice to the little Kells girl at the park, before he’d come back to Hammel. Rachel had been nice, though. And younger. “I told you, you’re not having one.” With that, he pulled the one he had between his lips out and blew out a stream of smoke. “Why do you want one, anyway?” Probably for the same reasons he’d started smoking them a few years ago. Teenage rebellion, all that jazz. “If you’re looking for trouble, talking to me will get you in way more trouble than smoking will.” Maybe that would get her off the smoking idea.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony continued to scowl at the boy after the "pissy fit" comment, although she mentally added it to her argumentative conversation starting list. Still, at least she unclenched her fists. She was actually glad to see that one of the freaks here still had some backbone left.

Still...too much backbone and she'd be ready to hit him again.

"Oh yeah?" Harmony said. Now it was her turn to raise her eyebrow. There weren't many students in this school who had that kind of reputation. Most of them were older kids who would never even give her the time of day. "Well maybe they'd say the same thing about me." Which she supposed could be true if she stretched it. She figured Dr. Neville might have said that to some poor spineless dweeb. More like warned them to stay out of her way. Still it was something.

Jesse wasn't the only one who found it hard to be nice to Harmony. It wasn't in her nature to be likable or cute. Even though her mother told her countless times it would work out better for her in the long run.

"Fine," she said, giving his bag another kick. "Be a loser and keep 'em all to yourself. See if I care." With that she plopped down on the ground next to him. She hadn't really wanted one anyway. But she was still angry about him refusing to give in.

"So why wouldn't they want me to talk to you?" Harmony asked, using her voice to show just how she felt about the 'they'. "What'd ya do, set the school on fire or something?"

[Jesse Adams]

Jesse just continued to arch his eyebrow at the kid’s scowling. Was this really how he’d acted at her age? ... Well, the short answer was yes. Wow. Seeing it now, it really was kind of childish and futile, now wasn’t it? Then again, he figured he did the same thing now, just... in better, more adult ways. Well, sort of. His first meeting with his trainer had been full of glaring.

“Yeah,” he replied, trying to keep the bite from his voice. In so many ways he still tried to emulate Gabriel’s mannerisms. If nothing else, he could try to fake his way through Hammel and the rest of his life, if he couldn’t get himself straightened out. It had almost worked the first time, until Sean had cornered him and he’d ended up running away. “You don’t look particularly threatening, kid.” At least his piercings did something to up his intimidation factor.

She really did remind him of himself. Which meant, like it or not, he actually did like her. A little. As much as he generally admitted to liking anyone. She was feisty.

He was glad he had nothing breakable in his bag. Really, he’d just dragged it out to use it as a pillow. “Good. I’m not sharing.” With that, he blew out another lungful of smoke and pitched the butt at the water again. He wasn’t actually going to continue to smoke around a kid. Even he had limits. Odd limits, but limits. Kids were one of them.

What surprised him was her sudden appearance beside him. If she was so mad at him over the cigarettes, why didn’t she just leave? ... Probably the same twisted curiosity that had seen him recruited into M.S.A.D. so long ago. Well, he wasn’t going to lead her down that kind of path. He was supposed to be getting better, not rising up and trying to follow in Gabriel’s footsteps. “No,” he said, smirking at her question in a quiet amusement. “But I might as well have.” He pulled his backpack back into its’ original spot behind him and leaned into it. “I did something much worse.” He was well aware that the students had been rather sheltered from the aftermath, but surely they’d noticed things. “I ran with a group of meta supremacists. We tried to pick a fight with the school.” He shrugged, like this was old news, and didn’t bother him anymore. “Your turn. Why shouldn’t I talk to you?”

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

Harmony didn’t often see herself in others. And defiantly not anyone at Hammel so far. Partly because she hadn’t really taken the time to really talk to many people here, but mostly because she was convinced that everyone here was a complete moron.


“Well…” Harmony said, still trying to keep a tough look on her face. “Neither do you.” Her face scrunched up a bit as she searched for a stronger comeback. It was one of the things she hated most about being so young and little. Everyone looked down on her, figuratively and literally. Maybe she could talk her mom into letting her get a tattoo. Or dye her hair. Something to help her out.


She stuck out her tongue, but didn’t push him anymore about the cigarette. Her interest was somewhere else now.


She listened with wide eyes at Jesse explained just what made him so dangerous. She had heard a few stories about some crazy group attacking the Hammel staff once. She’d never really though much about it until now. There were a lot of stories about Hammel who were pretty unbelievable. But now, she couldn’t help but want to know more. “Cool,” she said. “You were like…in a gang.” She gave him a hit of a smile. “I used to be in a gang.” Of course that was a bit of a stretch. She’d hung out with a group of kids who liked to dance before she’d come to Hammel, but Jesse didn’t need to know the details.


“Well…because I don’t ‘play well with others’,” she explained. “Whatever that’s supposed to mean. I can’t help it if everyone else is a complete idiot. Someone’s gotta point it out to them, right?”

[Jesse Adams]

Jesse snorted at her retort. He didn’t look intimidating? Since when? ... Okay, maybe he had lost his edge since Gabriel had died. But a blunted edge could still be threatening in the right hands. He’d always relied on his eyes and piercings to communicate that he was dangerous. Was that not working anymore, or was Harmony just being that brave? “I’m scarier than you, pipsqueak.” Oddly, it wasn’t said in a malicious way. He was tired of being the jerk all the time.

He really didn’t want to go into much detail with her about what he’d done. He was still semi-proud of what he’d done, but he was also starting to get a real sense of guilt about it. The pride was more born from making Gabriel proud of him. Now he was gone, and it was starting to sink in that he wasn’t coming back, that no one was coming back to revive his work, well... the guilt was settling over him. Still, if he wanted to look tough to Harmony, he’d just have to suck it up. “It wasn’t a gang. It was...well, not a gang.” If he’d ever called it that, Gabriel probably would have had a laughing fit. “What’d your ‘gang’ do? Steal gum from 7-11?” He smirked a little. She didn’t look rough enough to have run with a gang. Or old enough.

“Huh.” That’s probably how others described him, too. “Neither do I. I just want to graduate and move the hell on. I can’t stand it here.” Granted, it was better than living with Max. “It takes balls to tell people they’re idiots, though. So... y’know. Good for you. I guess.” He ran his fingers through the grass, picking at the blades.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

If Jesse was hoping for his glare and piercing to scare Harmony away, then he wasn’t going to have much luck. She spent too much time glaring herself, so it was more of a default emotion than something to be wary of, even in other people. And as for the piercings, well those just made him tough and cool. Which made Jesse one of the most interesting students she had met so far.


“Sounds like a gang to me,” Harmony mumbled under her breath when Jesse couldn’t come up with a word to call what his group had been. She glared at him about the gum comment and considered hitting his book bag again. She wasn’t exactly sure she should be hitting him. At least his tough act had giving him that much of an edge. “No we didn’t steal gum, bozo,” she said, ripping at some grass. Actually they had swiped candy bars, but Harmony wasn’t going to let Jesse know how close he had been to the truth.


“Yeah, me too.” Harmony thought it might have been the first time she’d uttered that statement to a fellow student. At least it was the first time she’d really meant it. “At least you don’t have as long to wait. This place sucks. And it’ll be forever before I graduate.” She sighed dramatically and tossed the grass she’d been ripping up in the air.


She smiled at Jesse’s compliment. A genuine smile. “Thanks…I guess.” She laughed softly, and hated the way it made her sound like a little kid. “I’m Harmony…in case you were wondering.” She kept her head down, hoping she hadn’t broken some cool, tough kid code by introducing herself.

[Jesse Adams]

'Interesting' was probably one of the milder terms used when Jesse came up in conversation. It was honestly surprising that Harmony hadn't tried slinking away from him yet. Normally he got people to move away from glaring alone. Though he was trying not to be, he could still pull off 'threatening' quite nicely. Of course, he didn't really want to scare her away. She was close to Sasha's age, and he couldn't in his right mind condone being a little bitch to her when he wouldn't accept that kind of behavior around his sister.

He did give her a dirty look as she mumbled away. "What was that, kiddo?" He thought he'd caught it, but he wasn't 100% positive, so he wasn't going to give her crap for it. Not yet, anyway. As for her defense, he just smirked. "The lady doth protest too much," he said in a light tease. "If you didn't steal gum, what'd you do to be such a big tough gang, hey?" He might have been taunting, but apart from the content, it was no different to how he talked to Sasha from time to time.

"No, I have lots of time to wait." In theory, he hadn't even been at the institution more than two years. Much more of his training had taken place outside the protective walls, under the supervision and influence of his mentor. Now it felt like he was going backwards. "You'll get the hang of it. We all do. What do you even do?" He didn't want to get into why he had to stay for so much longer, so changing the subject seemed logical.

At least the kid had a name now. He wasn't sure if he'd heard it around the halls, but that didn't matter. "Jess," he replied, relaxing a little. She was a little punky and bratty, sure. But he kind of admired her attitude.

Hopefully she wouldn't go down the path he'd just turned back from.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

It took more than a dirty look and a harsh voice to get rid of Harmony. She was stubborn like that. Actually Jess would have had more luck getting her to move on if he had been nice to her. Being nice was next to being lame in Harmony's book.

"Kiddo?" Harmony asked, shooting daggers at Jess with her eyes. "You're not that much older than me, kid." If there was anything Harmony hated more than lameness, it was being treating like a kid. She couldn't help it she was so young. If she had her way, she would fast forward to being in her twenties. Or at least eighteen so she could get the heck away from Hammel.

"The lady what?" Harmony asked. Clearly reading Shakespeare had never been on her to do list. "And maybe I can't tell you. I'm sworn to secrecy and can't take the chance of some big idiot turning me into the cops." Yeah, that sounded much better than her just walking up and asking to hang out with a group of kids in her old neighborhood.

"I hope you're right," she said, returning to her grass ripping. "Either that or I'm gonna strangle Dr. N and about every other teacher at this freak show."

She considered giving Jess a display of her, but worried it wouldn't be anything he hadn't seen before. Plus older students were better at what they did. And Harmony still had trouble going anywhere over fifteen feet and hitting her mark. "I teleport," she said, as if it was no big thing. "Figure it will come in handy at my future career as a bank robber."

"What about you?" she said, trying not to sound too interested.

[Jesse Adams]

If it took more than dirty looks to scare off Harmony, Jesse was in trouble if he really wanted her to buzz off. He relied on them as his first lines of defense, and didn't like to get beyond them when it came to girls. She might have been a little rougher than Sasha, but she was still sort of close in age, and being mean to girls younger than him was a usual red mark in his books.

"You think so? Why's that? How old do you think I am?" He was well aware that while he'd filled out, his face was still annoyingly childish. Not that it mattered. His ID said he was nineteen, and it wasn't a fake. She couldn't be more than twelve or thirteen. Big difference, there.

"Protests too much. Means you're talking too much, covering your ass." He waved his hand lightly as if to dismiss it. "Doesn't matter. Besides, if it was stealing gum, the cops wouldn't even waste their time." Well. Unless it was Pilot Ridge. Nothing fun ever happened in the sleepy town. Hell, they hadn't even come running when there had been gunshots fired at the compound.

Her commentary made him snort and roll his eyes, leaning back further on his back, hands behind his head. "Good luck strangling him. He's ten times your size." Much as he might have had things to say about Dr. Neville, he was also one of the major reasons he'd returned to Hammel. Like it or not, he needed his help. If nothing else, to lobotomize him, seeing as he couldn't do it his damn self. "Just relax, would you? It's not worth fighting it. Trust me."

Teleporting. That would have been a power Gabriel would have wanted to add to his arsenal. For a moment he felt a sharp pang deep down, which his quickly pushed aside. If he kept repressing his feelings, he'd probably destroy himself before long. Not that he cared. "Yeah, that'd work. So long as you actually learn how to do it right. Otherwise you might teleport right into a cop's lap." The thought made him smirk a little as he closed his eyes against the warm sun.

Her question didn't even make him open his eyes again. He just lazily lifted his hand and flexed his fingers. "Dream and memory manipulation. Don't make me demo it." The latter had a sharper, warning tone to it. He didn't want to deal with touching anyone else today. Training had been trying enough. "No idea what job it'd be good for." Being that professional criminal was now out of the question forever, he had no idea what the hell to do about his future. Sigh. One more thing to add to the massive pile of shit to sort through with Dr. Neville.

[Harmony Muller-Barton]

It was lucky for Harmony that Jesse drew the line at punching thirteen year old girls in the face. In fact it was lucky for her that most people drew that line. Otherwise she'd probably spend most of her days sporting at least one black eye.

"I dunno, like sixteen?" Harmony said. Guessing ages wasn't a skill of hers. She didn't like to think about the idea that there were students older than that at Hammel. That would only remind her how much longer she had to stick around this hell hole. "Still, I mean..we're both students, right? So not much different in the grand scheme...or whatever." Because if Jesse was stuck here then he was in the same boat that she was. And just because he was further along in the process, she wasn't about to be looked down on.

"You tryin to tell me to shut up, punk?" she asked, scowling at him and forming a fist with one hand. As usual, Harmony picked out of the conversation what she liked and ignored the rest. "I've had my fair share of runs ins with the cops." Twice...maybe three times if she really pushed it. And neither of those times were for stealing. Of course none of those times had resulted in more than a harsh word and a free ride home.

Okay, so she was young and short. Did he really have to point that out? Harmony huffed loudly. How was she supposed to help either of those things. She was trying to think of a good comeback, but was completely derailed by his next comment.

"Not worth fighting?" she asked, as if Jesse has just said that it wasn't worth breathing. Her confidence in the older boy was definitely shaken. "What are you some kinda wimp? Like to wimp out so easy? Ya big wimp."

Harmony shot him a glare. There was no way he could have known just how close to her history his jibe was. "I will," she said. "I mean I am...can. Whatever." If there was one thing Harmony didn't feel like talking about it was her training, or lack there of. She couldn't stand it. It was so stupid. What was the point of even being a meta if you had to actually work at it? Lame. Total lame.

"Dreams?" Harmony asked. Even with the warning tone, she was curious. "How's that work? Can you like give someone nightmares or something? You're like the boogey man!" The last part came out a bit more excited and childish than she would have liked. Still she was glad that he didn't have some lame power, like pasta manipulation. Then she would have to keep looking to see if she could find where the cool kids were at this school.

[Jesse Adams]

Jesse rolled his eyes at her answer. Yes, he had a bit of a babyface, fine. But sixteen? “Try nineteen,” he muttered in a sour tone. Had he just stayed put instead of running away, he probably would have graduated by now. Instead he was stuck here, by his own volition, but still. “If I’d stayed here instead of running away a few years ago, I’d probably be out of here.” It was a subtle warning to her not to try what he had done. While his power control was near impeccable (damn the side effects), he wasn’t much further ahead. Much as it sucked, it was best to stay put.

Punk. Harmony reeaaaalllly didn’t want to go down that road. Jesse had trained in self defense among other things at the compound, and it wouldn’t be hard to disarm the girl. He eyed the fist before rolling his shoulder in a half-shrug. “I’m not telling you to do anything. And put down the fist. You aren’t going to use it.” Even if she tried, he had confidence than he could move away before it connected. “And lucky you. You have a worse rap sheet than me.” For all that he’d done under Gabriel’s instruction, he’d never once had a run in with the cops, and he was liking it just fine that way, thank you.

She really was starting to tread dangerous waters. Jesse’s green eyes flashed with a slight anger before he reeled in his temper to a less volatile place. “Yes, Harmony, I’m a wimp. Jesus, kid.” He gave her a dirty look. “Just trust me when I say it’s not worth it, okay?” It was a tender subject for him, mostly because he still saw his mentor’s death as a direct results of fighting with Hammel. “Now I’m telling you to shut up, because you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

He was in such a mood now that he actually ignored her sputtering about her own power control. Even her questions about his power made him just shoot her a dirty look at first. “I could,” he admitted. “And I have.” He didn’t mention that it tended to backfire and make him deal with his own nightmares at night. There was a reason he liked to mainline coffee and energy drinks to stay awake. “It’s not as cool as it sounds.”