Where's the Danger Room? (Dr. Awren)

[Jared Park]

Jared, despite his qualms about his powers, actually likes training, particularly because it’s the only course he’s taking that doesn’t feel much like an academic course. (Probably the only thing he likes about his powers is the fact that he doesn’t need to be smart in order to use it properly, like say alchemy or biological manipulation). And though training isn’t like what he thought it would be (like most students, he had this X-Men-esque notion of training, complete with a sophisticated danger room setting and all that; him being a comic book geek only furthered his fantasy really), he still treasures it, particularly because it makes him feel that though his powers are of the useless-practically-novelty quality, he’s still a meta worthy of training all the same.

He doesn’t even mind that he’s changed trainers over the course of more than a few months. He started with Mr. Migs, a yoga practitioner who is a real life water bender, then moved on with Mr. Kim, a huge guy with the power to make himself invisible (apparently they thought his power worked similarly like his), before being transferred once more to Ms. Jones’s class (she’s a power suppressor; Jared actually enjoyed being around her, if only because he can finally be videotaped with her).

But as it was, he was once again given to another trainer. A certain Dr. Awren, from what he has heard. Hopefully he isn’t too uptight as his name seems to be. “Hello?” he asked, knocking on the door and opening it slowly, “Sorry I was late. I’m Jared, Jared Park.” He extended his arm for a handshake before bowing a nearly full-90o. Jasper would be so proud.

[Dr. Aternity Awren]

There was something about his classroom that made him rather uneasy...probably the fact that Mia had decided to break into his computer while he was busy with playing Tetris and all that. For this reason alone, Aternity had taken to the training rooms instead, where he could expect things to be flying around, people going through things, and...all those other shenanigans you might expect from a superpowered fantasy novel. It also meant that the practice he would get himself would make him ready for the flying rocks that tend to come hurling towards his head about once out of every three visits to this place.

In this instance, a student named Jared Park had come to him requesting a training session, and because of his dislike of classrooms and offices, at least the one he had been given, Aternity quickly and decisively obliged. Today was the day he was supposed to show up in the training rooms, and although he was a bit late, Aternity himself had practiced dodging rocks once again, and was now warmed up for the occasion.

"It's no problem. I'm Dr. Aternity Awren, it's good to meet you."

Aternity did shake his hand with his cybernetic arm, but interestingly, didn't feel a thing. He had read about his new students abilities, but experiencing it for real was a surreal experience to say the least.

"Well...that certainly feels weird. What exactly did you need training with? Your ability seems to work just fine, if that's what I just felt...or didn't to be more accurate."

[Jared Park]

Had Jared knew the dangers of having a session in the training rooms, he would’ve requested they hold it in one of the classrooms instead. Dodging rocks has never been a good skill of his, so he certainly would not want to wish it on anyone, even if it is someone who’s experienced the horrors of war. Not that he knows that, of course.

He didn’t actually look at Dr. Awren when he first entered the room (he simply extended his arm and quickly bowed down, catching all but a glimpse of the good doctor), so when he finally recovered, he stood wide-eyed at first. “Woah you’re tall,” he muttered. He never really felt short compared to most people (as he was a bit above average despite his age), but standing next to his (supposedly permanent) trainer, he felt very much like a dwarf.

“That’s my problem. It works too well,” he said with a sigh, “Not to mention I can’t control which I can make ‘invisible’ and which I can’t. Like my clothes and bags for example.” It took him a bit more to digest that, well, Dr. Awren’s hand isn’t all warm as it should be. “You’re a cyborg?!”

Let the fanboying begin.

[Dr. Aternity Awren]

The training rooms weren't bad once you got used to it. The telekinetics often threw their stones in patterns, so if you got the timing down in your head, you could actually dodge quite easily without problem. Thankfully, today was one of the quieter days, and it was unlikely any significant damage would take place. Especially to them.

"Tall? I suppose..."

Well, yeah he was tall. He got that a lot. Anyways, the problem here was an odd one. Normally it was that a student couldn't get the ability working in the first place. Now getting it to turn off would be a challenge at the very least. Especially considering Aternity didn't quite yet understand how it worked.

"So...your body is rendered invisible to electronics? That's a rather strange one. And yes, I'm a cyborg. My left arm at least. That stands to reason I couldn't feel your hand. Huh. Anyway. How have you tried to turn it off? Is it a mental thing? Have you been able to accidentally turn it off at any point?"

[Jared Park]

“Mom says my powers work with my body’s bio-electric signature,” he nodded, trying to remember what his mother told him during his first few days in Hammel, “Something about them causing a field that interferes with modern technology. Her current theory is that it works mostly like those involuntary powers, like perfect recall and super strength. But that’s just about it.” He did go down to the research labs a few months back, but he hasn’t heard from them yet. And his mother’s rather busy in Kocher with the recent emergencies for her to get back at him.

“I tried before, but I only managed to make my shirt and pants appear. After intense concentration, that is. Then I fainted and got cramps almost everywhere.” How he manages to make his clothes disappear but fails with his bag and other small items is also beyond him, but he feels like it’s not what Dr. Awren would like to solve at the moment. “I fail with my powers. I’m sorry,” he sighed.

Trying to wave his untimely depression off, he briefly turned his attention back to his new trainer’s arm. “Cool arm. Mind if I touch it?” he asked nicely, his smile beaming with enthusiasm, “Since when did you have this? And can it turn into all sorts of cool stuff? Like Cyborg in Teen Titans?”

[Dr. Aternity Awren]

Aternity listened, and attempted to devise some clever trick out of his head, but was stonewalled by the passive nature of Jared's ability. The things he was thinking of right now would be akin to learning how to wiggle your ears when you weren't born with the ability to do so. Was it possible? In some undocumented cases, yeah, but when it came to shifting every cell in your body to do something it wasn't supposed to do? That was easily one of the more difficult prospects he had run into here at Hammel.

"At this point, I don't have much a clue how I would go solving your inability to reappear on your own, and ironically, I don't have a technological solution how to go about it at this point either."

There was a serum that was being developed using a nanite cluster hive that was meant for those people with powers that couldn't otherwise be controlled by normal means. But nanites were technological in nature, and wouldn't take. Ohhh boy. This was going to be hard. Actual work. That sucked.

"You failed with your powers? I cut my arm off failing with mine, so don't fall into that mindset. That said, I would ask the researchers here at Hammel to run some tests on you. If that's even possible. Other than that, right now, I suppose you can sit in front of a camera with a screen pointed at yourself, and try willing yourself to make certain parts of you appear one at a time. It's certainly not a proven method, but it might help."

Jared then asked about his arm, making it out akin to a cartoon character. Oh the hilarity.

"Sadly, it can't. It has a few extra quirks though. I can still feel things through it, it's armored, and it also carries a multi-tool, because I'm too lazy to carry it in my pocket."

[Jared Park]

Jared silently stood in front of the good doctor as he mused to himself, hands behind his back as he shifted his weight from his heels to the balls of his feet and back. A small sigh unconsciously escaped him as he recognized his new trainer’s facial expression: confusion. An all too familiar expression really (all his past trainers has had that face more than once) which, in the boy’s eyes, translates to the futility of his endeavor. Guess he’ll be one of those metas who’ll live their lives without having the chance to fully control their powers. Oh joy.

Instead of voicing out his hopelessness however, he simply smiled when Dr. Awren spoke, politely nodded as if understanding what he just said (what does ‘ironically’ mean?) then asked if he could sit on the benches just a few paces from them. “My feet hurt,” he said, shyly sticking his tongue out to the man.

He winced slightly when Dr. Awren said something about cutting his arm off, instinctively rubbing his left arm. “Seriously? When? In Hammel?” He knew that was possible in theory, not to mention he’s seen a number of comic book characters’ powers fail and have debilitating consequences, but he’s never met anyone affected like that in real life. “I’m sorry.” What he’s sorry for though, he’s not really so sure about. “And tests are fine, I think.”

“I…I’ve been doing some researching on bio-bbio-bbio-bioelectromagnetism, and to an extent bioelectro-electrro-electrogenisis." Damn those technical terms really. "More about electric eels and stuff actually,” he said, “And while I can’t understand most of the stuff in there, I have a feeling that my case might be similar to them, in some weird sense, I think.” A friend recommended he look them up one time and after drowning with all the high falutin terms he’s encountered, he saw something about certain species producing electrical fields to render themselves invisible to their predators (at least to those who use electricity to locate their prey, that is). It’s rather far off in his opinion, but at least he’s helping, right?


“That’s awesome.” Forget his powers, it’s hopeless anyway. Fanboying over his teacher’s arm is so much more productive. He tried to sneak in a poke, just to feel the arm for a bit, before asking anoher battery of questions. “Did you build it yourself? Was it from scratch or just a modification of a prosthetic arm? Does it feel weird having different arms?”

ooc:
I might've rambled a bit here. I'm sorry. D;.
- Jam

[Dr. Aternity Awren]

Aternity, despite normally having a quick answer, was still thinking about Jared's problem, and how to fix it. There was a twinge of sadness in his pupils eye; no doubt he had been told the same thing many, many times over. It was a heartbreaking look, even for someone as studied as Aternity was. Actually, it was especially bad to see him like that. Aternity hadn't so perfectly failed in a task like this one, and like hell he was going to go down without a theory. Starting however, was proving to prove nearly impossible.

"So, sit down sparky."

Aternity brought a thumb to his forehead and bounced his head off of it a couple times. A habit during thinking. Interestingly, Jared could ask almost anything about Ternie and get an automatic answer from him. Single-mindedness towards certain tasks tended to make for some very odd quirks among people.

"I lost my arm about 10 years ago. Maybe more when I was training with my abilities. It's not a huge deal. The new arm is a design of my own, and yes...it's a VERY weird feeling. If only at first."

Aternity processed Jared previous comment about his studies, and suddenly a thought came to him. A silly one, but based on what he had seen at Hammel already, it wouldn't be so far-fetched to think it might actually be the problem. Jared's nerves were outputting a stronger electrical field than normal. Heh. Cool.

"Ohhhhh, actually, that's quite an insight. And actually, that explains a lot. Think about it. Digital devices all run on a certain power frequency. Usually a sine wave of 60 hertz. That is to say, cameras, anything plugged into a wall that might be able to see you, or interact in an electrical fashion of some sense, wouldn't be able to. Maybe you're a walking electromagnetic pulse generator in that sense. That's actually really awesome if that's the case. Rather unique. And a fun challenge."

[Jared Park]

Jared chuckled slightly when his trainer told him to sit, thinking that ‘sparky’ came with a capital ‘S’. The boy loves nicknames and was quite ecstatic with the one Dr. Arwen dubbed him, particularly because he feels rather superhero-esque with it – a comic book geek, he’s encountered more than his fair share of comic book heroes being called ‘Sparky’ either due to their powers or just their general energetic image. Either way, it works for him (helping him forget about his disappointment at least temporarily).

He promptly ran over to the said benches, jumping down as he sat and idly waving his legs up and down, and waited for Dr. Awren to finish his mulling. He promptly bit his lip as he tried not to laugh at the good doctor’s thumb-forehead-bounce gesture (Is he trying to joggle his brain or anything?). Combining his relatively short attention span with the sudden influx of positive energy around him, the depression that slowly seeped through the boy’s psyche is slowly being booted out, or at least shoved aside for more positive thoughts.

“You lost it in Hammel? Oh my, I’m sorry.” Yes, apparently he thinks Dr. Awren is that young. He did perk up when Dr. Awren said something about it not being a big deal; he could not imagine losing a limb, or any part of his body for that matter, and not call it a ‘big deal’. Then again, he’s not some genius man who can tweak prosthetic arms into technological marvels (and with his power, he doubts such tweaking would do him good anyway).

When Dr. Awren started telling Jared his hypothesis, the boy tried his hardest not to tilt his head to the side and let his jaw drop. As disappointing as it may sound, he was lost when Dr. Awren said something about sine waves. “Say what again Dr. Awren?” he asked with a huge grin, shyly rubbing the back of his neck. Please speak in English.

[Dr. Aternity Awren]

Oh boy was Ternie working with a weird kid. It wasn't the kid's fault, but maybe Ternie's for giving a nickname of some sorts. That said about him, it kind of fit. Aternity didn't quite have as much of the spontaneous energy he had anymore. Jared however, if tapped for energy by the United States, could probably generate enough energy to run New York City for a good while. Not that he was going to try of course. Anyway. Error correction time!

"Lost my arm at Kosher actually. I lived in Europe for my schooling."

And actually, he preferred the teaching style there sometimes, it probably would have been easier, but really, moving all the way back to Europe would have been more hassle than it was worth, abilities or none. His thought about his theory came to a simplistic end, and he he opened a small panel on his arm to make his point.

"Well, you know how opposite magnet ends attract? Well, every body is like a magnet. You just happen to have to opposite effect on electronics. You produce an opposite electronic field."

He pulled out two magnets from a small compartment. Spare parts for the arm. He clicked them together, then flipped one, and watched it shoot across the room.

"I'm willing to bet if you wired a magnet onto one of your nerves or something, the charge would reverse, and your power would too. That said, I'm not advocating anything surgical. It's just something to think about while I try to devise a way for you to naturally reverse the charge in your body."

[Jared Park]

“You’re European? Nice,” the boy beamed as his instructor clarified his origins to him. “Is Kocher nice? Though my mom’s been working in there since I was 7, I have yet to see the place.” He would’ve enrolled there, had his mom allowed him to. Unfortunately for him, tensions were high across the Atlantic, hence him being forced to enrol at their American counterpart. He is thinking of transferring to the said school when he’s a bit older though. “Is it true that English isn’t spoken much in there as it is in here? What’s the mode of instruction then? French?”

He did try his best to hide his excitement when Dr. Awren opened a compartment in his arm, covering his mouth in an effort to stifle the already instinctive 'oooh'. He merely nodded when his trainer said something about magnets, his attention almost entirely on the man's demonstration. “Oh shoot!” he flinched slightly as the magnet shot out, his pulse spiking up almost immediately.

Though Dr. Awren assured him that there wouldn't be any surgical procedures happening soon, the mere mention of it is making the boy extremely anxious. “If it all boils down to that, would that mean I'll virtually lose my powers? Like, forever?” While he does want his power to go away from time to time, the thought of losing it permanently is just as dreadful, if not even more so, than it being uncontrolled. Jared's just a wee bit complicated that way. “Would I still be considered a meta if that happens?”

[/blockquote][/justify]

[Dr. Aternity Awren]

The boy was getting warmer, but he wasn't quite there actually. He'd only been told the story of his European heritage after he'd finished school. The reasoning was quite simple, and was a good reason of why he didn't have the most pronounced of accents.

"Russian actually, I moved to Europe to escape the meta-facilities that our government ran. Parents didn't exactly want me doing anything militaristic. I don't blame them. As for language, goodness no, we didn't speak French. Actually, we DID speak English. International language and all. Picked up a wee bit of Icelandic when I went to college."

Aternity went to pick up the magnet that shot across the room. If his arm broke down, the spare parts would be necessary to repair the bloody thing, and like hell he was going to be caught without any parts to use. More on his mind was the whole Jared thing, and trying to figure out how Aternity could fix this naturally was wearing to say the least.

"Well, no. And heaven forbid I resort to a medical procedure to fix something like that. A full-body method like that is not only unlikely to fully fix the problem, but it's also insanely dangerous as well. Considering you're in good health, we're going to skip over that thought entirely."

Nope, Ternie had a better idea.

"Have you ever heard of a Van de Graaff generator?" He asked, giving Jared a questioning look.

[Jared Park]

Russian, thought the boy pensively, so that explains the weird, I mean unique, last name. And the first name really. When he first heard of his new trainer’s moniker, he actually spent a good five or so minutes just saying it over and over. Call him weird, but he’s just easily amused like that. Says Dr. Awren’s name rolls over the tongue rather quickly. (His own name is rather plain after all).

“So why do most Kocher transfers complain about not being fluent in English then? They confuse me.” Apparently the boy failed to factor in the time that his trainer had been away from the said school for more than ten years already, which gives plenty of time for curriculum reshuffling. “But if you’re from Russia, why don’t you have that cute strong accent they have on TV?” Nope. It didn’t occur to him that he might be becoming a bit more intrusive curious than a normal student should be.

A sigh of relief escaped the boy as Dr. Awren reassured him that he’d let no such procedure happen. Heaven knows how scared he is of needles – he could barely stand regular vaccine injections. How much better would he fare when faced with a procedure like that anyway?

“Van de Graff generator?” His eyes brightened at the thought. “Like the one they show in Sorcerer’s Apprentice? That’s cool!” But how is it supposed to help his situation?

[Dr. Aternity Awren]

"Not sure. English used to be a big thing at Kosher. Maybe they've changed it around some, I dunno. It's been awhile since I've been back."

By awhile, he hadn't been to any sort of reunion, or the building itself in years. There was simply no reason to go back. Explaining why he was from Russia and didn't have the accent was however, a legitimate question, he didn't exactly have the accent many expected.

"I born in Russia, but only my father was Russian, and he was in the military, so I didn't see him much. Great guy, but just far away most of the time. Be right back."

Oooookay, now that that was out of the way, Aternity walked outside the training room for just a moment, teleported, grabbed the generator, and came back within about a minute with a small version of his generator, because Jared had such an...interesting electrical field, it was probably best to start small.

"Something like that. You have a funny electrical field, or so my theory goes. Van De Graaff Generators are supposedly really good at stripping electrons out of the air, and rearranging your own electrical field. If only temporarily."

The hole with his theory was that even if it held true, it still wouldn't explain why Aternity didn't disappear electrically. Metas were kind of special like that. You could do a little bit of science as a test, but ultimately, it didn't explain why Jared was invisible to electronics, or why Aternity could teleport. Nope, instead, that was up to the person to figure out on their own with a little guidance. But for now, maybe cheating was the right way to go, if just to get going on the right direction.

[Jared Park]

Jared was just about to say something about having a similar experience with his parents when Dr. Awren suddenly excused himself, leaving the boy just a tad bit confused – confusion that turned into a full blown embarrassment when it dawned on him that he might be getting a little too personal with his new trainer so early in their session. He’s not really making a good first impression, isn’t he?

The boy totally did not expect his trainer to get back so early. He was thinking he’ll take five minutes tops, as – if he remembers the school layout right – the rooms for the power trainers are a good floor or two below the facilities themselves. Either he was wrong, or the man just has some power that lets him make time (or space) irrelevant. “That was fast,” he muttered. He was just about to ask how Dr. Awren accomplished what seems like an impossible feat (hooray for more prodding; apparently the shame was only temporary), but his attention was stolen almost immediately by the weird looking device-contraption in the man’s arms.

“Is that a Van de Graff generator?” he rushed in glee, almost jumping in excitement. Who would’ve expected that his training would be as exciting as this? He nodded almost instinctively when Dr. Awren began explaining the science behind their little experiment. He understood little – he knew what an electron is and what an electrical field is, but used in that context, he felt blank – but it’s not like it’ll stop him anyway.

He gave the generator one last brush with his fingers then stepped back, hands behind him as he juggled his balance from the balls of his feet to his heels and back. “Will I be zapped or anything then?” As odd as it may sound, the thought of having electricity run through him with the help of the said generator the boy all the more excited.