Players:
Summary: Aiden and Star talk about their similar powers.
Date: April 26, 2011
Log Title: Emotion Is Our Game
Rating: PG
Westchester - Titicus Reservoir
Surrounded by trees and plenty of green, Titicus Reservoir is a peaceful spot. There is a fence surround the water to keep people out of the watershed. Sorry but there is no swimming in the drinking water. Before the fence is a small park with picnic tables, grills, and a large grassy area for recreational activity. The park is well maintained by the state of New York so it seems clean almost all the time.
It's a beautiful day out, the temperature is nice and the sun is out. On a day like today Aiden couldn't stay in the city and just went out flying. Spotting the park in upstate New York he decided to settled down and relax enjoying the water, birds, trees and quiet. He's lying on his stomach, his wings folded up lazily behind him with the occasional movement. He's dressed in a pair of black shiny pants tucked into a pair of knee length buckled boots and a sleeveless shirt. His tattoos are a faint green of contentment as he flips to the next page of the book he's reading.
Unable, or maybe just unwilling, to stay confined to the school any longer and wanting to spend a little time alone where she doesn't have to worry about trying to keep her emotions in check, Star has made her way to the park at the reservoir. She's dressed in a long blue denim sundress and a pair of black ballet flats, the hem of the dress swirling around her ankles as she walks. A cloud of tension trails along with her. She doesn't have a particular goal in mind for her little walk, just meandering along toward the fence around the water, but stops when she spots a familiar blue-winged man. She wrinkles her nose a little and takes a deep breath, focusing on calm and peaceful thoughts and trying to force all of the bad feelings down for the moment. She doesn't want to inflict her mood on anyone else, after all… "Hey." It's a greeting of sorts, after all…
Aiden dog-ears his book, A Series of Unfortunate Events, before putting it down. "Oh hey Star." Aiden says as he moves himself to a sitting position. "Didn't think I'd really meet anyone out here I know…well considering I don't know many people around here. Actually I don't really know where I am." Aiden confesses. "How are you doing today?"
"I'm… I'm alright. I guess." Star shrugs, trying to get a look at the cover of the book, "What're you reading?" She gives a small smile at him not knowing where he is and not having expected to run into her, "You're in Westchester." Beat, "I go to school here. I just like to go into New York to unwind a little sometimes." She fingercombs her hair forward over her shoulder, "How about you?"
"I'm reading this book called A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's the first book but pretty good so far. I think I was drawn to it because it sounded kind of dark." Aiden admits with a grin. "Oh I met someone last night that said they went to school in Westchester. Small world. I think it's the opposite for me I needed to unwind so I flew until I found a park in what looked like the middle of nowhere. I'm good. Here's a hint, if these markings are in green I'm in a good mood."
Star nods, offering a small smile, "I can tell you're in a good mood." She pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath and nodding once, "It's… calming." She is calmer now than she was when she first arrived. Not by much, but a little. She grins and nods at the comment about the book, "It's a pretty good series. I read it a couple of years ago." She blinks a couple of times when she hears that he met someone else that goes to school in town, "Do you remember their name?" She gestures off in the direction of the mansion, "I'm going to a… a boarding school here. There are a bunch of us that like to head into the city when we can."
"I actually like reading. Since I don't own a television or computer or anything fancy like that." Aiden says though Young Adult books are about at his reading level. "So far it's interesting. I just picked it up from the Library. And his name was Kieran. Easy for me to remember cause I have a brother with that name." He says as the tattoos on his arms show a hint of blue as he can't help but feel a bit of sorrow for a brother he hasn't seen in fourteen years. "Boarding School that sounds…I don't think I could deal with a boarding school, or have."
"Yeah, I can understand liking reading. I don't read a whole lot, myself, though." Star shrugs again, "Mostly, I watch movies, or play my trombone." Beat, "Mostly." She nods slowly when she's told the name, "Not anyone I know." She frowns faintly at the hint of sorrow and cocks her head at him, moving to sit down on the grass a short distance away, but still in conversation range, "I'm sure you miss him. I missed Cloud a lot when I was home for a couple of months." She shakes her head and shrugs, "Nah. Boarding school isn't that bad. I kind of like going to Xavier's, actually." There's a quiet chuckle, "Then again, I kind of get that at home, too. Mom's the principal at the high school I used to go to."
"I don't know, I kinda do I mean he helped me run away all those years ago and we promised we'd see each other again but I don't know how different we'd be. If we'd even get along or what. Kinda afraid actually." Aiden says with a chuckle. "I'd rather see Lauren and the rest of my other family again. They were always there for me and helped me get through the rough times. And with not knowing, I worry about them." He admits. "School, I never finished eight grade, so it's kind of something I don't relate to. I learned how to swallow swords and stuff rather then learning how to write a book report."
Star blinks a couple of times at that and glances at his wings, giving him a look of sympathy and nodding, "I think I was just lucky with my family. Mom, Dad, and all my brothers are really supportive. I couldn't imagine not having them." She would never have run away. She's the only girl and was rather spoiled when she was little, after all, "I'm sure you'll find them again." She's confidant of that, "Family always comes together again." It's her belief, anyway. She wrinkles her nose a little at the thought of not finishing school, "I'm supposed to be graduating this year, but… Well, I've missed a lot of classes with all the crap that's happened since last summer."
"I'm lucky with family too." Aiden says. "Just cause they weren't my blood doesn't mean they weren't family. Honestly my Father and Brother are so long gone out of my life it doesn't bother me much." He says. "Which is another reason I think I never took the trip up to Nova Scotia to find Kieran. And I like to believe that too." He says giving a smile. "All the crap that happened since last summer, well I hope everything ended up okay for you."
The younger empath's voice is quiet when she speaks, "I'm alive, anyway…" She's not exactly ballanced anymore, though… She runs a hand through her hair and takes a deep breath, shaking her head, "I'm talking to someone. It helps a little." She makes a face, self-disgust bleeding into the air around her, "I just can't always keep from making everyone else kind of insane, too." Beat, "I'm working on that, though."
Aiden reaches out and touches Star's shoulder. "Hey, being alive counts for a lot." He says. "Being alive still means you can have hope that things will get better." His voice full of concern. "Talking to someone helps a lot, you have your brother you can go to right?" He says. "Is it your powers that make it difficult?"
Star nods, breathing in the comfort and concern and relaxing a little, "Yeah, I know. I'm just really jumpy now." Beat, "It's a little better when there aren't as many people around, but it's worse at the same time." She nods again, "Yeah, I talk to Cloud a lot. He keeps wanting me to go back to Boston, but it wasn't any better there, either." At the mention of powers she shrugs one shoulder, "For other people, anyway…" Nothing worse than a paranoid empath with poor control.
"Well I'm not going to ask you anything but I'm just going to offer that if you need an ear I do have one. And even though I'm an empath, I'm tough." Aiden says with his usual smile. "Do what you think is best for you. If you want to go back to Boston go, if you want to stay here, do that. Just, don't be afraid of your powers okay? Don't be afraid to use them. Accept them. I think once you accept them you'll be able to control them better. I might not be the strongest emapth or flier that the mutant world has seen but I've got decent control."
"You're an empath?" Star blinks a couple of times in surprise, "That's… well, that's what I do." She shrugs, "I kind of smell emotions." She blushes a little at that and wrinkles her nose, "And, apparently, have really strong pheromones, or something. That's what I've been told, anyway. I just don't know how to control it other than trying to push my emotions down all the time." She nods, "I've already told him I'm staying. I had to talk our parents into letting me come back here again a couple of weeks ago. It's almost better here." She feels safer with other mutants around.
Aiden nods. "Yup, I can feel what others are feeling and if I want to influence what others are feeling. Also all these markings are colour coordinated to show what I'm feeling so there's no being a man and hiding my emotions." He jokes. "It took some time but Howard, Kande and Jing really helped with teaching me control. Then I don't really have that great of a range. You said you play the trombone, right?"
"Cool." Star really means that, too. She glances at his markings and nods, "I've never met someone that had powers similar to mine before." She wrinkles her nose, "It's pretty impossible for me to hide my feelings, too, though, you know." She wrinkles her nose, "Honestly, I didn't realize I was a mutant until just right before school started." She blinks a couple of times at the mention of her playing trombone and nods, "Yeah. I've been playing for about five years now. Why?"
"As soon as the wings came I knew I was, then a year later the markings came. God all that was painful." Aiden says remembering it all. "Well, having a lot of things to do helped. Kept my mind focused on other things then what someone around me was feeling. It eventually got to the point where I could just kind of turn it off. I have to actually focus a bit to tell now. But anyway, Trombone, what I was trying to get it as is find things to do that keep you busy and your mind off of your powers."
Star winces in sympathy for his powers causing pain when they first came in, "That sucks." At least hers didn't cause physical pain… She nods as she listens to his suggestion for how to gain control of her powers, idly finger combing her hair again, "Yeah… I don't really feel so… Well, I'm a lot calmer, usually, when I'm practicing." And she's usually alone when she's playing, so she's not getting other people's emotions when she's playing.
"I don't know, I'm not an expert on powers I just know what worked for me." Aiden says with a shrug of his shoulder. "It was just a lot of busy days back then. Just sometimes if you don't think about it next thing you realize it's there and not bothering you."
Star nods and gives a grateful little smile, "Thanks for the advice. I've just been going crazy here lately trying to hold everything in." And ignore the tension she's been getting from her roommate. She pulls her knees up and wraps her arms around her legs, her dress hiding her feet other than the toes of her shoes. "I'll give that a try for sure." And she'll get better at her chosen instrument, too. Bonus!
Aiden shift s a bit so he's resting on his feet putting a hand on Star's shoulder a bit. "Well if you think that you need to let things out…um…stand up and come over here for a second." He says getting up to his feet and holding out a hand to her. "I think I got an idea." He says with a grin as he bounces on the soles of his boots a bit.
The teenager licks her lips lightly and nods, wariness filling the air, but she does stand and put her hand in his, "Um… Alright…" Partially, it's curiosity that has Star being so willing to trust a man she barely knows, but she's also had nothing but good feelings from him. Surely someone that she hasn't gotten a whiff of violence from is trustworthy, right?
Aiden leads her to the edge of the water and stands next to her. "Alright, now just everything that you want to let out, everything that's bothering you just picture it as a ball that builds up inside you. Put it all there and then just scream it out." He says as he takes a few second and leans foward, his wings spread out straight behind him and just screams out over the water. Once he's finished he takes a deep breath. "Your turn."
Star hangs back just a little, not really resisting, but obviously prepared to try to make a run for it if things turn 'weird' all of a sudden. She frowns slightly and nods as she listens to his instruction, licking her lips again and taking a deep breath that comes out in a little squeak when he screams. She cringes slightly, a jolt of fear shooting through her that she manages to push away fairly quickly, "Shit…" The mild curse is whispered, but she gives herself a little shake and straightens her shoulders, taking a deep breath and giving a scream that's anger, fear, and frustration all forced into one single sound and released.
"You just have to let it all go sometimes. Sometimes letting out a scream of frustration just helps." Aiden says softly. "We're empaths, emotions will always rule us. And you don't need to be scared of me. One thing as an empath you'll eventually be able to tell, is when someone is lying. You can tell they're feeling deceitful." He says giving a friendly wing. "Now do you want to let out a few more screams or do you wanna grab lunch somewhere, I'm starving."
"Yeah. I guess I've alway been kind of… emotional." That's something of an understatement. Star blushes a little at having been a little afraid and nods, "Yeah, I get that. You seem like you're trustworthy." Beat, "And none of the people that have… hurt me… had that kind of feeling." She gives a small smile, "Food would be good." She glances in the direction of the school, "Cloud'll probably freak out a little." She grins suddenly, "Why not? It's not like I'm alone, after all." And that was all she'd promised: That she wouldn't be out alone.
