Power Swap: Tell Me Your Wish (James)

[Dr. James Campbell]

"She's a member of the security team. Do you know where the security office is? I'm assuming she has a desk there already, though she hasn't been here for too long yet. You can go see her later, and I can come with you, if you want. Or..." He turned to his computer and clicked through a few things, then picked up a pen and a notepad and scribbled something down in his neat, perfect, script. "Here is her number and extension, and the staff email address. If she's not around, you can just leave her a message." He was smiling too, less at the strange word choice, and more at the fact that he'd actually gotten something done, and was actually able to help someone.

James's grin spread when Jared spoke about Chase. Of course he thought that his husband was the best out of all of the trainers at Hammel, but it was good to hear that the students agreed with him. "I'll try to get you into his class. He could do with a few more good students like you." And not like Verax, who was an irritant on the best of days, and there weren't too many best days. "And trust me, they won't know anything about this, though you should also see Mr. Collier. If the pheromones are enough to feed your urges, then you should do that, at least until you have better control." And now he really needed to check in on Adam and see if he still had his ability. If he didn't then that meant going to Sean about it.

The comic book talk meant nothing to James. He just looked at the boy blankly, knowing better than to imply that what he apparently found important--Jared was able to pull these facts off of the top of his head, after all--meant so little to him. But he knew that Chase looked at him with the same bewildered expression whenever he went off on a rant about how impossibly bad most movie adaptations of classic literature were. "Sorry, Jared, I'm just going to have to trust you on that one."

"Ann Hudgins, really?" His day had been emotionally trying as well, going from panicked to elated to somber to terrified to this. And Ann Hudgins having perfect control over telepathy and mental shielding was the icing. There wasn't anyone in the school who deserved a respite like that as much as she did. Of course, that appeared to mean that she had Sean's power. He'd have to let the older man know that, because it could have been much, much worse...say if Vincent Verax had received that ability. Ann was reasonable, so that could be one more thing off of their minds.

"Jared, I do have some work to do now, and I'll have to let Dr. Neville know that Ann apparently has his power. Are you okay? Is there anything else you need?" The recruiter was pretty excited to be able to bring good news to the older man. He could use some, today.

[Jared Park]

Jared smiled as Dr. Campbell narrated the ways on how he can contact Ms. Nakajima. Through it all, he can’t help but feel a huge wave of regret go through him. He should’ve approached Dr. Campbell, or any other Hammel official, first thing in the morning, instead of sulking in the school grounds. Granted they may not have the solution, at least they’d have some kind of insight on how to get there. And Annaleigh wouldn’t probably have a broken wrist right now as well. “It’s just through one of the doors down the hall right? No worries Dr. Campbell, I can find it myself,” he answered full of energy and enthusiasm. At least now there’s hope. He promptly took the paper, looked at it for a minute to absorb the information then slid it to his back pocket. “Your writing’s nice,” he couldn’t help but say, “Mine is just like chicken scratch.”

He blushed slightly at the mention of him being a good student. He figures Dr. Campbell hasn’t heard of his academic performance lately, i.e. his frequent tardiness for most of his first period classes and not-so-amusing test scores. “Nah, I’m not that good of a student anyways,” he replied, shyly smiling and scratching the back of his head, “But thanks so much Dr. Campbell. It would mean a lot if ever I’d be included in his class.” Then he mentioned going to Mr. Collier. Jared’s all for that, only problem is he’s a bit confused on who exactly Mr. Collier is. He’s still quite new, so his grasp of names and faces when it comes to Institute staff is still a bit off. “Is he the one with the long hair, beard and goatee? Who always wears fedoras, I think?”

“Oops. My bad. I should really stop myself from spewing such nonsense from time to time,” he grinned, shyly sticking his tongue out in embarrassment. Not that he feels bad for saying such things, because he knows he’s done nothing wrong really, he just finds it funny. Weird but funny. He should really try to see if Hammel has a comic book club or something. At least that way when he spits out such information, he wouldn’t feel that uneasy about people giving him weird faces.

“Nope, I’m all ok Dr. Campbell,” he nodded, playing with the unopened water bottle with his hand. He stood up and gave James a near-90o bow, complete with his arms to the side. “Thanks so much for helping me Dr. Campbell. And I’m so sorry for what happened earlier. Whatever it is, I assure you, it won’t happen in real life.” Or so he hopes. Not that he knows what it is exactly. “I’ll just bump into your door again if ever something comes up. Thanks again.” He gave the man one last tight squeeze (fortunately his power isn’t giving him anything right now) before walking towards the door, waving to the older man as he went out.