fly me far

“Barre is actually in the studio next door.” Natasha indicated with her thumb and a tilt of her head to the room next door. “I couldn’t possibly be up that early,” she laughed, “But I have been thinking about taking a class, how do you like it?”

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Kayleigh rocked back, feeling awkward. “Oh. Shoot, I could’ve sworn it was this room. My bad. I hope I didn’t interrupt--I mean, you looked really good. That seemed like good dancing. Not that I know anything about dance, though...” As usual, she could hear herself rambling as she tried to make up for the awkwardness, and as usual, she couldn’t seem to stop herself. “Oh, it’s good! I like it. It’s a good workout. I don’t know how ballet-ish it is though since I never danced but it seems like you do?”

Logan laughed as well, “ Okay, I’ll change my attitude to a positive one and see how far I get.” he teased back, continuing to eat what was currently still on his plate. He gave her an amused look, “ Let lightning strike me down if I don’t bring your tupperware containers back.” he said, chuckling, “ Don’t worry, I’ll get all your containers back to you Kay, and I’ll even bring them back washed and everything.” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her playfully, “ Scouts honour.” he teased, shooting her a cheeky grin.

Logan smirked and shook his head slightly, “ As long as we’re both on the same page about this.” he stated simply. He turned his attention back to his now empty plate and leaned forward towards the table, loading his plate up with more food. He glanced at her as she searched for the remote, “ Well, I personally think that the people who work at movie theatres are trained to talk up all movies that come through in order to sell tickets, but sure….” he said, shrugging his shoulders. He looked around the room from his spot on the couch, plate in hand, trying to help her find the remote and even shifted about to see if maybe he was sitting on it, he wasn’t. He looked up at her, hearing her proclamation, and saw that she had found it, “ Great, lets do this.” he said, getting comfortable once more, he dug into his second plate of food. 

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Kayleigh turned to Logan, fork out like a sword she was threatening him with. “You promise? I’m holding you to it, and you know what’ll happen if you don’t.” What would happen, in all likelihood, was a polite text reminder, and then she’d give up and buy new tupperware--Kayleigh was non-confrontational at heart--but she hoped the threat would help. “Oh! And tell me what the other guards at the barrack’s say! You know how I love to be praised.” With that, she put the fork back down on the table and resumed eating her mini sandwich.

Logan was probably right. Kayleigh had never worked at a movie theater before, but she’d worked as a waitress talking up dishes she’d had one bite of, and as a retail associate, talking up clothes she couldn’t afford or weren’t her style. Surely, movie theaters were the same. “I like the idea that they’d tell me the truth,” she admitted. With that, she found the movie on her TV and hit play. 

Alexa dragged the two heavy duffel bags across the ground, it was at times like this that she wished she had a power, like super strength, but she did not and instead she had to rely on her own strength to get the bags back to her place. She also had to try to be inconspicuous so that the guards didn’t stop to ask her what she was doing, though anyone watching probably thought that she was dragging a body in those bags. Which wasn’t entirely wrong, she had been dared to take down one of the statues in the town and of course she needed to show proof that she had done it. “Nope, nothing to see here.” She said to people that turned to look at her as she continued to drag the bags. 

Kayleigh raised her eyebrows as she watched Alexa drag a bag that looked like it was full of bricks from the weight of it. “Uh, sure looks like there’s something to see here,” she responded, stepping closer to Alexa to see what she was doing. “Do you...need a hand with those bags?”

Natasha loved Fridays. She had once class in the morning and one class in the late afternoon which left her with most of her day in an empty studio. Dance had been a passion of hers throughout her entire life and had it not been for the influence of her family, she might have pursued it professionally. Instead, she’d found herself a pre-law major until her ‘accident’ changed her entire world and brought her here. Shaking off memories of her past life, Natasha eyed herself in the mirror and waited for the music to reach the point she’d choreographed to. Once it did, she began to move, unable to stop the grin that spread across her face until she was finished. Doubled over to catch her breath, she was acutely aware of someone standing in the doorway of the studio, “You,” she breathed, straightening and turning to face them, “Are either: very late for my morning class, very early for my afternoon, or entirely lost.” She tilted her head to the side, trying to appraise which they were.

Kayleigh wandered into the studio, surprised to see that there was one person in there--not exactly a class--and that she was dancing. As she entered, she slowed to a stop and began to gnaw on her fingernails, sinking into herself a little. She hated to know that she had gotten the time wrong in either direction. “Uh...so, it’s not a barre class?” She rocked on her heels. “I think maybe I’m early, unless you’re having a class at 6am.”

“ I’ll see what I can do but I doubt I’ll be able to eat absolutely all of this in one sitting.” Logan replied to her, he was still working on his first plate. “ I can take some of this with me when I leave though, I can bring some back to the barracks.” he offered with a small shrug of his shoulders, at least that way she wouldn’t be left with a bunch of left overs.

“ I wasn’t going to give you the chance to turn it down anyway.” Logan replied to her. He shook his head when she asked about the movie, “ No, I haven’t seen it. That’s the Harley Quinn movie right?” he asked her, wanting to make sure he was thinking of the right movie. It wasn’t often he had the time to sit and watch movies, he was either working or training, “ Let’s check it out, I trust your judgement.” he said. 

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“Not if you have that negative attitude, you won’t.” She laughed, picking up some more chips and a little mini-sandwich for herself. “You should do that! I’m happy to share the food, but you have to promise to bring my containers back. If my tupperwares go missing, I’m gonna have to start a revolution.” Kayleigh did her best to make a stern and menacing face, though it was hard since she couldn’t be farther from serious.

She nudged him with her shoulders. “Well, then I guess you win. You’ll have to get me dinner. Poor, poor me.” She nodded and then hopped up to find the TV remote. It was in here somewhere... “Yeah. And even if you didn’t trust my judgement, you’d trust the people at the movie theater, right? They wouldn’t lie.” Or maybe they would, but it’d be weird if they all coordinated to try and convince her a movie was good. “Ah ha!” she exclaimed when she found the remote. “It’s movie time!”

Brian gave a light shrug at the thought of essentially meeting in the middle. He didn’t have to explain himself to anyone in either of the towns. He was their superior, and he should not need to be questioned. But, as young people did, they resisted, questioned everything, fought back against him. He himself had fought, far too hard, just to get involved in the Grimstone program to the capacity that he was, and he’d be damned if a group of 20-something year olds would stop him from doing what he came here to do. “There are a few that do want the help, and I am fully aware of them and their cases. The ones where their ability has more control over them than they do of it. Maybe it’s just young and unstable minds that can’t comprehend the magnitude of the gift they have, but they fight it regardless. I do what I have to for them, but it’s difficult when their salvation could lie in the coding of anothers abilities, and they remain…uncooperative.”

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Kayleigh nodded. She knew people who were like that--who didn’t really want to be here and didn’t want to help the scientists. And she understood. Some people just wanted to take care of themselves and not worry about others, and as far as she was concerned, that was okay as long as they didn’t hurt anyone else. But it did put Brian in a tough spot. “Hmmm.” Kayleigh liked to believe in solutions, at least most of the time. “What if, uh, maybe you could have the residents whose powers need help try to talk to the people you need who aren’t being cooperative? That might make them feel sympathetic and help out.”

She should have known better, Jazzy thought as she continued to try to hold on to the tree. The fact that she was trying to keep the tree from flying away was not helping her control the wind. The replicator saw wings and for a second she thought she would have another thing to worry about, her ex. Luckily for her that was not the case. “Kay!” She called out with a bit of relief in her voice. “I can’t make it stop. The win–” her words were cut short when the wind picked up and she could feel herself loosing her grip. 

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Logan grabbed a plate and started to load it with food, like he said, he was starving, he grabbed a few sandwiches, chips, some veggies and dip. He looked over at her with a grin on his face, “ Told you I was hungry.” he said to her, sitting back on the couch and digging into his food, almost groaning at how good it all was. He hadn’t eaten since lunch and even then it was a short lived lunch and he didn’t get the chance to eat much at the time, so this was perfect, just what he needed really. 

“ Okay, but still, let me pay for dinner the next time we decide to eat out, it’s the least I could do.” he said to her. He chuckled, “ I highly doubt you were bored getting all this put together.” he said, “ Maybe I should be late more often.” he added with a cheeky grin, joking of course. “ How about an action-comedy?” he asked, he was always in the mood for a good action flick, but he wanted to laugh a bit as well. “ At this point I think those British movies would probably put me to sleep.” 

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Ma used to say someone taking a full plate was the best compliment in the kitchen, so Kayleigh grinned, nudging another plate toward Logan. He was more than welcome to all that food. “Good. Eat all of it. Please!” Kayleigh was lucky her roommate didn’t much mind when she went on a cooking bender but this was a lot, even for her. 

“You know I’m not going to turn down a free treat,” she told him. One of the things she’d been really enjoying about life at Lake Grimstone was that she wasn’t always trying to make her paycheck stretch just a little further. But still, being treated was always nice. “Action it is. Oh! Have you seen Birds of Prey? I heard it was good.”

“I’m here to help, that’s what I’m paid to do…what I’m specialised in. It just becomes more of a headache when people think you’re doing your job for malicious reasons.” It was funny how true most of them were…not fully true but more so than working on them for the greater good. From what he knew of Kayleigh, she could be trusting. Getting her on side could prove useful. “Think about it,” he rested his elbows on the desk, careful to miss the patches of still drying coffee, “you’ve finally got your dream job, but nobody appreciates you for it. Your clients try and tarnish your name because you’ve had tendencies to be abrupt and outspoken.” He painted on a sad face, or at least the saddest expression he could muster. “I just want to help, but nobody seems to want it.”

While Kayleigh continued to sop up the spilled coffee with a paper towel, she did her best to put herself in Brian’s shoes. He didn’t make it easy--his reputation far preceded him, to the point that she knew a few stories from residents about how he was during studies. But if he was being honest about his intentions, it was possible that there was another explanation. A middle one--not that he was all bad or totally innocent, but somewhere in between. She could believe that. “That would be frustrating,” she agreed. “Maybe you can help bridge that gap a little. Show people how you want to help. I mean, someone must want it here, right?” This town was full of people with, let’s say, a whole range of views on their own powers. No matter what Dr. Matthews was trying to do, surely someone was interested. 

All Jazzy wanted to do was practice her power, that was all she wanted to do, but it seemed like her power had other plans. What was supposed to be a brief wind gust was turning in to a full blown tornado and Jazzy had no idea how to stop it or at least control it. The wind was picking up more and more, so much so that a small tree was lifted off the ground. “Shit” Jazzy mumbled as she reached for the tree. “Help! Someone please help!” The last thing she wanted was for the tree to fly away and hurt someone. 

The wind pulled her hard to the right, and Kayleigh knew immediately that something was wrong. The landing was rough with wind like this--Kay could feel her shoulder scrap as she rolled on the ground, doing her best to get onto her feet. The sky was a sickly green shade, and she could see the storm begin to touch down. That was definitely not normal around here. She ran toward the center of the storm just in time to see Jazmine fighting a tree.

“Jaz!” she cried out over the howl of the storm. She ran over and shot her wings out of her, trying to keep her balance as she flew to the top of the tree, trying to hold it up from the top. “What happened? Can’t you control it?”

“It better not,” he barked back. He closed his eyes, bringing his hands up to his face and rubbing at it. He waited for moment before returning his attention to the room. “Sorry…about that. It’s just been one thing on top of another today.” He took a few paper towels from her and wiped up the spillage from his side of the desk. “Sadly yes. The amount of stuff we get through would probably mean they’d lose more money than they’re making.” He chuckled.

.

It was a bit of a surprise to hear Dr. Matthews apologize, at least at first. But, again, Kay had dealt with temperamental people before. Sometimes, they just needed to snap at you before they cooled off. She was no stranger to that. “It’s fine,” she said, more chipper now as she started cleaning up her mess. “It happens to the best of us. What happened to make today so bad?” Beyond her few trips to the science department and the rumors about his temper, Kayleigh knew very little about Dr. Matthews. Maybe he’d be less snappish if people didn’t act like he was snappish. It was work a shot.

Logan closed the door behind him as he took off his shoes, he then made his way over to her and got a better look at all the food she had put out for them, she really did go above and beyond and he loved her for it, he was starving. He looked at her, an amused grin on his lips, “ This is great, Kay, really, I’m starving.” he said to her, “ You went all out.” he said. 

He sat down on the couch next to her and nodded, “ Yeah I’m a little tired, so eating a bunch of food and watching movies is the best idea I’ve heard all day.” he replied to her. He was looking forward to just having a chill night with her, it was long due really. “ The next time we hang out, I’ll plan something fun for us, it’s the least I could do after you did all this.” he said, motioning towards her coffee table covered in food. “ So, what movie should we watch?”

Kayleigh let out a small sigh of relief. She knew sometimes she could overshoot a little when it came to things like good, so it was good that Logan saw it as a good thing rather than a mistake. “Perfect. Like I said, I think I did more than my fridge will take.” She reached out and grabbed two of the little mini sandwiches she’d whipped up and plopped them onto a plate along with some chips and guac. She’d been snacking this whole time while she was cooking, whcih was probably another mistake but, oh well, it was yummy.

“You don’t need to plan anything. This kept me busy, which is probably a good thing. You know how bad I can be when I’m bored.” It was a joke, of course. If she was bored, she probably wouldn’t do anything interesting, but Kayleigh was as self-deprecating as they come. “Mm, I’d like something action-y, but if you’re too tired for that, we could do one of those British period dramas where nothing really happens and they all do a lot of staring meaningfully. I’m good with either.”

He kept his gaze on Kayleigh for a few more seconds before he let out a loud groan and collapsed his head in his hands. “Paper towels are in that cupboard over there. Second shelf up.” He waved his hand dismissively to his left. “And next time you come into my office, make less haste. Knocking the desk knocks my coffee, and despite being a respected member of staff, I still have to pay for this shit.”

Kayleigh immediately went to the shelf and popped herself up on her tippy-toes, just barely managing to reach the paper towels without knocking anything else over. “Sorry about that. It won’t happen again.” She didn’t point out that she’d been told to get to him quickly and reminded that being too slow would set off his temper. Angry people don’t like being told they’re angry people. “They make you pay for all that? That seems silly,” she said instead. It did, after all.

Location: Powers Training Facility Town: Park

Zane folded his arms across his chest as he watched people in the facility practicing their powers. There really wasn’t that many people there, considering how it wasn’t mandatory in Park for them to practice. Therefore, he didn’t have many people to choose from if he was going to practice his power on someone. Technically he didn’t really have to, but he did enjoy messing with people in his free time.

“Would you like to train together?” Zane asked with a smile as he glanced towards the nearest person. “If I allow you to use your power on me, though, you’ll have to do the same for me.” It wasn’t necessarily true. He wouldn’t use his power without consent from the other person first, he just thought this way was only fair.

Kayleigh wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” she told him. “I don’t really want to use my power on anyone.” Kayleigh was honestly only here to get in some exercises with her wings. The part of her power she could use on people--well, other than a handful of exceptions, she wasn’t really comfortable using it on anyone. And even those exceptions were under very special circumstances. Normally, she’d still prefer to just avoid the whole thing, even though she could hear Jackson in the back of her mind scolding her for it.

“Out of all the residents in both Park and Point, I think I like you the least.” He shook his head and forced a sigh. “No, I’m not supposed to say that, but yes, I have said it anyway.”

Kayleigh frowned. “Well, sheesh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be,” she told him, trying her best not to squirm. She’d been here long enough to know that Dr. Matthews was temperamental. And, really, Kayleigh knew how to handle temperamental. The trick was not to be too weak, but also not to get in their way. “Why don’t I just, uh--” she looked around the room for a solution. “Well, we can start with some paper towels, I guess.”

Location: Lakeside Beach  Town: Grimstone Park - open to anyone

When it came to the lake, Ethan actually preferred going to Grimstone Park to enjoy it rather than Point. He was never one for liking a fancy, more comforted lifestyle. It just wasn’t his thing. Unfortunately, Point was where he had to spend most of his time, and it was where he had to stay. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t sneak off to Park every now and again.

“I only brought one towel.” Ethan said as he noticed someone walking up towards him. “But I don’t need it.” He sat up from laying on the beach and tossed the towel towards them. “I don’t mind being wet, or the sand.” 

Now, what was happening was that Kayleigh was going to sun out her wings. Or sunning her wings was the plan. It had rained on her while she was on her morning flight earlier and the discomfort was getting to her, and she’d had to wait until it was nice and dry out before coming to dry them off. But now that someone was here, she felt a bit more self conscious about that plan. “That’s fine,” she told him absently, trying to figure out if she could get up to that high rock, mid-way up the waterfall, with her waterlogged wings. “I’ll air-dry.” 

Distracted as she was, she didn’t notice him throw an object at her until, well, until too late. It hit her squarely in the chest. Being that it was a towel, it didn’t hurt, but she flinched back anyway. “Ou--oh, wait. No, it’s really fine. I really don’t need it,” she told him, throwing the towel with poor enough aim that it was easily three feet wide of his arms.

Logan was relieved to see her grinning at him, of course she wasn’t upset that he was late, he didn’t expect her to be but he hated that he had made her wait for him. Logan stepped inside and looked at all the food she had put out for them, “ I can see that.” he replied to her with an amused chuckle, “ It all looks great.” he said as he took off his shoes. He was quite hungry actually, which wasn’t all that surprising, he usually was by the time he was done work. 

Logan looked back at Kayleigh and smiled at her, honestly he had been looking forward to this all day. It wasn’t always easy for the two of them to hang out, he was usually busy with work and to top things off, he lived in Point, but they always managed to make their friendship work one way or another. “ So, other than devouring this buffet you made for us, what’s the plan for tonight?” he asked her, he grinned “ Or should we live on the wild side and see where we end up?”

Kayleigh left Logan to let himself in while she grabbed some napkins for them. Her roommate was probably working or out or something, but even if he was home, there was more than enough food overflowing their coffee table. Ooh, coffee. That was an idea! Maybe she’d whip up some after they finished eating. “Please eat it, I’m not sure my fridge will even hold this much food,” she told him. 

“I was thinking maybe a movie, but if you want to just wait and see where we end up, that’s fine with me,” she told him, settling onto the couch and grabbing a bite of nachos. “Aren’t you tired you? From all the law enforcing or whatever you actually do on your shifts?” For the most part, Kayleigh did her best to avoid guards. Not that she had anything to hide--she was more of a rule-follower than a rule-breaker--but she preferred to stay under the radar and draw as little attention to herself as possible, especially when it came to the government. Of course, this was different. Logan was a guard, yeah, but he was also her friend. He basically didn’t count, in her eyes.