ic Witchy Woman

[Heritage]

Claremont Academy. Sunday, September 8th, 2019. 1:03 am

 

One of the realities of having a telepathic girlfriend is the fact that, as long as you're in range, she can basically reach you at anytime. In the case of Adam Lanchester and Lulu Beaumont's relationship, this meant thoughtful, silly or romantic 'chats' could take place at any hour, but in general the loquacious redhead left her man alone after 9pm most nights.

 

Which made it extra surprising when she suddenly reached out to him the middle of the night, and at extra loud volume at that!

 

- Adam! Adam, wake up! Something f###ing freaky is happening! -

Edited December 3, 2020 by Heritage

[Thunder King]

Adam had only just drifted off to sleep. Her sudden telepathic communication woke him immediately. He had just finished reading and set his tablet down, had just drifted off to sleep.

 

The temptation to stay in constant communication was always there. Frankly, their near constant communication never felt like an intrusion. Rather, it felt comforting. His parents were a little...disturbed to hear it, but assured him that if they could put up with each other pretty much constantly, it was likely a good sign. 

 

"OH! Uh, hey, what's up Lulu? What happened? Are you okay?"

[Heritage]

- Just, just come up to my room! My roomie's not here and I'm scared! I can't, I can't control my powers! -

 

That sentence was enough to make anyone's blood run cold. Lulu was a very powerful telepath who'd always had excellent control over her powers. The thought of her losing that control was almost too frightening to consider.

 

- Please, Adam! I'm afraid! -

 

The sheer terror in her voice was heartbreaking.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Heritage

[Thunder King]

Adam got dressed quickly, or rather, mostly dressed. He was as quiet as he could be, entering Lulu's room while wearing a half-buttoned shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms. 

 

"Lulu, what's wrong?" He said, stumbling in. He was trying to whisper as much as he could. "What's happened?" He had a worried look on his face, which was notably lacking his prosthetics or makeup.

"

[Heritage]

As he entered the room, Adam was hit in the head by a plastic alligator that was flying about the room. Once his eyes adjusted to the moonlight coming into the window, he was treated to a stunning sight: Lulu, wearing a T-shirt and sleepy pants, floating in the air about five feet off the ground! Her back was parallel to the ground, and her arms and legs were spread wide. And perhaps more shocking still, a wide variety of small objects were orbiting around her body in three separate arcs, like asteroids or atomic rings.

 

Lulu's eyes were wide open and she was shaking, seemingly too scared to talk or even move. Once she sensed her boyfriend's presence in the room, her head jerked slightly to one side as her huge eyes met his.

 

- Adam! I hit my head and it started, and now I can't get it too stop! And it hurts! It hurts when I blink! -  

Edited September 28, 2019 by Heritage

[Thunder King]

Adam rushed forward. He was uniquely qualified for this sort of thing, as these small objects were unlikely to do anything more than bother him. He rushed and wrapped his arms gently around her.

 

"I'm here, Lulu. I'm here." He ignored the objects in the room and just held her gently. He wasn't trying to restrain her, he was trying to comfort her.

 

"You're okay, Lulu. You're okay. I'm here. I'm sure you're far from the only psychic who's powers manifested in a new way." He was trying to avoid sounding as worried as he was. He grasped at straws and hoped that if she calmed down, her powers would too. 

 

Lulu had been amazing for him. She had been compassionate, understanding and warm to him. She needed him, and he was here. He was going to help her if he could.

[Heritage]

As soon as Adam took Lulu in his arms, she reached around and grabbed him with both arms, and there was a loud BOOM! All the objects flew outwards to smash against the floor, walls and ceiling, some of them even shattering upon impact. The young telepath was shaking violently in his arms, and sobbing so hard that sometimes she lost her breath. She clung to him, harder than she'd ever held him before, and then she seemed to pass out. At least her breathing and heart rate were regular; perhaps the strain and hyperventilating had just exhausted her to the point of collapse. She felt small and frail and vulnerable, but at least she seemed to be at peace.

Edited September 28, 2019 by Heritage

[Thunder King]

Adam knelt to the floor and sat, letting her rest against him. He sat on her floor, holding her. Her life signs were okay as far as he could tell. He leaned against her bed and just let her rest against him. He was sure that this was what she needed right now. She needed to rest after all this. She felt so light, so fragile in his arms. 

 

He reflected on how much he admired and appreciated her there, and how he was going to make sure she was okay. 

[Shofet]

Mia was roused from her nightly snacking session by the sound of a young man's voice coming from... Somewhere down the hall. She had a pretty good idea of what was going on, but she wasn't a narc so she wasn't going to make any problems.

 

She nearly choked on another mouthful of pizza when she heard the loud boom. Quickly, she stowed the pizza slice back in the dimensional pocket she kept its brothers in, and got to her feet. Hurrying, she rushed down the hall to where she thought she heard the noise. Thinking quickly she threw opened the door, and the moment she saw a young man, she aimed her hand at him.

 

"Mother☠☠☠☠☠☠, you best step away from her or you are gonna know what it's like to get carbonized."

 

She didn't look particularly threatening, dressed only in a just-below-the-knee t-shirt, her long black hair up in a bun and her mouth stained with tomato sauce, but her expression was fierce and there was a distinct twinkling around her hand.

[Thunder King]

"I'm her boyfriend." Adam said. "She suddenly manifested telekinetic powers and called for me through her telepathy. I appreciate your concern, but I promise, I'm not attacking her. Look at the room. Do you think I scattered all this stuff?"

 

He did not know this girl well, and had no interest in fighting her. She wasn't physically threatening, but he could only guess at her powers. 

 

He also hoped Lulu would wake up to calm things down.

[Heritage]

Suddenly Lulu shook, heaved and coughed up a ton of foul-smelling water all down Adam's back; it smelled earthy, like it came from a swamp. Her coughing continued for about a minute before she stopped and looked over at the weird new girl, Mia; it looked she had a bead on Adam, and you didn't have to be a psychic to know what she assumed.

 

"it's okay," the telepath said weakly as she waved her hand in a dismissive gesture; unfortunately, that gesture was echoed by a lamp, which flew against the wall right next to Ma's head! "I'm sorry!" Horrified, Lulu held up her hands, which even more unfortunately flung Mia backwards out into the hall!

Edited September 28, 2019 by Heritage

[Shofet]

Mia blinked, looking around herself. She realized that her feet were suddenly not touching the ground. This was not good. This was not good at all. As the wall of the hallway drew closer to her, she sighed, and suddenly, a loud crack filled the air.

 

Suddenly, she was back where she had been, standing at the doorway to the room. She waited for a moment, to make sure nothing rose up to dome her, and when that didn't happen, she held up her hands.

 

"Okay, so if we cannot... Throw me at walls, that'd be real cool."

 

She looked over at Lulu, then Adam. "So... You... Sorry, don't know anyone's names. You, the girl. You suddenly have powers you can't control. And you, boy... You are here to help. Okay. I... Am fairly certain we have some staff here at the school that can help."

 

"I can either teleport you down to them, or teleport them up here. Is that okay with you two?"

 

Her voice was calm and measured, trying her best to keep cool.

[Thunder King]

"If you could go downstairs and get some help, that would be amazing. I'm not sure what's going on, but I don't think stressing Lulu out more would be a good idea. Thank you for your help."

 

Adam wasn't sure how Lulu would respond to teleportation, and did not want to find out. Hell, he wasn't sure how he would respond.  He was grateful for her offer of help, though. 

[Heritage]

Lulu lower her hands down to her sides, grimacing the whole time, too scared to make more than the slightest gesture. "Adam hon, can you...move me onto the bed? Just sweep all the junk right off." Her voice was strained but steady, though there was a hint of barely controlled panic just below the surface. Once she was laying down, she turned the new girl. "It's Mia, right? Ah really don't think ah should move right now, but if you could grab someone from the nurse's office right quick, ah'd appreciate it." Then she swallowed as her face clouded with shame. "And... ah'm sorry, about the... ah'm just glad you're okay."

 

Once the teleporter left, Lulu looked up at her boyfriend and began weeping uncontrollably. "Oh Lord...ah could have killed her, Adam! If she didn't have powers? Oh God, ah hate this; ah don't want this!" She buried her face in her hands and continued crying.

[Shofet]

Mia nodded. "Alright, you two just hang tight, and I'll, uh... I'll be right back," she said, nodding to herself. "Oh, and Lulu? It's cool."

 

With that, she teleported out, disappearing. She transported herself down to the nurse's office, where she hurriedly rushed to the overnight people. "Hey!" she called as she rushed in. The people inside looked at her with confusion, especially given her choice of attire.  "Is there something wrong?" one lady at the desk asked. The entire room, in addition to confusion, seemed rather concerned as well.

 

"Yeah, we got a case of rogue powers up on my floor, and like, she's hurling stuff around uncontrollably so like, if someone's real durable that'd be real handy. Like real, real handy," she said. 

 

One of the staff stepped forward, a middle-aged, more heavy set woman with kind blue eyes and frizzy red hair stepped forward. "What floor is she on?"

 

Mia looked up at the ceiling above her. "She's up on the third floor in Room 302, but I can just... take you there," she said, gesturing to herself. "I'm a teleporter which can make this all quicker and I'm pretty sure time is of the essence, here," she said.

 

The woman nodded, gathering up some things, before looking over at Mia. "What kind of powers does she have?"

 

Mia thought for a moment. "Like... telekinesis, I guess? Psychic stuff, I think."

 

The woman nodded, and then grabbed a few more things. "Alright, let's go."

Mia simply took a hold of the woman's shoulder, and simply teleported up with her to the room. "Hey! Look what I got. A nurse."

 

The woman nodded, and smiled. "I understand we're having some problems with powers. I'm Ms. Beaubien, and I would like to help," she said, speaking in a voice that was soft and comforting. Tactfully, she ignored the presence of a boy up in the girl's floor at this hour. There were more pressing matters to deal with at this moment right now. 

[Heritage]

Lulu looked very relieved to see Mia back again already "Thank you, ah-" But then she noticed the bag the nurse was holding, and she sat straight up in bed. "Waitaminute, there better not be any f###in' meds in that bag! I am not goin' back on meds again!" All the bits of broken things began to slowly rise up off the floor and swirl around Lulu, her bed and Adam. The redheaded psychic turned to her boyfriend, blind fear in her eyes. "Don't let them put me on meds again, Adam! It feels like death! It's worse than death!"

 

Rings of broken glass and shattered plastic began to orbit around Lulu, like the ones that orbited Jupiter and Saturn, but only about fifteen feet across.. They weren't going very fast yet, but they were starting to pick up speed, and some of them looked awful sharp.

[Avenger Assembled]

Nurse Beaubien immediately put down the bag. "It's all right, Ms. Beaumont," she said reassuringly, "we don't have to give you any drugs. We're not going to do anything to you that you don't want. I'm going to message Nurse Joy," she said, carefully interposing herself between Mia and the brewing storm inside the room, "and she's going to send us some help. You're safe now, and everything's going to be all right." She kept her word, taking out her phone and quickly tapping out a text, continuing her conversation with the other students. "Mr. Lanchester, do you feel safe where you are?" 

[Thunder King]

Adam nodded. "She can't hurt me. I'm here for her as long as she wants me here. I think she'll be okay." He hugged her gently and ignored the glass.

 

"This is a school for kids with powers in the city with the largest concentration of empowered people in the world. Whatever happened, you'll be okay, Lulu."

[Heritage]

It appeared that Lulu was hyperventilating, but trying to get her breathing under control; her hair was damp with sweat, her pale face slick. She was holding onto Adam's arm for dear life, but even with her nails digging in so hard, she did no damage, just like he said. Her breathing was shallow and rapid, and her boyfriend could see her pulse on her neck.

 

"It's okay... we're okay...just as long as...no meds... breathe, Lulu... breathe, baby girl...breathe..."

 

The ring of debris continued to spin around the two of them, fast enough to cut the unwary who might try and approach.

[Shofet]

Mia was just a bit alarmed at how Lulu reacted to the thought of medication. Worse than death? So she'd been medicated before. She felt a little chill run down her spine. Whatever had made her react like that must have done a real number on her. Thankfully, Nurse Beaubien seemed pretty cool about the no-meds thing. Meant that this school wasn't going to force anything on anyone.

 

"If anyone needs me to get anything, I can be anywhere in the school super quick," she said.

 

She wanted to feel helpful here. She didn't know this girl, but she seemed to be really stressed out and afraid and Mia had been there. Never because of her powers, per se, but... She'd been there, and she wanted to do anything she could to make that just a little bit easier, if she could.

[Avenger Assembled]

There was some commotion in the hallways - students with various enhanced senses to see what was the matter, but the floor's RA was already on the scene to help smooth things out and help everyone get back to bed. And then an unusual duo arrived - Nurse Aretha Joy, head nurse for the whole school, with an  unlikely person in tow. Ashley Smith looked tired and decidedly odd - a leather jacket thrown over full-length red flannel pajamas, cracking her knuckles. At the door, while the two nurses talked quietly, Ashley muttered something under her breath in a language Mia didn't speak - then stepped inside. 

 

"Lulu. Adam." Her tone was distinctly different than Watchdog's usual bark, but she still sounded decidedly wary. "I'm here to help." She took a few steps into the room, Watchdog's helmet under her arm. "It's okay," she said, "I know Judy has told you I've helped her with her powers, and I can help you. I just need you to trust me," she said, looking intensely at Lulu and Adam, the two nurses watching her as she did so. I was hoping to keep this a secret, but I can't let a psion go crazy in the heart of Claremont. 

[Heritage]

Lulu looked up at Ashley, heard the new tone in her voice, and knew she was about to get a peek behind the curtain. On some level, she knew Judy's sister wasn't doing this out of the goodness of her heart; she made a vow to someone to protect her little sister from anyone who might harm her. In fact, she'd probably kill to protect her, maybe even had. And surely that was love of some kind.

 

So really, she was here out of love. And Lulu was fine with that.

 

"Just do it," she said flatly; she was so tired. "Just make it end."

Edited October 7, 2019 by Heritage

[Avenger Assembled]

Ashley pulled on Watchdog's helmet - then fearlessly stepped into the storm of debris around Lulu and Adam. The chunks buffeted her but she kept moving, staggering along until she'd reached Lulu's bedside, hurting enough that she was probably bleeding somewhere under the jacket. Well that was all right. She reached down with her left hand and took Lulu's, squeezing it tight. "Okay. Okay, focus on me, and we're going to get through this together." 

 

Her grip tightened - and Lulu suddenly had the distinct sensation that she was being drained, as if the energy in her body, her mind, in her very soul, was being pulled out of her and into Watchdog. The chill going through her seemed to reach her ears, and she heard - 

 

Tôi, Ashley George, long trọng khẳng định rằng tôi sẽ ủng hộ Hiến pháp và
luật pháp Hoa Kỳ; que je prenne cette obligation librement, sans aucune réserve mentale ni but d'évasion; et que je m'acquitterai bien et fidèlement des devoirs de la fonction sur laquelle je suis sur le point d'entrer.

 

And then "Y'all know Judy can't sleep anymore, right?" Watchdog was murmuring in a voice that sounded oddly familiar to both Lulu and Adam. "This is how Ah help her sleep, and how Ah help her control her powers. But you've gotta relax and let me do this, Lulu-" She reached down and put her other hand on Lulu's, aware she was definitely bleeding down that arm, and squeezed tighter. 

 

"Come on honey, we're almost there..." The others could see nothing happening, just Ashley holding on and Lulu seeming to waver, the storm of debris in the air beginning to wobble and loose power, as she - 

 

stood over her father's grave and vowed an oath of vengeance 

kissed a boy and liked it 

screamed a final curse at Callie Summers before turning and walking away 

held Judy while the world burned and told her everything was going to be all right

kissed a woman and liked it 

looked Judy in the eye and told her that whatever happened, she'd be with her till the end of the line... 

 

Slowly, slowly, Lulu's eyes drifted shut as the debris fell to the floor. She was asleep. With a deep sigh, Ashley stepped back, hand rubbing her arm where she'd been cut before - and vanished. 

 

[Thunder King]

Adam held Lulu gently before setting her down. He took a deep breath. He would thank Ashley. He didn't know how, nor when, but he owed her for this. He wanted to hold Lulu until she was okay. He realized that he was never scared of Lulu He was scared for her. 

 

What scared him the most was how much he loved her. He wasn't supposed to be falling in love, not at this age. Yet she made him feel worthy of her love and attraction, and those made him love her more. Still, he could do a hell of a lot worse than her. 

[Shofet]

Mia had been watching from the doorway, eyes as big as headlights. She had no idea what had just happened, but Ashley had just fixed everything, which she was admittedly thankful for. And then she just blinked out of existence, and Mia couldn't help but curse. Sure, she was glad that things were better now, but Ashley just stole her gimmick!

 

"Ah, come on!" Mia said miserably. "How can so many people teleport here? It's not like it's easy. You have to account for where the Earth is going to be because it's moving and you gotta make sure you don't warp into anything and... damnit," she said as she sighed, slumping her shoulders. Why was it the cool power was the one everyone had? 

 

Her eyes settled on Lulu, and she recovered a bit of a smile. "Well, at least she's gonna be okay for now. That was pretty intense..." she said softly. "I'm gonna... go, I guess, back to my room." To eat contraband pizza.

Edited October 7, 2019 by Shofet