A Sliver of Sanity (Levi)

[Christina Byrne]

The school grounds were buzzing with activity. Students were everywhere - the courtyard, the pond, scattered throughout the building... Everywhere. It was kind of a nice day outside, meaning that it was slightly warmer than it had been that week, and the students were taking advantage of the nice weather while it lasted. Teens lounged about the courtyard, talking, reading, drawing, and other various forms of entertainment. Having just recently arrived at the Hammel Institution, Christina Byrne needed a break. It was overwhelming to be here. Everyone here had powers. Some knew how to control them, most didn't. She went from being an only child in a small home to one of the many students, living in a dorm with three others. Knowing that all these people had powers, and that they knew she had a power, too, was just incredible. Everyone had at least one thing in common. Everyone had at least one thing to bond over, if they could get past their other differences enough to become friends. It was one of the oddest things she'd heard of, and she was living it.

So far, she hadn't met much of anyone here. Sure, she was a little different. But... that wasn't reason to avoid her, was it? Christina had always been a little "out there." While she did worry what people thought of her, she didn't let it stop her from doing what she wanted. This included how she dressed, which was probably one of the most obvious reasons people were hesitant to talk to her. Today's outfit was a perfect example. While most people would wear jeans and a light jacket on a day like this, Christina was decked out in a brown dress with teal accents and lots of frill on the bottom. She wore brown boots that were short, barely going above her ankles, and very lightweight. She wore a thick, teal bracelet to match. To top it all off, a pink camera was clutched in her small hands. Her fashion sense was anything but normal, and though that shouldn't have been enough to make people hesitant to talk to her, it seemed to be the reason. Back home, people had been used to her clothes, and she had lots of friends. In this new, strange institute for the randoms called meta humans, she knew no one and nothing. For some reason, this scared her.

In an attempt to get away from all the new, Christina returned to the one thing she could of the old. The courtyard seemed as good a place as any to work on photography. Photography, the little part of her that would be part of her no matter where she went. Her father was a photographer, and she'd followed after him. They took pictures together many times. Now she'd been let loose, on her own, in this unfamiliar place. And for now, this seemed to be the only way to hold onto her sanity. So Christina walked around the courtyard, looking for inspiration. Then, it came to her. She saw a bird, in a nest on a branch further down on a tree than they usually were. That was odd. But it was also perfect for her uses. The young girl walked slowly over to the tree and stepped onto the large rock beside it. She moved slowly and silently to get a picture of the bird, with the sun low in the sky behind it. Christina had never been very good at getting the shots she was hoping for with animals, but she was determined this time. Maybe it would even be good enough to send home to her father.

[Levi Xu]

Levi was supposed to be doing some algebra homework that afternoon. In this case, "supposed to" meant that he "was ignoring", "some" meant "quite a lot, really," and "that afternoon" meant "last weekend." He'd shoved it all into a pile on the corner of his desk and had made sure to only put today's homework on top of the folder, so if Evan came in for some reason, it would look like Levi would be ready to start his homework as soon as he came back inside. Evan was his best friend and everything, but sometimes, he didn't want to hear about how they were supposed to be doing schoolwork and studying. The older boy was smart, he could take care of worrying about homework and classes and all that. Levi would rather just hang out, but since that made him feel guilty when he knew Evan was in his room, studying, he made his way outside. At least, even if he wasn't getting any homework done, maybe he could socialize some. (He wasn't doing enough of that either, apparently.)

He'd been careful, sneaking out of his room, making sure the doors closed quietly behind him. Then, Levi had headed over to Sam's dorm, hoping the stoner would be around and up for an adventure. (No, and to be quite honest, his roommate seemed a bit relieved to report that he wasn't in.) Oh well, he'd go adventuring on his own, and return to his mountain of homework later.

Outside, it was a gorgeous day. Students were sprawled out everywhere, soaking up the last of the Sunday afternoon before another week of cramming in as much material as possible before the end of the semester. Graduation was in June, and then after two weeks of vacation, another term would start up. Levi wasn't much looking forward to that, because he already knew he wasn't moving up a grade level. he'd missed way too much of his freshman year, and was going to have to repeat it. (That was another thing he was steadfastly ignoring, along with his homework and the fact that Hammel was never going to let him go anyway, not until someone figured out what the heck was up with his power.)

With nothing to do and no one he knew to bother, he wandered a bit around the grounds before ending up in the courtyard. There were plenty of other students there, but he noticed one girl in particular, standing on a rock and taking a picture of some birds. His power kicked in, and he suddenly knew about her. It wasn't a lot, just that she was sad, she wanted to be a writer, and that her name was Lily.

And actually, it was a bit of a relief to know that for once, his power was telling him things that made sense. That didn't happen often, so he figured he might as well talk to her.

Quietly, he approached, until he was standing right behind the rock, looking around her at the birds. "They're pretty. How'd you get so close without scaring them?" Levi asked, looking up at her.

[Christina Byrne]

The birds looked at her cautiously, but did not take flight and leave her. Christina slowly snapped a few more pictures of the birds before she got the perfect shot - and just in time. She was so focused on being silent that she immediately noticed the rustling of the grass behind her, signaling someone approaching. "They're pretty. How'd you get so close without scaring them?" Christina turned around on the rock slowly, careful not to lose her footing. The boy in front of her looked to be just a little bit older than herself. She looked down at him from the rock, something she didn't often get to do, being so short. He was looking up at her and the birds. This was a great surprise for her. He was one of the few that had bothered to speak to her since her arrival at the institute. It lifted her already-high spirits even higher.

Pondering the answer, she spoke slowly. "Moving slowly. Being quiet. I've had lots of practice." Christina turned off her camera and looked over her shoulder at the birds. "Goodbye, little fellows." Oh, the impression she must be making on the student beside her. She'd just said goodbye to birds. She'd always spoken to animals as if they could understand her. Respectful, Christina thought. From the time she could talk, she'd spoken to her pets, knowing they couldn't understand her but not caring. Now she was at a school for teens with powers. If she kept this up in public, people would start to think that talking to animals was her power. Whoopsies. She looked sheepishly down at the boy. After closing the camera strap around her wrist, the young blonde jumped off the rock to land in front of the boy, careful to hold her dress down in the fall to keep it from flying up around her waist. Laughing lightly, she offered her hand for him to shake, now looking up at him. "Hiya! I'm Christina."

[Levi Xu]

The boy nodded. He'd never had the patience for any kind of art, though he admired Evan for his drawing skills. Once, back at the compound, he'd attempted to photograph the pack of dogs, but that had gone down just as well as could be expected; he'd barely ever had a clear shot of one, let alone all of them at the same time. So he could appreciate what Lily was doing.

He couldn't help but like her, not after she politely made her goodbyes to the birdies. He waved to them himself and said "Have a nice day, birdies." Levi was also one to talk to animals. When he'd had Buccaneer, well, the little pup had been his best friend. He'd been devastated when he'd learned that he wasn't able to keep pets in the dorm. Now he had a new best friend, and he didn't even know where his puppy was. (But Jake would take care of him. He'd promised.)

Levi grinned and shook her hand, looking down at her now. She was younger than him, though it didn't look like it was by too much. And as for the name thing...well, it seemed like half the people he knew had different names, so he didn't comment. He could remember that Christina was Lily and Lily was Christina. "I'm Levi Xu. Are you new around here, Christina?" He was pretty sure he'd never seen her before, but then again, he wasn't always the most observant. "What's your power?" After a moment, he sat down on the rock. Lily seemed like a good a person as any to try socializing with. After all, she seemed friendly enough.

Maybe his sister was right. Last time he'd spoken to Nomi, after he'd told her all about Sam's latest antics and his latest conversations with Evan, she'd asked if he'd met and talked to anyone new. When Levi had finally admitted that he hadn't, she'd pushed him to branch out a bit. So here he was, trying to do just that.

[Christina Byrne]

The boy, Levi, he'd called himself, also said his goodbyes to the birds. Yes, this was going to work out just fine. Anyone that could respect that Christina treated animals like little people by speaking to them, and even did it too, was pretty great in her book. She'd never had a pet of her own - Her dad had been all for it, but her mother persistently said no. She'd always wanted a pet bunny, but it hadn't happened. Instead, whenever she saw animals in nature when she was taking pictures, Christina made sure to say hello to them and stick around for awhile, if the animals stayed with her.

Levi shook her hand and smiled. He had a charming smile, the kind you couldn't help being attracted to, even if you knew nothing about the person behind it. She was beyond glad to have a friend here now, especially one who was so polite and kind. He sat down on the rock she'd stood on just moments before and asked if she was new. Grinning, Christina nodded. "Yep, brand new. Still getting lost and all that fun stuff that comes with moving to a new place." And it was true. It seemed like no matter where she was,she was lost in some way. So she wasn't the most observant, and she missed obvious turns and misunderstood the simplest directions.

"What's your power? Recently, Christina had gotten used to hearing this question from everyone she met. No matter how many times she was asked, it was still odd to think that she, Christina Byrne, had the power to phase through objects. Thinking of how she'd discovered it still made her question her sanity. Falling through a closet door and getting your foot stuck in the in-between? That had to be some kind of meta-human "Top stupidest ways to find out about your powers" record. Who gets stuck in a door? It just doesn't happen. Not to anyone but Christina.

The small blonde sat on the ground, legs folded beneath her, and smooth out the frills on her dress to the best of her ability. Looking up at Levi, she shrugged. "I'm a phaser. What about you? You seem like someone who would have gotten an interesting power."

[Levi Xu]

"That's okay, it happens to everyone. I'm still pretty new too." He hadn't gotten too lost though, even during his first days. Well, during his first days at Hammel, he'd barely left his dorm room, except for when Evan had dragged him out to get meals at the dining hall. "You get used to it; Hammel's not too big." He'd had the added advantage of having Evan and Sam around to help make sure he didn't get too turned around.

"Well..." Levi kicked at the grass, not meeting the girl's eyes. He didn't like talking about his power, since no one seemed to understand it. How come he ended up with the crappy power that doesn't make sense. "I kind of just...know things about people, you know? It's some kind of ESP or something, they don't really know how it works or what it does, really." He shrugged, because he'd only been at Hammel for a few months himself now, and so it didn't bother him so much that he didn't know how "My best friend is a phaser; you might be in his training class. His name is Evan." He didn't mean it as in insult to the older boy, but it really wouldn't surprise him if the girl was put into the same section as him. His phasing skill was rather....infamously bad.

The teenage boy raked his hand through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes so he could see Lily sit down. She reminded him a little of Nomi, all bright and friendly. (Of course, he wasn't going to tell his sister about that. She was going to be starting college soon; she didn't want to be compared to a little girl he'd just met.) "And trust me," Levi added with a smile, "It isn't nearly as bad here as it seems." He meant it, honestly, even though he really did hate it at Hammel sometimes. He had his friends, and that was enough to keep him from running away, for now.

[Christina Byrne]

Levi's reassurances that getting lost at Hammel happens to everyone at first made her feel a little bit better. Even better when he said that you got used to it. As long as she didn't keep getting lost with her hopeless sense of direction, Christina could really get used to this place. It wasn't so bad here. Big meals, lots of people to meet, lots of places to explore, and a complete escape from her mother. No, not so bad at all.

She could tell that he was uncomfortable at the mention of his own power, though he'd asked her first. What reason was there to be uncomfortable about it? It seemed like an awesome power to have, the only exception being that she didn't know what to call it. "That. Is. So. Cool! So I accidentally fall through things, and you're able to just know things about people. I got ripped off." Christina looked up at him sincerely. He turned the subject back to her power. Evan.... Yeah, she thought she'd heard the name before, somewhere. "I hope... It would be nice to know another phaser. Maybe he could help me not get stuck in things or look stupid when I go to open a door and my hand goes through the doorknob." Yeah, it would be nice if she could have a mentor to help her with her power that wasn't just a trainer, but someone with the power near her age.

"It isn't nearly as bad here as it seems." Wait... Hadn't she just been thinking that same thing about two minutes ago? Weird. Echoing her earlier thoughts, Christina replied lightly. "Yeah... anywhere that gets me away from dear old mother for awhile is fine by me." She spoke lightly, but the words rang true and sincere. She couldn't be happier to be away from her nosy, analytical mother.

[Levi Xu]

Levi had to grin at Lily Catherine's enthusiasm over his power. It was still a pretty big deal to him that he didn't understand what it was supposed to do. Wasn't Hammel supposed to know? Shouldn't they be able to figure it out if they were that special? "It's not as cool as it sounds. I can't even control it. It either tells me something about someone, or it doesn't; it's weird."

Oh no. The boy shrugged guiltily when he realized that he probably shouldn't be volunteering Van's name like that. What if she wanted him to be some kind of mentor or something? "Probably not, sorry. He's also my roommate, and I've seen him get his hand stuck in the doorknob too. I guess that's the risk. At least you guys don't get migraines from them." Most of the people he knew at Hammel had migraines at one point or another.

"I miss my older sister still." Actually, he missed his whole family, both the people actually related to him back in Portland, and Jake, who was...well, somewhere. Hopefully safe. "She and my dad and my grandma are all in Portland. Oregon." He added the state, just in case.

And then, well, he didn't really have anything else to talk about. There were more of the standard, canned commentary on the weather and the school and the dorms and the food, but she either knew it already, or she would have people telling her soon enough. He could do something more interesting for her.

Levi smiled a little as he scanned the courtyard, looking at the people all around them. One figure in particular, a tall man in a suit crossing from one side of the building to the other, caught his eye. "Hey, see him? That man with the glasses?" He pointed him out as subtly as he could; Levi didn't want him to catch them talking about him. "He's an alien."

[Christina Byrne]

Christina shrugged. "Still sounds cool to me. I can't control mine either." She thought about all the times she phased through desks, doorknobs, doors, beds, and, once, her shoe when she tried to put it on. Yes, having Levi's power sounded a lot easier than having her's. No one saw him fall through things randomly. That had to be a plus.

She frowned slightly at Levi's comment about his roommate, who probably wouldn't be able to help her with her power. Christina shrugged then, not letting it discourage her. She'd find some other way to learn to control it. "Nope. I've never had a migraine. But it has made me sick, as well as faint, get stuck, or fall asleep for a few hours." She remembered the first time she got stuck in her door. After working up all her energy to pull her ankle out of it, she'd fallen asleep right after. It took a lot of strength to pull herself out after getting stuck, and it always drained her.

Levi spoke of his family, back in Portland, Oregon. He missed them. She could identify with this, slightly. "I'm glad to be away from my mom, but I do miss my dad. And my best friend, Caylie. They're back in Georgia. I kind of keep hoping Caylie will show up here someday, but I know it won't happen..." Christina frowned. She really did miss Caylie. No matter how many people Christina didn't get along with, the two had been joined at the hip since kindergarten. They'd gone on family vacations together and were always together for hours after school. Being away from her made Christina feel quite homesick. And her father... Oh, dad. He was her mentor in photography. He'd gotten her her first digital camera. Had promised to get her a real photography camera when she turned fifteen... She wondered if she would ever get that camera now. Wondered when she would see her father and Caylie next....

When Levi spoke again, Christina looked up. He was pointing to a tall man in glasses. "He's an alien." She was a bit skeptic, but didn't let it show. Instead, she laughed and looked a little harder at the man, letting herself believe, for the moment, that he might really be an alien. Why not? They were meta humans. No, Christina hadn't believed in aliens ever before, but there was no harm in pretending. "No way! Your power told you that? That is so cool. Do you know where he's from?" She laughed and watched the man walk by.

[Levi Xu]

"Most powers are pretty cool. One of my other friends is a pyrokinetic, and he's terrible at it. Seriously, he should come with a warning lable or something." Yeah, Levi ragged on Sam a bit, but he still looked up to the older boy. He might not be the smartest or most powerful person he'd met at Hammel, but he was a good guy, just a little dumb. "And my other roommates can do illusions and technopathy. Speaking of which, avoid Mia Keystone, if you can. She likes to spy on people. Also, she's kind of a creeper, but it's mostly the spying thing."

The boy frowned as well as he listened to her talk about the people she'd left behind in Georgia. Everyone missed someone from their old lives. "Is she your age? I mean, you're what? Thirteen? There's still a chance she could be meta. Sam's power didn't manifest until he was sixteen, so there's time." He craned his neck up so he could look at the clear sky through the branches of the tree they sat below. He did that sometimes, hoping that wherever they were, Nomi and Jake could see the sky too. "I'm still kind of wishing Nomi's powers will manifest and she'll be here too. But she's eighteen now, and way too old." But now that he was thinking about his family, he was curious. "Don't answer if you don't want to, if this is too personal, but...is your mom metaphobic?" He'd heard enough about parents, or whole families that completely rejected their kids for having powers, and Lily seemed like too nice of a person to have that happen to her.

Levi's power was one of the stranger ones he'd come across himself. He didn't know why he knew what he did, or why people tried to deny it, particularly when they seemed to agree with him on other things. (It hadn't yet occurred to him that when he said Dr. Neville was a lion, people thought he was speaking metaphorically. It hadn't occurred to anyone else that he was being literal.) "Yeah, my power told me that, and that he's from the future. He's a time traveler, and his house is bigger on the inside, and....I dunno what else. My power won't tell me more, even when I'm trying."

[Christina Byrne]

Christina lightly laughed a bit as Levi talked about his friends and their powers that they couldn't control. It made her wish she'd made more friends here so far. How cool would it be to know someone who was a pyrokinetic? That would be so amazing, even if they did have to come with a "warning label" as Levi put it. She knew most people would think phasing was a cool power, but so far she didn't think so. She couldn't make things form or fly or teleport or anything. She just fell through stuff that she should land on. The remark about Mia Keystone made her laugh as well. "Mia Keystone... I'll keep the name in mind, thanks."

Trying not to get her hopes up, and failing, Christina listened to Levi talk about someone who hadn't gotten their powers until they were sixteen. She tried not to think that Caylie could end up like that, could get powers still. What if? What if she did? Would they still be best friends here at Hammel? Or would Caylie find someone with a more interesting power and dump Christina on the spot? She didn't think that would happen, but she couldn't help wondering if it were really a possibility.

She had to laugh without any humor in it at the question about her mother being meta-phobic. She shook her head and sighed. "She could not be further from. See, my mom is a psychologist, right? Well she's been trying to shrink me my entire life. Analyzing all my moves. If I blink at a certain time or in a certain way, I'm angry. If I shift in my seat, I'm hiding something. She read my diaries all my life until I gave up keeping them, then confronted me about why I stopped writing in them. Now that she knows I have a special power, she tries to figure out how I feel about it and if my changes of emotions make my power do freaky things. She's.... nuts. And I could not be more glad to be on my own for once."

Levi looked at the sky, while Christina looked at the ground. She ran her hand through the grass and bit her lip. She hoped Levi's mom didn't reject him because of his power. Christina didn't know much about him, but he was nice. Nice people shouldn't have bad things happen to them. Unfortunately, that was the way things usually seemed to work out.

He spoke of the alien man again. Pretending she believed him seemed to help. She had to bet a lot of people would turn away from him when he said things like that. That couldn't be very good for his self-esteem. "Future... I wonder if he had a flying car. So like. His house looked regular outside but inside it had probably fifty staircases and a bajillion doors to different rooms?" Christina had a powerful imagination, and thinking of the house that Levi said the alien man lived in made it blow up out of proportion.