/ universe.

Always with the melodrama. Fraser actually let out a genuine, yet stifled, laugh at her gratitude towards him having an additional piece of clothing for her to warm up in. If you didn’t look after your fellow soldiers in your platoon, then who else would, right ? “Hey, I’m actually trusting you with a very prized possession of mine, so I’d really appreciate it if I could really see it again,” he said as he held it out to her. Even during all those years of serving together, Fraser could never really tell if and when she was kidding about something. That’s why she threw him off track so easily; she was difficult to read. Kali, as he now knew, didn’t open up so easy. What she showed, from his experience, could be something completely different from what she would feel. 

Fraser then went back to looking up at the sky again, barely seeing anything with the cloud cover hanging above them. The sky was brilliant, even with the clouds swaying in and out of what would have been a perfect, cloudless scene, there wasn’t a moment without serenity that made him want to turn around and walk away. “You didn’t really come out this late for a dip in the lake, did you ?” He doubted it. Even if she supported her actions with her proposition of being impulsive, Fraser didn’t buy it. “I better not have a stalker on my trail.” Oh ?  So, he was kidding too, now ? 

His words prompted a raise of her eyebrows, glancing back down at the sweater he was holding out for her. “Prized possession? Did you wear this to your first day of school or something?” Without waiting for his answer, she took the piece of clothing from him and wrapped her body up with it, keeping her shivers to a minimum. “You will see it again. The question is when that will be,” she joked but keeping her demeanor earnest. She’ll wash it up and have it delivered to him the next day, not keeping it from him for more than a day.

She sat down next to him, laying down on the ground beneath them as she rested her head on her arms. With the sight of the reflection on the lake out of view, the world seemed a bit darker. She kept her remarks behind her tongue, wanting to enjoy the peace and silence for a moment. Interrupted by this question, Kali turned to face him. “You caught me. I came out to see you,” she lied, turning her head away again. Her escape from the walls was the provided silence and area for thoughts, distractions completely drained from any access. Having the lake there was just a plus for Kali in case she wanted to feel anything that she had grown numb to. “Stalked your every movements and realized this was the perfect opportunity to take you down,” she added onto the joke, her light tone hinted that she was only kidding. “Sorry for ruining your peaceful moment of a John Green novel scene,” Kali apologized, changing the allusion to a more contemporary author.

“How do you even know if I look good when I smile?” Eugene said raising an eyebrow up at her and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ve never seen me smile, I could look like one of those dogs where I ran my face into a wall a million times for all you know.” He said groaning slightly as she touched the sides of his mouth and he swatted her hands away. Is this what it’s like to have an annoying little sister around? Eugene’s never really been much to show happiness, she was right. But that was simply because there was nothing happy in his life to smile about at the moment. He was a mess– really he was and Eugene had just realized that he couldn’t really remember the last time he had smiled.

Though as Kali had made the motion with the whip his eyes had widened in embarrassment and he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “You see, this is why you don’t have a boyfriend— or girlfriend. I don’t know the way you role. It’s because you do stupid shit like that.” He said half teasingly, half really… Not. It was brutal to an extent for Eugene to say that but it was true. “Also your puns make me throw up in my mouth, I’m pretty sure other people would do the same because they’re so horribly outdated.” He said with a smug look as the smallest of a smirk formed on his lips as he walked next to her. Once they got outside, Eugene had taken a deep breath as he glanced around his surroundings to make himself more comfortable with everything– it was always a bad habit of his before his gaze wandered towards the waterfall that he had no clue was around and his lips had parted slightly in awe. “Mmmmm, nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. You’re going to throw me in there or some shit like that, aren’t you?”

“Because it’s rare and when you do, it’s hard to forget what you look like,” Kali admitted with a shrug. “My presence makes everyone smile, so yes, I’ve definitely seen that million dollar smile.” Laughter erupted from her curved lips, letting her hands fall from the touch of his face. Annoyance was a quality that Kali could pull out from people, but it was one where it was meant to be playful and for fun. She knew her limits most of time, and when pushed, it was most likely on purpose. She wasn’t sure why, but it was a goal for her to make her companion smile. 

Her lips parted as if offended at his gestures and words. “Am I wrong, though? Does someone not have some power over you right now? Did this someone steal my drinking and partying partner away from me?” She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. Sure, there were many reasons as to why her status was still single, mostly due to her wanting to stay that away. Her relationships were limited to one beneath sheets rather than ones confined by expectations and a label. “No, it’s because I’m too good for most people here,” she joked with a prideful shrug. “Lie all you want, but if I catch you stealing one of my puns, you’re going down, Westbay.” Her grin at the sight of the rushing water faltered when Eugene began protesting. She had expected a bit more enthusiasm from it, so she was met with quite disappointment though it was expected. “ Uh -- no. You’re going to jump down. If not, then I’ll push you. Trust me, it’s amazing. The jump, the adrenaline, the rush of it all. And then you get eaten by the water and you sink down for a bit, surrounded by water and silence for just a brief moment. Then you fight. You fight for air, and you come up and meet reality,” she described the experience, her words detailing her love for the feelings of the jump. “So, are you ready?” 

“My natural smell.” He said with a snort of laughter. “The students love training with me and i don’t have to be scary to train them.” He said with a shrug, grabbing the bag of food and beginning to pull out the contents, his stomach growling as he did. “And I’m here for a good time not a long time.”

Kyle moved his hand away once more so she could get a good look at his nose. “I mean, they have to be big enough to inflict damage. How else am I going to defend myself?” He asked, not even trying to be a smart ass.  “I think if I keep breaking my nose it’ll end up that way anyway, but yes, I’m all about this.” He stood up, following her carefully.

“Definitely not with your nose. You know you have other body parts too, right?” she bit back with a deep sigh, not wanting to question anyone’s thinking around here. “Imagine if you can’t ever smell again. How can you ever feel the bliss of fresh cookies?” she mused as the thought of cookies just coming out of the oven. “Not the first time you broke your nose?” 

Bruce had stared at everything around him for a moment taking everything in. The new therapist didn’t really have that much with him other than a box full of his belongings which really wasn’t much from when he left Africa to come here. The man had no clue where to go, how to find his office and if he was still human he probably would feel far too overwhelmed by everything happening. He had watched people pass for a brief moment. His dried out chapped lips had looked dead just like everything else about him. He had even smelled like he was rotting in a sense and people were actually giving him strange looks as they passed. “Do you…” A heavy breath– almost felt as like dust was coming out of his lungs from not talking for so long and he coughed rather roughly for what had seemed like five minutes, that’s what seems to always happen to Bruce these days if he doesn’t constantly talk to someone. People had still passed, ignoring Bruce and all the man wanted was to find his office without any trouble. “Hi.” He said awkwardly tapping the next person’s shoulder that had passed by and waved nervously. “Do you happen to know where the……” he was tired of talking already, how was he going to keep up with all of these people? “Where the infirmary is? I’m looking for my office.” 

The coughing from the person was enough for Kali to put her head down and pretend to not notice him, following everyone else who was practically doing the same. There was no way she was going to get sick, not after her record so far of not falling ill. Sure, it might have been something to do with new mutated genes, but it could also be a result of her pulling out a lysol bottle every time someone showed any signs of sickness. She innocently looked up at the tapping of her shoulder, dreading that it would happen. Her naive look faltered when she furrowed her brows together. “You’re looking for your office or the infirmary? I’d advised the infirmary first. You need to be stay alive to make it to your office. You’re going to need a really good doctor, though. Second floor, east wing.”

“Yeah, right. Like my roommate’s got anything to do with this.” Because who else would be spying on him ? For a moment there, SoHyun actually bought it, but only to realize that it was Kali he was talking to. “Actually, I do love challenges, so, you’re going to be rapping for all of us sometime in the future, I promise you that.” Great, now he had something to look forward to, too. SoHyun watched Kali in pretend-anguish as she ‘broke up’ with him. “Unromantic dates ? What haven’t I done to save this relationship ? And all the feedback you leave me is how unromantic I am ?” But he broke out of character sooner than he thought when he started laughing at her instead. “Wait, I just realized, you kind of admitted that you do cry yourself to sleep on days you don’t see me. Aw, I feel so special.”

It would’ve been the perfect chance if she had known who his roommate was, and after thinking hard about who it could be, she ultimately gave up. “Does your roommate check on you while you’re asleep?” She was regretting telling him what she wouldn’t do. It gave him too much power. She wouldn’t want to and she would try hard to not put herself in that position, but anything that was going to affect her go would send her up that stage and start rapping. “Nope, not going to happen. Kendrick Lamar’s lyrics will not be falling from this lips for others to hear.” Her smile broadened when he broke character as soon as he started laughing. “No ‘good morning’ texts. No surprise flowers or chocolate. Nothing was going to save this relationship,” she continued before wrinkles formed on her forehead at his words. “I only cry when I find out the cafeteria runs out of chicken nuggets, otherwise, these tears will not be wasted on you.”

“‘Course I would,” Astra said without missing a beat. “If someone’s being a dick to people I care about, or if they’re endangering them, who would I be if I didn’t at least try and knock ‘em out?” Even Jordan could attest to that being true; she had been trying to fight someone just because they questioned her abilities. “Well, yeah, I guess I have these powers, but I’m different from the others. Everyone knows what they can do, they just need to learn how to control one things, but me? I have to learn how to control everything.” She used to have friends who had helped her control the voices—those were the worst, they never shut up. The most she could do when it came to controlling the voices was the lowest level of her telepathy: aura reading. It was better than hearing things all the time, but still annoying sometimes. And embarrassing for the other people.

Kali’s eyes widened as if she heard such shocking news. “You care about me? Repeat that again. Let me record it this time,” she interrupted, wanting to hear that a second time as she took out her phone. “But likewise. If someone messes with you, they’re losing a few teeth.” Kali shrugged, seeing how it is a bit more difficult for Astra than it is for everyone else. “I think the world chose the right person for the powers, though. If anyone’s strong and resilient enough to have this power, it’s you. Even if its easiest or smallest ability from each power, it adds up to be quite powerful, no?”

“Are you sure about that? I spend most of my day training, why do you think I never go out anymore?” Eugene asked smirking slightly as he nudged her rather playfully. “Ha. Ha. That was so funny I forgot to laugh.” He said rolling his eyes back so hard that you could only see the whites of his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn’t going to have this talk with Kali. He wasn’t going to talk to her about his dead brother. Not now, not ever. “Whatever, I’m just saying that I’d rather have an alive one than a dead one.” He said truthfully and that was really all he had wanted. He had missed his brother so much that he’d really do anything to get him back at this point. No one understood what it was like to lose a twin and he wasn’t going to have that argument with Kali now. He was too tired for it to actually happen at the moment. “At least I get more action than you around this place, seriously when was the last time you got laid? Or have you ever been laid? I wouldn’t be surprised if you were still a virgin.” He said teasingly as he rolled his eyes once more. Was he scared? He really didn’t know at this point. “That was a terrible pun by the way, you should be ashamed of yourself for that, no wonder why you haven’t been laid yet.” He said with a devilish smirk on his lips before following her anyway. “If it’s something illegal I’m not doing it,” Eugene said muttering as he walked next to her towards the exit. 

“Oh, is that why you don’t go out anymore? I think it was just you being old and boring,” Kali mused, playfully narrowing her eyes at him when he nudged her. She feigned a smile at him, rolling her eyes at his sarcastic comment. “We know you forget to laugh because you’re not capable of expressing any signs of happiness.” At her words, Kali leaned in, pushing the corners of his lips upwards to make a curve of a smile. “You look so much better when you’re smiling, you know?” She released her fingers, her smile faltering as the discussion of his brother continued. Kali was an only child, so she couldn’t understand where Eugene was coming from. Maybe it would make sense for someone who had a sibling and shared a bond with them, but Kali was used to not having another counter part growing up. Instead of saying more on that topic, Kali just provided a small shrug, hoping that notion would bring an end to the subject. 

“You caught me.” She threw her hands up in defense. “I’m a virgin. Saving myself for marriage,” she joked, shaking her head. “But at least I’m not whipped,” she added, moving her hand up and down, mimicking the motion of a whip, adding the noise for the effect of it. Her act broke when a scoff ran from her lips, her smile growing to challenge him. “My puns are my winning attribute. Well, my face is actually, but my puns aren’t far off from the top.” Walking out of the building, she was met with the setting sun, the light skies ready to darken. “It’s not illegal... I don’t think. But it is fun. And you’re going to thank me later for inviting you to this,” she said as she continued walking towards a hidden waterfall. 

“Don’t gotta tell me twice.” Alex said with a soft laugh, “Let’s just eat it out here I can’t stand the smell of the training room.” He said with a nod, sitting down against the wall. “Ouch, babe, no need to get so feisty.”

“Yeah, it smells like sweat and tears and blood and piss all mixed together,” she said as she scrunched up her face at the thought of the smell before sliding down along the wall next to him. “I’m just saying. If I wanted to train and actually train, I’d pick a trainer less distracting and scarier. You should also learn how to take a break, otherwise you’ll age quicker and die earlier,” she declared before handing over the bag of food. 

“I meant in the general vicinity, but alright.” He sighed. “Oh me oh my.” He laughed, hurting himself further in the process. “You got it.” He hummed, staying still just as he was told. Kyle yelped as she pinched down on his nose. Taking hold of the toilet paper, he pressed it harshly. “That’s all good and well, but I need a healer. It’s broken.” He mumbled. “No one. I hesitated and stumbled and my rocks hit me…” 

When hearing his nose was broken, Kali narrowed her brows together to inspect his nose again. “Those rocks but have been big as fuck then if you broke your nose from them,” she commented, pulling her face away. “Let’s get that looked at before you die or end up living with a crooked nose. We’ll get you to the doctors,” Kali said, walking towards the elevator.

Angelina holds back a frustrated groan by painfully clenching her jaw. She’s been here for a whole fifteen minutes and she’s already finished with this place. “Joke’s on the prankster since they’re only wasting their time with the fact that I can’t see to begin with,” Angelina says with a snort, pulling her frustrations into an ill-timed, inappropriate joke. “Pranks? Really? Are the kids seriously that bored here?” She didn’t know if she should feel bad or already annoyed. “Thank you.” She replies, glad to have the extra weight off her arms. “Moving in, but I doubt it won’t be long before they have me sending off files like this.  Angelina, by the way. Linguistics professor. And you are?”

There was a moment of a confused atmosphere where Kali didn’t know what to do or how to respond. Was she blind? If so, was she able to laugh at the joke or would that be insensitive? Kali resorted to a light chuckle, but she was unable to hide how awkward she made it. “Yeah, with no job or purpose, there are only so much one can do here, I guess,” she said with a shrug. “And it’s not just the kids. The adults included.” Kali could be thrown on that list, but her pranks were nothing like the other sorts. “Kali, your welcome party,” she greeted jokingly, grinning at her words. “Friendly local some hours, evil guard the other hours. But linguistics? First time teaching that?”

There was no denying that he always retained, in the back of his mind somewhere, what he bore witness to regarding the incident involving their platoon. And it wasn’t until after he discovered his own abilities that Fraser had completely understood what Kali had been through and why what happened, happened. Running into her at the MPP had only made him less weary of her; she was clearly her with the intent to absolve for ( probably ) and make sure to never go through what she had been through. He admired the initiative, although, they had never actually talked about it explicitly. 

“You’re saying that you count this as leisure then, following your impulses ?” He remarked, sitting up to look at her again. Fraser was reconsidering her offer. He really did hold back on being impulsive… But for now, next time would still be the better bet. “Yes, that does mean there is a next time. I think I’ve got used to having you around enough to actually feel bad about asking you to leave.” Fraser meant it in praise, obviously. He didn’t mind having Kali around as much as he did other people because she brought back familiarity, and nothing else was more comfortable than familiarity. “You don’t look so pleased to be in there anymore… Come on out, it’s your lucky day,” he called out, unbuttoning his sweater to reveal his formal work clothes. He hadn’t taken the time to change out of his clothes before heading outdoors – that’s how much he wanted the fresh air. “It’s my favourite sweater. So, don’t get too comfortable in it.” 

“Exactly,” she responded flatly as if it was the obvious answer. “Sitting down and thinking through your decisions, making a pro and con list, doing the exact opposite of following your impulses -- that’s working, is it not? It’s an amazing feeling when you don’t have to think at all. Just do it,” she quoted Nike’s slogan with a shrug as if it was such an easy approach to life. Kali was one who thought a lot, always in the depths of her mind, until she changed it around. Filling herself with distractions and doing thrilling things, it was a way to keep her from falling prey to her wondering thoughts. And that’s what she considered leisure. 

His words pushed a genuine smile from her. It might not seem like anything, but being one that he didn’t mind having around was enough praise for her. At least her presence caused comfort for someone. “Don’t worry. I won’t cry so don’t feel bad. My heart will still be in one, and my spirits will still be there.” Her smile faltered when he caught her in her current state, dreading to be in there with heavy clothes and also dreading getting out, having to feel them get heavier and getting colder. She didn’t want to be in or out, but those were the only choices. “What an honor. How will I ever repay you for such an act?” she exaggerated, walking out of the water, having her clothes stick against her skin as it acts as a weight, attempting to drag her back into the lake. “No promises on if you’ll ever see it again.”