Ask Her If She Wants to Stay a While (Raul)

[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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If one were to ask her, Massy would most likely say that her least favorite class was SAC. The would put her in the minority, she assumed, but she was often asked to practice her power on real people, as her teacher saw absolutely nothing wrong with the practice. Massy, however, was very reluctant to poke about in the minds of other students. Even if they said they were willing to have her roving about, she knew there must be some sort of obligation; they couldn't exactly say no because of the setting. It frustrated her to no end and she quite loathed the class.

Presently, the teacher was giving them all new instructions. Find a partner to do some one-on-one practice with," he instructed. "If your power is destructive or harmful, just discuss it. Maybe offer up some training tips. I'll be right back." Now, Massy was never one to doubt a teacher, and SAC was usually a quality class, curriculum-and lesson-wise, but she wasn't sure that skipping out on a class was exactly proper protocol.

Hm. Since he thought it was alright for her to snoop around in other peoples' brains, surely he wouldn't mind if she took a look at his.

She closed her eyes for a second and looked around with her mind's eye. It was relatively easy to locate the one blanket drifting away from all the others. After a few moments of careful observation, Massy let out a bout of laughter when she recognized the emotions of lust and longing. Her eyes sprung open and her hand flew to her mouth. The groups around her were staring at her sudden outburst, and she shrank to the outskirts of the gym, scanning for anyone who didn't have a partner. She was about to go and sit down and read, and just skive off of the lessons, but she spotted a guy not too far off who looked almost as lost as she did.

So, she walked over because she knew exactly what it felt like to be alone. Sure, some people liked it, but she was better safe than sorry. "Um, hey, do you have a partner yet?" she asked, with more confidence than she was accustomed to in herself. "I'm Massy, but I think we have another class or two together. Um, we can work together if you want to." Massy gave him a polite smile and tried to remember his name. It started with a B. Maybe an N. Or an R. She couldn't really remember. She barely had enough attention to make a down payment on her school work, which she would be paying hourly notes for every night until the end of the semester; she did not have enough time or attention to spare for freshmen who probably cared more about their shoelaces than they did her.

Well, whatever. This school work sort of required that she interact with another student in order to accomplish her goal. She was almost beginning to wish she had opted to read instead.

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[RAUL-PHILIPPE NIX]

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Ultimately, most of those people around him wouldn’t really see much in his power. At least, not from what they saw in SAC. Raul rarely used anything altogether vivid if he could help it, focusing on the person walking through a river creek instead of walking through hot lava. He supposed that, should anyone really bother him, he could very easily attempt to do that. But for the time being, he was typically left alone by the majority, and he liked that well enough. However, the moment that the assignment was ordered by their teacher, Raul-Philippe, more notably called Raul, felt a large pit of unease in his stomach.

Splitting away from the groups that had formed around him, Raul took out a pencil and a sketch pad, flipping it open rather quickly. He doubted anyone would ask him to be their partner. Raul was one of the shy kids around this school, and while most didn’t seem to dislike him, it wasn’t as if he was the most popular guy around. Since he didn’t party, he was on the outs. And to be truthful, Raul didn’t totally mind that.

Flipping through some pages, Raul finally found a picture of the Grand Canyon that he’d been working on. Nothing horribly notable, really just a sketch, but it made him feel at ease. On paper, images could be contained. If they were horrible in any way, no person but himself would have to see it. If it was wonderful, he could share. It was his decision. Not the decision of a government that hardly knew him by anything but his last name.

The sound of a girls voice startled Raul. His hands flew up as though ready to defend himself, and he ended up fumbling his sketch pad and pencil as well. It was probably one of the more embarrassing things that Raul had done or attempted to do all day. His eyes were wide as though in shock, but the words sounded kind enough. Unsure, maybe, but not many people were very sure of themselves around him. Raul listened and then calmed radically, then tilted his head. “Um, no I don’t have one yet…I think I know you though…” Massy? He’d heard the name before, but it had been faceless. He gave a shy smile. “I’m Raul-Philippe. Call me Raul though,” he said, then nodded. “Yeah, that would be cool.” He felt whatever confidence he had had while speaking fade slightly as he got up from where he had been sitting.

Awkwardly, he bended over to pick up his sketch book and his pencil, then laid it onto the wall. It would probably be messed with, but at this moment he wasn’t all together concerned. He was really just trying to make sure that he didn’t look like a total moron in front of this girl. It wasn’t going to kill him to communicate a little with those around him. Still, with SAC, he was never totally sure of himself. Any slip up could result like his little sister.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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Massy stepped back, startled by his violent reaction. She hadn't meant to startle him. She made a fist with her hand and covered her mouth with it, clearing her throat as well to disguise her laughter. She felt a little bad for being amused, because it was something she would do, she knew, and she would have hated very much for someone else to laugh at her for something like that. So she waited politely for him to gather his things and regain his composure.

While she waited, Massy found that she felt rather comfortable around Raul for no real reason at all. Maybe it was due to their mutual awkwardness and lack of decent social skills. It was funny how quickly those traits had become evident.

"Raul, right." Well, at least she'd been in the general vicinity with the first letter. Sort of.

"Awesome. So, uh, what can you, like, do?" You would think that, being an empath at a school full of abnormally gifted teenagers, Massy would have been able to come up with a more eloquent way to go about asking Raul what his power was. But she supposed that some people were simply doomed to be awkward from the moment they were born, and she was one of those people.

"I'm an empath," she added. "I can sense moods and, to some extent, control them. I don't really like to practice on people and I have to do certain things to get specific effects, you know, so I haven't really discovered everything, really." Massy bit her lip and rocked back and forth on her heels. She had a really bad habit of biting her lip whenever she was unsure she was saying the right thing. Maybe she should wear gross-tasting chap stick or something. "If you don't want me poking around with your mood, feel free to say so. I really hate doing it unless I'm making someone feel better after a bad day or something, with their permission." Massy thought that she might have been a little extensive with her explanations, but she was better safe than sorry, right? Or Raul was, anyway. She almost considered pointing out that her power had proven, on at least one occasion, to be fatal, but she knew she wouldn't let herself mess with anything past what she already knew how to do. If he even agreed to let her see what he was feeling, that is.

Massy sort of wished there was someone that would let her experiment on them. She was rather eager to figure out the ins and outs of her power, but she just felt so guilty about intruding on people the way she did. There was also the added fear of going to far and having something happen to someone like it did to her father.

What a taboo these gifts seemed to be sometimes.

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[RAUL-PHILIPPE NIX]

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Hot-redness crept into his cheeks when she chuckled at him, and he bent his head slightly to try and hide the fact that he currently looked like a beet. He felt more embarrassed then he had in a long time, but Raul would certainly get used to it as time went on. It wasn’t as if this whole situation was embarrassing…It was just that he was not exactly the most eloquent speaker or decent social person in the world. And while it had many advantages, it’s disadvantages were far more and often resulted in a bad result for him or the person around him.

However, he didn’t feel the same sort of jittery feel in the pit of his stomach around this girl. Perhaps her laughter had made him feel slightly bad, but it wasn’t as though she had left him at the first spot. Plus, she wasn’t mocking him, which was nice. Though not many people did mock him, he always expected it to occur and had always been ready for the if it should occur, what he should do. Stay calm was his motto. It didn’t always work, but it was better then not having anything to go by.

Her question wasn’t uncalled for, and he supposed that was part of the assignment, so he shrugged. “I’m an illusionist, I suppose. I can put things into people mind. Like, not thoughts, but images. If you’ve ever wanted to walk on air, I could cause it inside your head. Ever thought of walking through a thorn brush or through fire? I could make you feel and see that in your mind. Course, sometimes I see it too,” he said, eyes calm though his mind was spinning.

Raul-Philippe nodded when she spoke of her powers and smiled. “Nice,” is all he said at first but then considered if he would really care if she poked around. He shrugged. He didn’t really have anything to hide. Maybe a tad bit of loneliness, sadness, grief. But she had probably seen worse. Much worse. He didn’t suppose that she would really be at all shocked. So long as he wasn’t currently thinking about anything particularly…Awkward, he should be okay…

“If you wanted me to, I could attempt to put a you through a pleasant illusion. Of the land or city, your favorite place, your family, your boy-“ he stopped, realizing the last would be awkward if she in fact didn’t have one. He bit his lip and looked down, twiddling his thumbs to keep himself occupied.

Raul didn’t like using his power, but the more he used it, the closer he became to controlling it and keeping it under key. He needed to learn how to make sure his anger didn’t get the best of him, his emotions, and then let loose with his power. Maybe Massy could help him with that.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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Maslynn found that the idea of letting Raul practice his power on her thrilled her. She knew it could be potentially dangerous; so many of the powers like hers, that affected the mind, were very dangerous. She'd witnessed first hand how they could become fatal.

But if Raul could master his power, he could do amazing things. She wondered if he could create any scene, or if he had to build off of memory. When he brought up the whole walking on air thing, she figured that the situation fell into the latter category. That was nice, she thought. Her imagination was sort of lacking; it would be terrific fun to experience what someone else's imagination could cook up as vividly as Raul sounded like he could make it.

Raul seemed to be okay with the idea of letting her use her power on him, and the thought, quite honestly, produced a bubbly sensation in the pit of her stomach. It excited her, the idea of having enough time to focus in on each individual panel of Raul's emotions and maybe even mess around with them a little bit. It also frightened her; there were so many things that could wrong.

However, before she could get very far with that thought, Raul was talking again. She smiled, amused, when he ended his sentence abruptly. She laughed without trying to cover it up this time. "Boyfriend? I don't have one. It's okay, you know. I'm not going to attack you for bringing it up or anything." Massy's thoughts flashed briefly to memories of the only boyfriend she had ever had, but they dissipated nearly as quickly as they arrived as she began to think of an illusion that would be simple and sweet. She bit her lip. "Well, uh. My favorite place is this really small ballet studio where I used to practice dancing. It's really simple. Old-fashioned wood floors, one wall full of mirrors, balance bar , and pale blue walls everywhere else." Massy shrugged. "I spent a lot of time there before I came here," she added with a smile.

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[RAUL-PHILIPPE NIX]

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Raul felt embarrassed once more, but it wasn’t to the extent that he usually felt it. He looked up waiting for a retaliation, a quick word of dismissal, but when he got non, felt slightly more at ease with Massy and with this scene. He wasn’t the only awkward on in this mess, he supposed. That was something that made his heart fill with a sort of joy that he hadn’t felt in a while. Someone wasn’t judging him, and someone was letting him be himself. He wasn’t hiding anything, not really…Which, to be truthful, had been a rare occurrence since his discovery. To cover up his awkward comment, he shrugged and tried to be non-chalant. “Cool,” he said, but his voice sounded slightly quivery, like that of youth.

Massy preceded on with her speaking, and Raul-Philippe bit his lip and nodded his head. His fingers twiddled through the air, though not dramatically, as though he were trying to draw it out. He smiled lightly. Simple enough. The basic idea could be simple, and he supposed that if she went to a ballet studio, she also danced. Did she like performing in front of crowds? Or was it simply the love of the art? He wanted to ask, but at the same time knew that if he ever actually needed to use this, he wouldn’t be able to ask his enemy his worse fears or greatest joys. So Raul bit his lip and imagined deeply what the scene would look like.

The wooden floors came easier, since that had been what he had lived on. Blue walls were then constructed in his own minds eye, and though the wall of mirrors looked off, like a lot of tiny mirrors glued together, it would work well enough. The row of bars were slightly crocked, but he supposed that he’d have to see something like this to get it exactly right. He focused on “levitating” this image to Massy, and while he felt exhaustion peak over himself as soon as he made it, he tried to hold the image of Massy dancing in this studio for more then a few moments. A small crowd, he couldn’t attempt much more, was watching intently and smiling. However, after a few seconds, he broke off and opened his eyes, breathing heavily through his mouth and sitting down to attempt to avoid the wave of fatigue that generally occurred afterwards.

But he was smiling, all the same. Somewhere inside him, the happiness of a child engulfed his heart.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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Massy stopped talking at one point because she could see that Raul was concentrating. She waited anxiously for what seemed, to her, like forever but was probably only a few seconds.

And all of a sudden she was younger and clumsier and happier, in a ballet studio that was her own and not all at the same time, staring down at happy people that watched her twist her talented body about in a flexible pattern. There was no music, but Massy didn't need music. Not this time.

It did not last long, but she was beaming when it ended. Her heart fluttered and she felt lighter. She was, however, very disoriented and it took her a few minutes to come spinning back down into the gym. She left a dent the size of a bowling ball, but she landed on her feet.

It took her another few seconds to find Raul and she smiled even wider. "That was brilliant!" she chimed enthusiastically. "Have you had much practice with it? You look worn out. I bet you could get a lot better. I mean, it was sort of off, but it felt like a memory. Like, the emotions were there and everything." Masylnn does not normally talk this much or this fast or this ecstatically, but she felt like sh'ed just stepped out of the brightest part of her childhood. Rauls's power was such an interesting one. She wondered how he had discovered it and what was the most elaborate scene he had ever created and . . . Everything. There were a ton of questions she could think to ask them. But she decided that now was not the time annoy him. There would be time for that later. Maybe.

Right now she was in class. Sort of. She still felt a little bit like she was in the ballet studio. It was surreal; like a part of herself was stuck inside a half-memory with no way to get out. She didn't mind, really. She was elated. She felt better than she had since she'd gotten here. She really did need to get back to dancing. Most of the time, it was the only thing that could make her feel this great despite everything that was going on.

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[RAUL-PHILIPPE NIX]

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Feelings were something that Raul tried not to dwell on. However, with his visions, he learned that feelings were often the best indicator of control. That and concentration. Happiness signified that he could keep it up just a little longer. Anger, sadness, often made him break his course. It reminded him to much of that night. However, as the elation filled Massy’s face, and the elation filled in his heart, he couldn’t help but give a warn out smile. He’d never felt this good. Perhaps his visions might help him as well.

Raul-Philippe wished that he could do that to himself, make himself go into a pleasant time, a before time, before he realized all of this was real and that “dragons” existed. He wished that he could be a normal kid looking at colleges early, a normal kid who could join the school play, a kid who didn’t have to think about everything that went through his head. Don’t think that, don’t let that thought travel. It could be your last, he’d remind himself. He didn’t want a repeat. So he focused his now darkening mind on that elation that had filled his heart moments ago.

She seemed dizzy, but her words came out. He blinked his eyes several times to keep the sound of her voice in his ears, to make sure it didn’t float into oblivion like everything else seemed to be. The room was spinning ever so lightly, but Raul pushed himself up.

“I’ve never seen a ballet studio before,” he said, shrugging. His voice was slightly shakey. “I…Paint a sort of picture in my mind of what I know, and then I add the pieces that are missing. I always hope that the feelings will put it out of the receivers mind…And I try not to use it. I don’t…Prefer using it,” he said, smiling shyly. “If I screw up, it can have big consequences. For the receiver and I,” he wished he could explain, but he couldn’t even try. It seemed to large to explain. So he let his words hand in the air. The consequences weren’t quite self explanatory. It wasn’t as if he had supper strength or anything. But maybe she already understood.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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The moods of everyone in the room, including her own, made for a sparkling, electric atmosphere that lifted Massy up so that she had to struggle to add weight to herself and come back down to earth the gym floor. This time, her landing wasn't quite so harsh. She ran a hand through her hand and reminded herself that she needed to be serious and try to calm down. It was rather difficult, though, because Massy lacks the ability to control her own mood. She had spent countless cumulative hours probing around in her mind, trying to reach back there and stretch her mind. It would be so much easier to learn about her ability if she could practice on herself, but it had taken her long enough just to figure out how to see her own emotions. Though, that was actually pretty useless most of the time because she was experiencing them, so clearly she knew what was going on. Maybe it wasn't like that for everyone, but Massy had always been particularly in tune to how she was feeling, with the exception of, perhaps, romantic feelings towards a boy. But that was only because Massy chose to ignore rationality in that particular area of her life in most cases.

Anyway, Massy used to think she was just intuitive. She could read others like an open book. She had even, at one point, studied her family so closely that she could associate nearly all of their mannerisms with a certain emotion, specific to their personality. For instance, her mother and father used to both rub the corner of their mouths with their thumb, but Massy's mother did it when she was trying to organize the events of her day while her dad did did it whenever he was disappointed with her. Since then, she hadn't really taken the time to learn the quirks of anyone else, including herself.

So when Massy reached up to tug at her earlobe, she did not know that it was out of anxiety from the fact that she would have to use her power on Raul soon. She was too distracted by the good feelings in the atmosphere. Later, she might notice it, when it's brought up. But for now, she'll stay mostly cheerful.

The tone of Raul's voice worried her a bit. It seemed to take a lot out of him to create a vision and transport it. She frowned, and the gold-tinted happiness seemed to begin to drain out of her little by little. The thrill was gone, replaced with a strange sort of guilt that she couldn't quite explain. "I know what you mean about not wanting to use your power," she commented, struggling to keep her tone light and pleasant. "And, uh, honestly, I didn't really notice the imperfections until afterward, when I was thinking about it, you know? Does that make sense? Whatever." She laughed. "I didn't mean to be mean when I pointed it out earlier, sorry. I just meant, you know, it's got to be difficult to do just that." she rambled. Normally, Massy would have just let it die, because now she knew she was blowing the whole thing out of proportion. Her cheeks colored a little bit. But she was eager to keep from offending Raul, because she had felt so comfortable around him initially. She took a deep breath and laughed at herself. "Er, sorry again. For going on like that."

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[RAUL-PHILIPPE NIX]

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Raul wished he could replay that moment again and again, to feel all the good things that were entering his body and hers. But like it always did, the feelings dragged away and left something inside of him that felt hallow and destructive. Associative feelings, he supposed. Drained of energy, Raul-Philippe was now left to contemplate his action. Had he left some sort of scar on Massy? Had he used his powers to much? Was this bad feeling the beginning of something more potent, something that could be unleashed on any of the students around him? Was he capable of such a thing?

Raul had, as a child, experimented with his thoughts a lot. His sister had long enjoyed night time stories that played in her head, literally, and had loved the idea’s he had put in. He had always focused on fluffy things, like bunnies and unicorns and other nice pleasant things. He’d never once focused on bad near her. It hadn’t been controllable, and he often felt sick to his stomach after the act, but the smile on her face was always worth it. He could use these images on his mother whenever she was having a bad day at work, and he would often attempt to put his dad into a better mood after a hard day with the images. Of course, they rarely worked on him, but everyone else in his family had thought it amazing. He felt bad, really, that it had to end for them.

When his emotions took hold, he feared everything. He tried not to think. When he was having a bad day, he’d doodle in his sketch book the things that he wanted to put into another’s mind. When he felt sick, he’d attempt to drown his illness in a book of imagination. It wasn’t as though he didn’t have outlets. He did. It was just that when he couldn’t get to them, it was dangerous. Something that Raul always tried to avoid was danger, because he hated it so much. Danger was a sign of wrong. Wrong was not what he was going for.

Raul listened carefully to Massy’s words, then waved off the apology with a smile and a hand gesture. “Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t saything that to be mean…I’m just awkward sometimes,” he said, stating the obvious. He felt light headed but the dizziness was passing as though it had never come. Again, Raul just let out a laugh. “Hey, we all have our quirks, right?” he said in his calm and collected voice. It was slightly raspy with fatigue, but it too would pass after a while. He didn’t suppose it would take long before he could do it again, but then again he wouldn’t really want to do it again any time soon. SAC might be a missed class for a little while, at least until he gained his footing again. It felt as though he were sliding on slippery ice, meant to fall on his face at any point.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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Maslynn is not normally a rather positive creature, for she has long ago accepted that her life will never be simple or easy or nice. And, honestly, it is not that fact that makes her so unhappy; Massy knows that there are many other people in the world who are much more unhappy than she and who go through problems similar to hers. It is the fact that every bad thing that has ever happened to her affects her personality that really gets to Massy. She spends a large amount of her time wondering who she could have been if it weren't for her father dying or her mother being who she is or her mother's low income or . . . anything, really. In Maslynn's mind--though it is not in the least bit true--she is always a better person as a result. She is nicer and less uptight and more fun and more outgoing and less of a romantic. Maslynn has created this sort of alternate version of herself that is so very unattainable; someone who is better than her by tenfold and whom she strives to be. As a result, Massy is slowly becoming embittered by her past experiences. It is a very unhealthy think to be, really. Alas, it is such a very easy thing to fall into.

And so, it crosses Massy's mind that Raul might be able to envision this Perfect Maslynn and, though she's much too proud to ask him to do so, Massy decides that Raul would be a very nice friend to have.

"Do you ever do that to make people feel better if they're having a hard time? I only ask because I've done the same thing with peoples' moods. Only if they ask, though, because I really do hate using my power without consent." Massy bit her lip and remembered how terrified her mother had seemed the first time Massy had offered to make her feel less stressed out after work. She had asked so many what-ifs, it made Massy's head spin. What if you make a mistake? What if you do permanent damage? What if you make me very angry and I hurt you? Massy, of course, knew that moods were constantly changing and that, no matter what she did to her mother, it would only be temporary. Especially back then, when Massy had less control of her ability. She also knew exactly how to relax her mom because she had been exploring what she could do by keeping tabs on certain people and how the appearances of their moods changed on the blanket that she saw. Her grades had slipped because of it, but she'd learned a great deal. She didn't do that anymore. She couldn't bring herself to.

"I mean, I think it could have the same affect. Depending on what the person sees. Oh! Do you experience the same emotions as the person? I can imagine that being happening since you're sort of attached to the vision, you know?" The gears in Massy's head were working rather hard to try and figure out how exactly Raul's power worked; what its limits were, how it affected him. The supernatural powers that her classmates possessed intrigued her to no end. She wanted to know everything about each and every one of them.

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[RAUL-PHILIPPE NIX]

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Raul wished that he had a better answer for all of these questions, and wished that he had some way to answer them without feeling his own heart plummet slightly. He felt exhausted, with a sort of exhaustion that entered him quite frequently now a days. He stared at her carefully, his eyes searching for any sign of distress. Though his eyes dropped slightly, he could still watcher carefully and without any problem. He liked people watching. It gave him idea’s about what and how he should proceed should he need to make a story inside of their minds. He supposed that one day he might be able to make a story. Until then, he would have to remember all of this and hope that he could make some impact.

He hated his power, hated using it, but he supposed that, like Massy suggested, it could have good uses. He used it whenever he needed to calm someone at school, or he used it to injure. He could easily injure, and that was now his biggest freight. He didn’t want to injure anyone, not even his worse enemy. He didn’t want to destroy anyone, not even those who might want to destroy him. He knew that he could do it in the blink of an eye, the power and beauty of being a mutant. But he also understood what would happen if he had to live with anymore guilt or pain.


Raul rubbed the back of his neck. “Before, I used it all the time. If my sister had a hard time getting to sleep, or was sick, I would take care of her and put the images into her mind to help her out, get he mind away from it all. Anymore? I try not to, unless someone asks,” he said simply. He could remember whenever his sister came home with a fever or the flu, and he had to take her into her room and sooth her. She was a crier. Whenever she got sick, she cried. The only way to sooth the child was the play out with her imagination or put her to sleep. He remembered the one time when he couldn’t, when he himself had been sick and he had been unable to do anything, all he had heard where her cries and whimpering. It had hurt him to a large extent. He’d only wanted to help.

The next set of questions made him slightly confused, but he steadied himself and bit his lip. “If I do use it, I feel what they feel. I hope to one day be able to control that. But if they feel horrid pain, I do too. If they are the happiest people in the world, then for a brief moment, so am I. It doesn’t last forever though. I get weak. Sometimes sick, depending on how long I try to hold it out. But it’s usually worth it, so long as I use it at a time when I’m not overly emotional,” he said, smiling at the questions. It felt nice, like he was wanted. He kind of wanted the moment to last.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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"Hm. That sounds really nice. Unfortunately I didn't discover my power before I started hurting people with it, you know, so I've never really used it to help people like I should have. Sometimes if someone looked really horribly bad off. But not very much." Massy frowned and wondered what she could have done for people. The positive was quickly outnumbered by the horribly terrifying outcomes that she imagined, however, and she quickly shoved the images away and concentrated instead on how easy it was to talk to Raul. She felt very empathetic towards him (ha) and she was happy for the assignment today.

The next thing he said made Massy want to burst into tears. She nearly did. However, she was able to control herself. Thank God, she thought, for she was a rather unattractive crier. "I sort of know how you feel--Well, I guess I do know how you feel, actually . . .Whatever. Anyway, I don't experience the same emotions other people do, per say, but the atmosphere changes with the emotions of people around me and sometimes it can be rather disconcerting. Like, I went to a funeral once when I was about thirteen. It was my first funeral. I completely blacked out after being in there for less than five minutes. It was horrifying. And for big tests, I get three times as stressed as everyone else in the room because I can feel the weight of their anxiety on top of my own." Massy bit her lip. Sometimes feeling the emotions of other people was a real burden to bear, and she didn't even feel them the same way that Raul did. Granted, he didn't have to feel it constantly, but Massy had gotten used to it and most of the time it didn't affect her anymore because she had learned how to tune out emotions when they weren't too drastic. It was barely a thing now.

"Speaking of, class is almost over. You're exhausted. I can make you feel better, if you like. It's not entirely difficult. Um, if you don't mind me seeing everything that's going on with your emotions. Exhaustion is sort of an exact emotion if I want to get rid of it. I could just make you feel more energetic, but that wouldn't fix the problem, you know? It just makes you sort of hyper. I--oh, wow. I'm talking too much again."Massy laughed nervously. "I think Daphne's rubbing off on me. I really never talk this much." Massy sort of thought it had more to do with Raul than Daphne--she really thought they could be good friends--but she didn't say that because it was much more comical to think about how Daphne spoke so fast and so much that if one would allow her, she could probably yammer on for the next five years without noticing that more than ten minutes had passed by. Massy rather admired that about Daphne; there was never a dull moment in a conversation with her.

On the other hand, Massy was constantly worried about being too boring. Well, at least this was a change from being too dull, she thought. Even if she was a bit annoying.

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[RAUL-PHILIPPE NIX]

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Raul nodded at her and smiled. “I had to keep in tact as much as I could while I was growing up, or else my pa probably wouldn’t have let me live as long as he did.” he bit his lip and shrugged, figuring she’d figure out sooner or later. He nodded to himself and kept from sighing, then smiled sheepishly. “ But it’s good that you used it a few times, at least. I can’t imagine having no control over it what-so-ever before you came here. That would be complete and utter hell,” he said, biting his lip.

Raul felt a large amount of sympathy enter his heart at Massy’s words. He wished he could tell her that it would ultimately work out, that maybe one day she wouldn’t feel all of the emotions, but he couldn’t promise that, not in a place like this. After you came here, he was pretty sure you had to convince yourself that what you felt would be the end product. He himself felt a large bolt of sadness for her. ”Ah, I see,” was all he could say because he was, per say, speechless. He wasn’t sure what else to say and wasn’t sure if anything else he said would help. He wasn’t a good talker, not with new people. But he felt sort of comfortable around Massy.

Comfort was an odd thing for him, and he told himself that it was totally usual to be comfortable around this girl. She wasn’t vain, she didn’t try to get inside of his head and most importantly, didn’t attempt to hurt him at all in his weak state. Raul-Philippe rather like this weird situation. It meant having someone kind of like him, who kind of understood him, talking to him and getting him, something he hadn’t actually felt or seen in a long time. He felt himself swell with a sort of pride at that idea.

Raul almost denied the offer, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he felt slightly dizzy and closed his mouth and eyes. He took a deep breath in and nodded. ”Yeah, if you don’t mind. I’d rather not go to English looking like I just walked out of the weight room or something. Might ruin my reputation,” he joked, smiling at her with a little hummor. He waved off her apology and laughed. He wished that he could tell her something else, that he didn’t mind, but he suddenly felt himself sink to the floor. It wasn’t dramatic, or even horribly visable.

“Meh, sorry. Just tired.” he said and then yawned. It wasn’t as though he were weak or anything, just tired and drained. It felt like a good workout, really, like those ones that gym teachers make you do for state testing. He wished that he could make a joke about that, but he was currently running flat on jokes. He wasn’t really that good with them anyways.

Raul yawned again and waited for Massy to tinker with his emotions, or to just leave him hanging. He didn’t figure she would leave him hanging, as this seemed like a rather strange thing for her to do, but he figured it was best to be prepared.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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Massy bit her lip and decided not to comment on the bit about his dad. She wondered how tortured his childhood had been. Hers hadn't been particularly pleasant, especially after her father died, but she can't remember fearing for her life more than once. For her mother's, yes . . . That was another thing she and Raul had in common, if she wasn't just jumping to conclusions.

She nodded slowly. "Yes, that would have been frightening. I'm sure there are kids like that, here, though." She wondered if anyone like that was in the room with her. The thought was a bit frightening, but it wasn't like there were any new kids. They had been here long enough that they should have some control over their powers.

Regardless, it was a frightening thought. It was, for people like Massy and Raul, just as horrifying as losing control of one's body. In many cases, it rendered you completely helpless. You became a burden, sometimes a danger to yourself and others. It was horrifying.

Massy pushed the thoughts out of her head before they had time to really affect her. Thinking that way had the potential to ruin a person, she knew.

While she was speaking, her voice faltered a second because she felt a sudden stab of pain. But it was not true pain. It was pain on behalf of another. It was too strong to be from anyone but Raul because no one else was anywhere near her; they gymnasium was rather large and every set of partners had spread out evenly. She did not initially understand it.

But she closed her eyes and took a second to locate Raul in the emotional map in her head. She 'zoomed in' and first, though she knew she should be relieving his exhaustion, located the pain. It was only then that she realized that he was feeling melancholy on her behalf. Her lips curled up in a tiny smile. Raul was feeling empathetic for an empath.

However amusing it might have seemed, since the emotion was tied to her, it weighed Massie down and made it more difficult for her to locate the bundle of emotional fabric that was Raul's fatigue. Once she had, however, she found that it was coiled rather tightly and she screwed up her face in concentration. It took a great deal of effort to smooth it out, and she felt a bit tired afterward, herself. Halfway through, she realized that she needed to get rid of his sadness or else she would never be able to finish; though it had subsided quite a while ago, emotions never left a person. Not when Massy looked at them, anyway. It was like looking through memories, but she couldn't see what was happening. Only how the person was feeling.

So Massy returned her attention to that area and dragged a fold of happiness over to fix it. She felt quite a bit more free after that and finally managed to finish what she had set out to do in the first place. It took a long time, she thought. Maybe ten minutes had passed before she opened her eyes with a grimace. "I'm sorry that took so long. You were really, really tired," she apologized.

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