An Indoor Storm (Open)

[Adrienne Tatum]

Adrienne shivered, but out of excitement. She had been neglecting fully training her power, the most "training" being warping any distinctive sound around her so that it would be in time with the beat of the music she was listening to. Ren wanted her power to grow, to develop and evolve with her. She had been putting off training for too long and now she was excited to start.

She wore her messy black hair in a floppy ponytail and she wore a simple black tank top, black leggings and trainers. She tightened her pony tail and smiled, "Let's get to it!"

She walked to the side of the room and set down what she had been carrying by her side. A white noise machine. She had purchased one for the purposes of training, but since she had been pretty lazy, the machine had been collecting dust in her cupboard. She turned it on and sat down crossed legged, getting focused immediately.

The loud whurring sound filled the whole room. Ren kept an intense stare on the machine. Slowly, she raised her hand, index and middle fingers pressed down on her thumb. She began to pull her hand down. The noise got quieter, quieter... It was silent. Then she flicked out her hand, fingers spread. The noise burst into life. She twisted and turned her hand, the white noise kept going from something like static, to something smooth. Ren always thought gestures helped her concentrate on the sound she was trying to manipulate.

She broke the focus and let the whurring sound envelope the room. She jumped up and turned it off. She stretched sound decided to go on. She clapped. Short, loud, just a clap. She clapped again, twice. She then echoed the sounds. She threw her arms up and the room filled with loud applause. She grinned and then softened it down. She just couldn't resist bowing and saying, "Thank you! Thank you very much!" She made the echoing claps louder.

Then she made the sound more of a rumble, like thunder. Then she remembered hearing a storm when she was little. She focused in her mind and remembered the wailing wind, the thrashing rain. The room was filled with the sounds of a thunder storm. The sound of the wind crashing, the rain pouring down, the thunder still roaring. Ren also like to visual her sounds in a sense. She could almost feel herself getting thoroughly soaked and blown back. Then her concentration broke. She fell back and the storm sounds calmed. She lay, breathing heavily. That was amazing. She jumped up, a huge mass of bubbling energy.

"I could do that with just a clap! Could I make my sounds more concentrated? Oh! Maybe I coukd develop a kind of like Psonic Blast!" Ren was pacing up and down, unabe to stay still. She was getting better, she could sense it!

[Uriah Kempe]

Uriah wasn't one to specifically eavesdrop or spy... Well, that was a lie. Rather, he hadn't intended to be watching the girl train her power. He'd come by the school to try and find his old friend Christian, but he was at some conference for actors. Pfft... Silly man. But after persuading the receptionist that he didn't want to leave a message for him, he had decided to wander the school. It was his second day in the town, and so he was curious what was so great about the school. So far it didn't even compare to Kocher, as far as he was concerned.

It had been the applause that caught his attention, honestly. The thunder was what kept him there. Sound was his forte for certain. Between his power and the fact he more or less bordered on musical genius, his ears were very good at subtle things. So as he peered into what he assumed was an empty classroom turned training room, he listened to the noises that were being generated. After he thunderstorm, he knocked on the door, curious to see if he could help.

She had obviously not heard his knock, so the prankster in him decided to play a trick. He focused his gaze, and chose to stop all noises in the room. He also made sure none entered the room. He wasn't sure what her power was, but he always enjoyed anything that might give him a laugh, and if he had to go head to head with her power... Well, he probably knew his limits better than hers. He'd have to make sure she didn't hurt herself too bad. But for now, he waited in the forced silence.

[Adrienne Tatum]

Ren had taken a few deep breaths and calmed herself, but only a little. Her mind was still ablaze with ideas on how to use her powers. She hadn't really practised mimicing and she didn't even really know if she could create sounds. Then she looked down at the machine. She remembered the quick out burst of having a Psonic Blast. She raised an eyebrow. How was this going to work... She closed her eyes and raised her hands. She jerked out her fingers and! ... Nothing happened. She shrugged and smiled. She wasn't expecting that to work anyway.

Ren then stopped. She blinked and shrugd her shoulders, feeling... Weird. She bit her lip and focused, trying to maniplate the sound waves. Nothing. She focused harder. Still nothing. She stumbled back, eyes widened in a look of disbelief. Did she lose her powers?! Did she over work work them?! ... Was that possible?! She tried to calm down and maybe it was because of this training, but her mind seemed sharper. She put a finger to her lips. She couldn't have lost her power in such a small space. It just wasn't possible. So logically, you can't manipulate sound if there... Isn't any.

She turned round and jumped. She came face to face with a man. She was about to ask why he was here, but of course, she wouldn't make a sound. So Ren put a hand on her chest and sagged her shoulders, with a small smile. A kind of sign for, "You startled me." She wasn't sure what to do next, so she just waved her hand in an awkward greeting. With a bashful smile, she twirled her index finger and thumb around, hoping he would understand that this was her way of asking if he was responsible for taking away the sound.

[Uriah Kempe]

Uriah could see the girl begin panicking and so he stepped into the room. Obviously she didn't hear the door open. He walked up behind her, intending to let sound back and try not to startle her too much. He felt a moment of regret at having caused someone so much panic. However she turned around before he had let his power go, and so he paused, waiting to see what she would do.

As she gave the indication that he had surprised her, he gave a bit of a smile, and shrugged. When she spun her finger around in the obvious communication of "So, how about this silence?" he gave a grin and winked at her. She was most definitely too young for him, but he was enjoying himself, and showing off. Pride may be a sin, but every once in a while it was ok to have fun, right? So he simply took a small step back and clapped his hands together in a slow rhythm. Maybe one clap every three seconds. He channeled his power so that that was the only sound that was in the room. No echo or bounce from it, just the clap. A very pure sound.

As he did this, he looked the young lady in the eye and gave her a nod, trying to express the idea of 'give it a go now' hoping she would pick up on it. He was curious to see what she could do. He intended to stop clapping as soon as she held onto one of them, obviously her power had something to do with manipulating sound, and she could only use present sound. So he would indulge and give her something to work on precision with.

[Adrienne Tatum]

The man winked at her and she couldn't help going a little pink and giving him.a small grin in return. Then he began to clap slowly. She started to nod her head in time with them. Had he brought the sound back? She concentrated on the rest of the room. It still didn't feel right or back to normal. Ren realised that the claps didn't echo in the room. She gave the man a kind of smirk. Let's fix that then.

She timed herself and then once she was ready she took a clap and made it fuller. Just making it sound like it was supposed to. Ren never like keeping things normal. Normal was boring. So on the next he made it louder and slowed it down. What did a slowed down clap sound like? Ren didn't know, but after listening to her slowed down distortion she smiled. It turned into a crinkling noise. She made the sound of the original clap hiss, pop and snap with her sound. She rolled her shoulders. She was getting excited again...

Then it began to grow louder and this time, being old-fashioned, Ren did the opposite of what she had done before. The iriginal clap she took grew louder and sped up. She kept speeding it up until it was like the sound of a stampede. Then Ren had an idea. She hadn't really practised using vibrations and this was a good oppurtunity. She made the stampede duller and lifted up her hand. If she could do this, she better not do it on the floor. The whole room would shake and maybe even get damaged. She was more thinking of her being in trouble, not really Uriarh's safety, which she felt pretty bad about. So she put her hand on the cloest desk and focused. C'mon, she couldn't look like an idiot in front of him! Vibrations from sounds were everywhere. She could probably use those hidden vibrations to her advantage, but again, it wasn't something she practised. The table began to shake slightly. She blinked, but snapped back into it immediately. No time to be surprised! She closed her eyes and could feel the table trembling under her finger tips. She then put her hand out flat on the desk and it was like it was trying to jump but couldn't get free. She opened her eyes a little and saw that some of the screws had been loosened, some right on the verge of falling off. She let her hand up swiftly and the table fell back. Of course, there was no loud clattering sound to accompany it. Ren beamed brightly. It had worked! She could do it

Finally, she turned back to then man and started to click her fingers. Obviouslt, they weren't making the "click" sound. Then the clap sound came back. So every time her midde finger and thumb flicked together, she clapped. She was mimicing the sound. She was getting so much practise today! She started doing a "clap-click" every three seconds, just like he had. Then she stopped and gave him a grin.

[Uriah Kempe]

Uriah was very impressed. First she had managed to manipulate the sound into something that sounded normal. Then she had held the sound, sustained it, and then pressed the sound into a solid object. Honestly, he was a little scared, the power was incredible. He hoped she had a genuine trainer, because that power could be ridiculously destructive.

He gave another smile to her after she began her "clap-click" noises. He had noticed her blush before, and that tickled his ego. However he saw no purpose in pursuing it given how young she looked. She was attractive, but he was basically twice her age. Regardless though, there was sound now.

"That was impressive. Very... I'm sorry for interrupting, but I couldn't help. My name is Uriah. Very impressive skill you have there." He figured he would let her continue the conversation, him not even being sure he was allowed to be here.

[Adrienne Tatum]

Adrienne stopped clicking...Uh clapping. The man looked impressed. Well, he might be impressed. Sonic Manipulation couldn't exactly tell the feelings of others, even if said person did have a similiar power. She gave him a big smile and then shivered. The room... Was the sound back?

The man began to speak to her. Yeah, sound was back alright. She blushed a little when he complimented her skill. Sometimes she had never apprieciated her power. She thought it was useless, especially when she was younger and had just discovered her ability. As she had gotten older, she had started to love her power. She wouldn't trade it for any other power there was at Hammel. The man looked nervous. Well she would be too. Grown man alone with a young girl training? Didn't look particularly good for him. She gave him a warm smile to assure him it was okay. Someone did come in, she would just make up something on the spot.

"Thank you! You're too kind, sir, really. I need more training." She shuffled, trying hard to hide the pink of pride in her cheeks.

"It's no trouble at all. It's lovely to meet you Uriah, my name is Adrienne, but please, call me Ren!" She beamed.

[Uriah Kempe]

"Ren, glad to have helped you out." Uriah had always had a knack for teaching people things, but he had never really tried to pursue it before. "Any time you need help with training again you can just give me a shout if your trainer is busy. I don't wanna step on any toes! Well, if you ever need any training or music lessons. That's about all I'm good for at the moment."

Uriah was a confident man, but he wasn't sure what else to do to continue the conversation, so he stood there as silence lapsed between the two of them, this one far more natural and uncomfortable than his created bubble.

[Adrienne Tatum]

Ren gave him a big smile. She had no idea she was going to get this much training done with her power today. Someone up there must have a soft spot for her.

Uriah seemed eager to help her out. She shook of any bad thoughts she was having. This was perfectly innocent and there was nothing wrong with him helping her out with her power when she needed it. She gave a little laugh and, oh no... Her face started to go a little pink again, "Actually don't worry about stepping on any toes. I don't have a trainer." she shuffled. Why was she so embarrased about that? Was it because she felt her power wasn't good enough to even be considered for professional training? She scowled inside. Damn it, Ren stop always thinking so negatively. It'll make you look bad on the outside... She gave him another big smile.

As a silence dawned on them, she noticed him getting uncomfortable. Oh phew. So it wasn't just her. Her mind then pricked up on what he had mentioned earlier, "Music lessons? You're a musician?" she couldn't help but giggle. It just seemed like a kind of cliché. Someone with power over sound... Being a musician.

[Uriah Kempe]

"You don't have a trainer? At Kocher we had training classes as well as individual time with a trainer... Sheesh, what's the education system coming to?" He shook his head at the idea of anyone not being private training time for their powers, especially a girl with a power as scary as this.

He found a chair as he was saying that and sat down for the moment, needing to do something to keep the awkward feeling at bay for now. As he sat down she asked her question and giggled the musician rolled his eyes. The guff he got for that. 'Oh, Uriah, so you just cancel the bad sounds then' and 'What good is it to learn music if you're just going to make it disappear' were common taunts when he had been in band at Kocher as a youth. It had gotten a bit better when he got older and went to colleges and such. But even now he was annoyed by the irony of it.

"Yes I'm a musician. I specialize in music history, but I've learned a fair bit of theory and a few instruments. I'm considering working on a doctorate sometime in the next few years but I haven't decided." After letting his annoyance air out with that he softened again. "Do you play anything? It's always nice to talk shop with someone who has an idea."

[Adrienne Tatum]

She found herself giggling and then giving a slight shrug, "Well I guess it's partly my fault. I didn't ever consider training." That and no one had ever asked... But Ren decided that was more of a sorry excuse.

He saw him sat down and feeling the power of suggestion coming on, she went and sat down opposite him. She bit her lip when she saw him and roll his eyes. She knew that was an eye roll of annoyance... Wait, was there any other kind of eye roll? Anyway, she felt guilt hit her like a ton of bricks. She hadn't meant to upset him.

She gave him a big smile, a kind of apology, "That sounds so interesting, you must have a lot of talent." She was being completely genuine. She couldn't just learn a few instruments in her spare time. She was pretty lazy after all. She blinked at him and gave him another big smile, "I think that would be great Uriah! You could get it without a hitch!" Again, getting a doctorate? Dr. Tatum? ... Nah.

Ren twirled a lose strand of hair with her index finger, "No, I don't actually. I used to be fond of singing but... Student life kind of slows you down, y'know?" she sighed almost wistfully, remembering the days back home, when she used to sing all the time with her mother.

"I did have a lot of musical influences back home. My mum was into classical and opera, my dad was into country and folk, my younger brother was getting into his alternative rock stage before I left and my older sister just enjoyed the charts."

[Uriah Kempe]

Uriah laughed at how honest she sounded about him becoming a doctor of music. He didn't mean it insultingly, but even though it was a consideration, he hard a hard time imagining someone who was as much of a screwball as him getting such a title. It wasn't that he doubted his abilities as much as he doubted the fact he would deserve it.

As Ren twirled her hair around her finger Uriah had a sudden flashback to another girl he'd known years ago. One who at the time had the same habit of playing with her hair. She'd probably forgotten all about him by now, but he still remembered her well. Something about this young girl Adrienne reminded him of Eveangel Stonefeather. As she continued talking, Uriah's face suddenly went serious and fell as he remembered his best friend from childhood.

Hearing Ren stop talking Uriah looked up and blinked a few times to try and clear his head. Music. They were talking about music. It was a safe topic usually, but now he couldn't get the image of Ren having the exact same hurt expression as Eve had years ago on her face out of his head. "I'm sorry.... I..." He let out a shaky breath and gave a moment of pause. He was suddenly terrified almost speechless of doing something wrong and putting this young girl through the same pain that he had inflicted on his one time best friend.

"You know, on second thought, maybe I'm not a good person to train you. I don't have any sort of licensing or anything like that." His words sounded hollow to him, and he avoided eye contact with Ren, hoping she wouldn't question this sudden change of heart and pace. He looked at the floor, at his shoes, at the walls around them but couldn't bring himself to make eye contact with her. Every time he tried to he saw Eve's face again.

Go back to music. Music. Focus on music. Uriah kept telling himself this in his head and tried desperately to backtrack to what the young woman had said about her family and music. "I'm a big fan of classic myself, but I also really enjoy anything from a good stage musical. I have a friend who likes to act." He heard his own voice and it sounded flat now, him trying to focus on keeping too much emotion into it. He couldn't cry now. Not in front of this girl, not for something that happened years ago.

Not again.

[Adrienne Tatum]

When she heard him laugh, Ren gave a small smile of relief. Good, he wasn't upset. Ren had always strived to make everyone happy, never annoyed, upset or feeling in anyway "bad" you could say.

Ren shook her shoulders, a shiver going up her spine. A draught? No... Something didn't feel right. She looked over at Uriah and bit her lip. Did he seem worried? Anxious? Maybe it was just her. She tried her best to keep smiling. Her mother always told her, "Renny, always smile. A smile is the most beautiful thing of all, so wear it!" Her face softened as she remembered that her mother always had a saying for any occasion. She was really starting to miss her family.

She blinked and then her eyes tinged with disappointment, "Oh... Well I think you'd be perfect Uriah, really. I don't think there are any trainers in Hammel that have your kind of power. I mean your power really tests mine." She said with a small, encouraging smile, turning her head slightly to hide her blush. She didn’t want to sound desperate.

She gave him a big grin, "Oh I love musicals! I saw Wicked once in London when I was younger. It blew me away! And I've always wanted to see Cats and Les Més." she sighed wistfully, her mind getting carried away of thoughts of bright, broadway lights. Her eyes rolled up, searching her head for memories of her old obsession with drama, "I used to be so into acting. I even consider voice acting. But... You know..." She laughed slightly, if awkwardly. To be honest, she didn't even know. Her passion for it just died I guess.

She had begun to ntice the way she avoided her eyes. She wanted to ask if anything was wrong, but she thought that if something was indeed wrong, he'd leave... And she didn't want him to.

[Uriah Kempe]

Uriah tried his best to pull himself together. He imagined the notes to a G minor chord in his head. He listed off what each number of sharps and flats meant. He thought about tri-tones and major fifths.

It helped. Something safe, something completely fact based. Music had never hurt him, it was like math. All technical on one end, but had some amazing results on the other. After a few seconds of silence as he did these things he let out a final shaky breath and managed to relax and get himself under control.

"Sorry... I just need a moment." He leaned back into his chair and took a deep steadying breath. Then he rubbed his face with both hands and finally sat up straight again. "You just reminded me about... Well and old friend I hurt. But that's not important." Part of him wanted to just scream and cry as he remembered what he had done to her. But he knew this was not the place. He barely knew the girl here, and it wasn't right to throw a burden like that on her from nowhere.

"Right. Anyways. Training... I guess I could help if you really don't have a trainer, but I don't really know how much good I'd be. Are you even allowed a private trainer, or do you have to go through the school?" The topic of musicals had left his head for now, as he addressed her original point. He didn't mind the idea of being a trainer, but he had a number of personal doubts on that idea.

"What is your power anyways, specifically? I assume it has to do with manipulating sound waves on some level, but what sort of limits have you discovered?"

[Adrienne Tatum]

Adrienne pursed her lips. The air of tension was extremely thick and her shoulders almost sagged with the weight of it that she felt. Was it her? Was she making him uncomfortable? Her midn began to wonder and she hid her blush with the slight turn of her head and hr fingers fixing her fringe.

She turned back and gave him an understanding smile. She wasn't going to lie to herself, this wasn't making her feel comfortable. Her eyes blinked and relief shuddered through her. So it wasn't that... God Ren, get that out of your head! She licked her lips and gave him a sympathetic smile, "Are you sure it's no important? I mean, obviously you don't have to tell me but... I'm sorry." she stammered, not having exactly been sure how to tackle what he had said. Then she shook her head and smiled warmly, "It doesn't matter. Sorry if it seemed like I was trying to pry."

Ren was very happy to change the topic, even if it was one she felt concious about. She licked her lips in thought and then shrugged, "Well to be honest, I don't know, but I'm sure it wouldn't be the biggest deal in the world. We're not killing anybody." Ren could see the main problem with this, but pushed it away. Cross one bridge at a time, Adrienne. One bridge at a time.

She bit her lip. Ah. Now this was something she was really concious about. Her power. Her skills. Her shoulders sagged and her eyes focused on an interesting piece of the floor, "Well, um, it's Sonic Manipulation. When I was younger, the most I could do was make them louder or softer. After a while, I just developed new ways to manipulate them, like mimicing them, distorting them, warping them, echoing them, speeding them up and slowing them down. That thing you saw with the desk is pretty new to me, but you know how sounds are really vibrations? I can pick those up, with my ears and literally too, as you saw." she looked Uriah in the eye and gave him a small smile, "I've got to be honest, I've never really thought of my power as much good."