The Morning of (IC)

[Cyroa]

Date: October 31st, 2009

James dropped onto the couch, tired. It had been a busy day and not entirely a happy one. His powers had spiked recently, his control increased quickly as well. Not a good thing really. He could feel the ‘day’ coming fast.

It would be tomorrow, he knew it. The day when every moronic yahoo tried to do some ‘black magic’ or something equally foolish. It didn’t help that it was the day when the barrier between Earth and the lower planes was at it’s weakest. Some of those yahoos would likely succeed when they would otherwise fail. And their success meant James was going to be having some unpleasant visitors of the fiery kind.

He hadn’t really changed his behavior much over the last week, or even today. He still lived his life pretty much as normal, had fun, done his best to relax. He’d put some things in order, made a few preparations just in case as well as to prepare his chosen ground. It wouldn’t be pleasant but he wasn’t going willingly.

He glanced out the window. It was still dark but dawn was only a few hours away. The battle for his existence and ‘soul’ would start today. So what had he been doing these last few hours? Having fun on a date, or two, of course. He chuckled to himself. Typical for him really.

It would be a battle though. He knew this wasn’t exactly a minor event. They wanted him quite badly. They weren’t going to be pulling any punches. Which was why he hadn’t told anyone, not that many knew what he really was anyway. It was his fight after all. He wasn’t going to risk his friend’s lives for nothing. It was a novel concept to some degree still. But they were his friends. And he would protect them, even from himself if necessary. He’d already made plans for that as well.

He looked between his guitar and the game stations. He had a couple hours to kill and a little relaxation seem appropriate. The games weren’t nearly as fun playing alone though. He’d shown up a lot later than usual this evening so his partner was had probably headed of to do something else.

He shrugged and reached for his guitar. He couldn’t create music like most gifted artists, but he could play. He’d been holding back a little lately in Eddie’s band. He hadn’t wanted to eclipse them; it was their thing after all. But now? He picked an old ballad and just let it play through him, giving it feeling.

[Electra]

The music caught Erin's attention as she came back from the gym. James didn't play too often when they hung out together, but she could tell it was him right away. Not too many musical geniuses hung out in the common room after midnight. She herself was just getting back from a workout in the Doom Room. With Next Gen back on campus, it was harder than usual to book time, and a lot of the prime hours always seemed spoken for. She'd worked up a sweat during the two hour program, and thanks to Archer's continuing fascination with electrical controllers, her uniform was singed in half a dozen places, but nothing that wouldn't wash out. It was late, and she could use a shower and a couple hours of sleep, but the lonely melancholy of the ballad tugged at her.

She stopped at the open door of the common room, then leaned up against the doorway to listen to the music. When it was finished, she was quiet for a moment, then said, "I didn't think you'd be coming down here tonight. I stopped by earlier and you were out."

[Cyroa]

James looked up as he heard Erin's voice. He greeted her with a grin as the music stopped. "Morning. Ish. Sorry. But yeah, I was out relaxing. Kind of a date/rave thing. Got in a little while ago. Seems like you've been either hit by the industrial strength taser or playing with a flame thrower. If it's the latter, I promise I won't be offended," he said with grin. They hung out most nights of course, but they weren't tied to it. Still he felt bad if he had left her hanging. "So how did the training session go," he asked as he set the guitar down, interested in how she was doing. He hadn't really done many of them himself. Archer seemed happy to pretend James didn't exist most of the time, focusing that attention on others such as Erin.

[Electra]

She waved a hand noncommittally. "Archer wasn't there tonight, thank God, but it was one of his programmed runs. He didn't manage to kill me this time, so that's a plus." Erin brushed some of the soot off herself, then sat down on the couch as well. "And it was the taser. Again. Or the next best thing. How'd the date go?" They were friends enough for her to ask that question without it being awkward, and James did tend to have interesting stories to tell.

[Cyroa]

James shrugged with a smile. "Nothing exceptional. Just a random girl I met at the rave. Nice body, not much going on upstairs. Certainly not someone I'd want to spend more time with than necessary outside of fooling around. Fine for the evening but little else. Beyond that, just a fun rave to blow off steam and have fun. A different way from a fight I suppose, though those are certainly fun too. There's almost certainly going to be some wild ones tomorrow night," he said with shrug. He was doing his level best to only look at her out of the corner of his eye. He'd learned a few things over the last week or so in preventing certain things from happening.

"So, what are your plans for tomorrow? You're not the trick-or-treater type; it's fun. Even for 'adults'. You should try it sometime. And it's not likely you'll be going to the school party tomorrow either I'll bet. Though you did go on a 'date' with Mike so anything's possible right?" He grinned and smiled, just gently teasing. It wasn't likely the most safe of subjects with Erin but that's what friends were for.

[Electra]

"It wasn't a date," Erin replied, propping her feet up on the table. "We went out and played baseball, then got a snack, and that was about it. We're just friends. He and Alex are totally together now anyway." She picked up a game controller and started fiddling with it, for all that the TV wasn't on. "Dr. Marquez and I came to a "mutual understanding" that I'd be better off staying on campus and in my room tomorrow," she told him, not bothering to hide her distaste for the psychologist. James had heard it before. "You're blowing off the school party for stuff in town, then?"

[Cyroa]

James fiddled with the guitar at his feet, looking at the inactive tv screen with Erin only in his peripheral vision. "Yeah. I've got stuff to do," he said with a shrug. "Not my favorite holiday anyway." Given his heritage, that was a given. "If you don't like him, I'm sure there are others you could try you know. That have experience with the whole 'powers' and everything that can go with it thing. If you want, I'll have someone look them up for you." Therapy, which Erin needed to one degree or another obviously, worked better if you didn't hate the shrink. "So, what are you doing? Go to the party on campus. You'll have fun. And you won't be sitting in your room alone."

[Electra]

Erin shrugged. "I'm still in touch with my old doctor, but he works with adult Freedom League members, mostly. Marquez is the only one they've got at the school. Maybe he's a decent shrink, but I'm not gonna trust my deepest feelings to anybody who can get me tossed out of school. It's no big deal, we've been arguing for months now and nothing's gotten worse. And he's right that I shouldn't be out on Halloween. God knows I get set off by weird stuff sometimes. I'm not going to risk taking a pop at a trick or treater because he's wearing the wrong costume. What do you have to do?" Maybe it was intrusive, but James didn't have any problems not answering her questions when he didn't want to.

[Cyroa]

James nodded. "Still. If you want, I'll look into it for you. Whatever helps out," he said with smile. Getting his friend help she needed and wanted wasn't any trouble as far as he was concerned. "You might still hang out with the others. I'm sure they don't want you to be sitting upstairs alone and bored out of you head." He set the guitar down in it's case, keeping his attention on it, and not looking at her.

He could lie. It would certainly be easier. And it wasn't like Erin would have a shot at realizing it. But she was his friend. And he didn't particularly want to lie to her. Then again, he didn't want to tell her the truth either. Then she'd insist on being there, or if he still said no, would just follow along anyway. And likely bring the others along. The whole point was to protect them from this. So he settled on just not telling her. "It's personal stuff. Things I've been putting off for a while. Hopefully will wrap up pretty quick," he said with a shrug.

[Electra]

"Personal stuff, on Halloween?" Erin asked. She wasn't the smartest girl at school, but she could string together bits of information with reasonable acuity. Or at least enough to jump to conclusions. "You mean like family stuff? Like your dad's side of the family?" It was weird to put it that way, but it was the politest way she could think to put it. And if James' dad was going to get visitation at any time, it would seem like Halloween would be the night for it.

[Cyroa]

He gave a wry smile. "It is just another day. Admittedly, wierd stuff seems more commonplace on Holloween yeah. But it isn't always about that demons and such. There's also magic, mummies, vampires, ghosts and zo...stuff." He stopped and change the word halfway through. They didn;t talk about her past and he was doing his darndest (he didn't even think in terms of using the words 'damned' or 'hell') to not push. Or, at the moment, look at her. "As for family stuff on his side, they only show up if they are summoned here thankfully. Let's hope no one is stupid enough for that to happen." Even though he knew full well it was true and had been so for a couple months now.

[Electra]

Erin studied him for a minute. James was usually very forthright, especially for someone apparently spawned by at least one of the uncles of lies, but tonight he was acting kind of weird. Like he was embarrassed about something. And he'd figured out something about where she came from, judging by that little verbal slip-up. Maybe he'd heard something about her world from somebody, or gone digging himself and didn't want to say anything about it. That was fine, she didn't want to say anything about it either. And his business was just that, his own. Feeling just a bit nettled anyway, she gestured with the controller towards the television. "You want to play tonight?"

[Cyroa]

He was pretty good at reading people but it didn't take a lot of effort to tell Erin had suddenly gotten ticked at him. "Sure. But first, tell me what's wrong," he said, mainly looking ahead still even though he thought he knew the answer. Given what he'd said, it wasn't much of a leap to figure that she was mad because he wasn't going into detail about tomorrow; normally he didn't really hold back. Of course sometimes those logic leaps were wrong.

[Electra]

Erin thought about trying to brush him off, but he was kind of like Alex that way, it was pretty useless to try and lie to him. "Did you hear something about me?" she asked, looking straight at him for all he wouldn't meet her gaze. "Something about where I come from? I heard you cut yourself off there, and you won't even look at me now. I don't know what stories might be going around, but I think I deserve to hear them."

[Cyroa]

James blinked in confusion, starting to turn to look without thinking before he caught himself. "Wait, what? Hang on a sec. What are you talking about? To my knowledge no one is talking about you in any way or has a clue about where you come from outside of myself and anyone you've actually told. I don't know anything but what we've talked about and seen. Maybe put a few ideas together. That's all." He hadn't seen this one coming. It caught him by completely off guard.

[Electra]

"Then why are you acting so weird?" she demanded. "If it's not because of zombies or anything like that. You haven't even looked over this way since I came in, and it makes you look really guilty of... I don't know, something. Sorry if I jumped to conclusions," she muttered, somewhat belatedly.

[Cyroa]

James chuckled softly. He had no problem telling her why really; she knew a lot after all. He just felt...guilty; not a common thing for him. She was one of the few it hadn't happened to and he almost had it under control. He didn't want to slip now. "Because over the last week or two, I've had some spikes with my powers." Well, more than just 'some' but he was trying to focus on the topic at hand. "Something new developed. And I've almost go a hold of it. But when it works, I learn things about people that I, or they, probably don't want me to know or even know themselves. I see parts of their core, who they are. Seeing their soul I suppose you could say." He shrugged his shoulders as he said the last words quietly. He knew it wasn't a topic Erin was comfortable with but she'd asked. "It's already happened with several of of our friends and a bunch of others. So, since I'm doing my best to not do it to you, the one way I know it won't is to not look at you."

[Electra]

"Oh. Wow." Erin sat back on the couch, folding one leg under her as she thought about that. "That's gotta be a weird power to have crop up one day. Especially if you've been going on dates." She scratched one ear, a little uncomfortably. "Is that going to be a thing now, where you can't look at people or you might see inside them, or is it something you can learn not to do unless you want to? I know Alex had to do years of training for that sort of thing, but she started real young."

[Cyroa]

He rolled his eyes. "You have no idea. Talk about killing the mood. Sometimes I see things that are wondrous and amazing. Othertimes...not so much. Knowing what people really desire or fear, along with other deep aspects of their lives? Good and bad I suppose. But very weird." He shrugged, staring at the blank tv and seeing Erin out of the corner of his eyes.

"Nah, I'm getting the hang of it. Hopefully everything will be settled in a couple days. Luckily, like the rest of my stuff, it doesn't take long for me to get control. It's triggered by strong emotions; mine or theirs. While I've almost got it, I can't count on not slipping. I already picked up some things from Alex before I realized what was going on. Trying not to invade your mind, soul, essence, whatever too."

[Electra]

"Yeah, I can't say I like the idea of you getting into my head, but powers are weird that way sometimes," Erin said with a resigned shrug. "Alex already dropped into a really fun nightmare I had this summer, that was weird. But she didn't mean to. Want to play video games?" she suggested again, this time without the rancor. "It's easier to talk without looking at each other if we're both looking at something else."

[Cyroa]

He nodded, picking up the controlled. "Yeah," he said turning the tv on and getting the game system loaded. "Bet that was fun. I would give quite a lot to be like Alex or Mike." He slid the controlled around, the screen, debating what game to play. "Bet she was supportive in it though. Nightmare's suck. The rules don't work and you're just stuck, right?"

[Electra]

"Most of mine are just memories," she said with a shrug, "they just play out and I get to watch them again. Sometimes with whatever's been bothering me that day thrown in for flavor. They aren't as bad as yours, at least when I wake up, they're over." She turned on her controller, flicking it up towards the screen to make the cursor move. "Maybe if your powers are changing, that means your dad won't be able to get ahold of you anymore, and you'll stop having nightmares."

[Cyroa]

He shrugged. "Yours are just as bad for you. Dreams are worse than reality I think sometimes. You've got no real defense." He debating for a moment about saying something that happened. But it was Erin, so he pushed on. "Doubt it. Did I tell you I went down there? Not just in my dreams, but like actually appearing down there? Another power burst. Three or four days ago. But on the plus side, I can and did port back easy so that's something. Ridiculous how easy it is to slip the dimensional barrier, though no idea why I'd want to." He shrugged once more. "But still had one of the nightmares. Can't have everything right?"

[Electra]

"That's a little creepy, that the barrier is so thin," Erin mused, absently setting the console to a cooperative puzzle game. She wasn't terribly good at it, but neither was he, and they could play on Easy mode. "But maybe it's a good sign for you. Maybe it means you'll be able to control it eventually. If you can do, like, lucid dreaming or something like that, maybe you could will yourself to teleport back, even when you're sleeping. Eventually they won't be able to hold onto you anymore, and you won't have to worry about it."

[Cyroa]

He raised an eyebrow at the game she selected. Not their usual choice. "That's just mean. Making me think," he said jokingly. "Well, technically it isn't that thin. Been getting some lessons from the heroine on it since its her job. It's more like...it's just that easy for me to slide between. Something about being from both makes it easy for me." He chuckled. "But I like the positive outlook."

They played for a while, just the usual jokes between them before James, predictably, lost again. "So, what' going on with you?"