shadewalker

“AFRAID I’LL SEE YOUR SEXUAL FANTASIES OR DIRTY SECRETS?” Distrust towards telepaths was understandable and Emmet had seen and experienced more than most when it came to negative emotions. It was a fair question – one he had no qualms to explain. People assumed that reading someone’s thoughts meant learning everything about them in a blink of an eye. “I bet you have quite the dashing fantasies roaming inside that pretty head of yours.” A light joke to lighten the mood. Not everyone was keen to the idea of having someone’s voice in their mind.

“NOT THAT DEEP.” The brain was divided in sections. “The part of your brain that controls your powers and abilities exist within the frontal lobe. That’s the part that is mostly associated with the emotions and conscious decisions as well as the process to make decisions and solve problems. The part of your brain that you fear I enter – is the temporal lobe. That’s where the memories reside. Your ability to speak, to hear and to learn reside there. What I want to do is lift a couple of subconscious barriers that brain possess. It’s a natural thing that occurs when people like us learn about their abilities. It’s the fear of the unknown that makes us hold ourselves back.”

IT WAS ALMOST LIKE BEING IN THE CLASS TEACHING BASIC TELEPATHY TO A TODDLER. “Once a couple of barriers are lifted – meaning more access to a subconscious part of your brain – the more aware you’ll become of your abilities. That will stimulate the parietal lobe where all the sensations are kept. You might feel a bit tingly, a bit cold – it varies from powers to powers but it’s something brief. Requires a few moments to adjust. After that… you might want to try to call forth your shadowy friends. You say you can call forth two? Let’s attempt to make it three this evening, shall we?”

“Or all those traumatic memories you keep locked up in your head.” A quick shrug, fully aware that everybody here had their fair share of it. You couldn’t be anywhere in the world without hearing of the bigotry Mutant’s faced simply for existing. Even before discovering that he was one himself, he’d faced plenty of it through his life. And then there were the thing his family had done. A quick shake of his head, dismissing the thoughts and instead focusing on the lesson that Emmet was providing.

And, yes, it was probably the most basic telepathy lesson going, but it was still more than what Rafael knew before arriving here, and he had made a habit of avoiding it for the most part. He’d learned some of the tricks, to building walls in his mind to separate information make it harder to find out things, but it was mostly put in to a theoretical stand point and not something solid. Not like this. Rafael continued listening, focus entirely on Emmet, before delivering a quick nod.

THE ABILITY TO MANIPULATE AND CONTROL SHADOWS WAS… nothing to laugh at. There was this sort of noir fascination to it. Shadows could be anywhere, conceal anything. No wonder kids were afraid of the dark – people never knew what the shadows concealed within. They could be used to plenty of things given the proper time, training and control. Emmet was intrigued and that inner part of him that always dreamed about teaching – about reaching out and helping those that couldn’t quite understand their gifts… that was bubbling in the surface. The same sentiment he possessed when he trained his Hellions. The same rush of adrenaline that coursed through his veins in Genosha before all went to hell.

“SO ARE THEY INDEPENDENT?” A part of him into the shadows? That made sense. The telepath saw them grow from the other man’s shadow – standing just as tall as he was. He could summon forth two at the most? They could work with that. “Concentration is often the key to control any ability. Luckily for you – I’m a telepath. If there is one thing I am quite talented and perfect at… is control.” The White King turned his attention to shadow – yet refraining from reaching out and touching the dark substance. Chances were that the shadow was cold… darkness tended to be cold due to the lack of light and heat… yet – they could not truly exist without a light source.

“WHAT IF I COULD HELP?” The telepath approached Rafael yet again, slowly raising his hands so that the other man could see that he meant no harm. “Not about to give you a crash course on how to become increasingly powerful in a matter of seconds…” That never worked if the person lacked the necessary experience. “But what if you knew the extent of your powers? I can help with that. Flip one or two switches inside your brain. Just enough to allow you a better and bigger comprehension of what you can do. The rest… comes with practice. With training. Which, of course, I can also provide.”

A primordial fear from their descendants. At least, that was something he’d heard. The dark hid things that you couldn’t see, couldn’t prepare, which was why ancient man clung to fire. Warmth and light, in comparison to the cold and dark. People feared the unknown more than anything else, even back then.

“Do a degree? From practice, they respond to direct thoughts, but it’s more... They respond my to emotions above everything else. Fear, anger, they react accordingly independent of what I might want them to do.” Took control out of his hands, and acted as necessary. He hadn’t lost control of himself like that since learning more of what he could do, but it typically lurked in the back of his mind more often than not. He followed the others gaze as they landed on one of the shadowy forms lurking beside Rafael, and found a flicker of a grin dancing over his lips, even as he dismissed them. Fading away, as if they’d never been present at all.

And then there came the offer for help. It gave him pause, fingers twitching slightly against his own thigh, basketball shorts bunched for a brief moment in his knuckles.

TELEPATHY HAD ADVANTAGES. It wasn’t merely used to pick someone’s mind off and gather information without whispering a word or pulling invisible strings like controlling a puppet. It also possessed the perks on quickly reaching out and scanning something that was once concealed. Which was handy when something melted in the corner of one’s eyes. Something that was there before and was now gone. Yet – only two minds were within that space. Two presences. Emmet’s lips actually curled into a half-amused smile. Long has been the day where he too isolated himself in order to train his powers. To make himself appear more desirable to those old bastards that once prowled the Hellfire Club.

“YOU CAN SAY THAT.” It did got loud when it came indoors. The blond took a couple more steps towards the makeshift field, blue eyes lingering on the basketball for not more than a half a heartbeat. That was something he had never done. Sports. It made him all sweaty and smelly and those were not words that Emmet would like to have associated with him. On others, however… he did admire the sight of wet, glistening muscles under the artificial lights of the field. A nice and welcoming distraction from a wide array of issues that troubled his mind.

“I SUPPOSE IT DOES MAKE SENSE TO BE OUT HERE ALONE.” Where the darkness was thicker and solitude was required. Somewhere when shadows could move freely without being detected – especially since they did not possess a mind of their own as far as Emmet was aware. “Gifts like yours are extraordinary. I know people who can bend the light on a whim but darkness?” Now, that was indeed grand. “I’m curious. Can you exert influence on them like a puppeteer? Or are they independent? How much control to you have over what you can do? How aware are you of the limits of your precious gifts?”

While Emmet wasn’t particularly fond of working up a sweat, Rafael had found it to be one of the few ways he could actively clear his mind. Focus on nothing other than the simple things. Hitting a target, sinking a shot, taking the ball away from an opponent. It was easy, downright muscle memory. Everything else he was now learning about himself? That took thought. Weight. Forced him to assess situations by the second and learn where he could reach and what he couldn’t touch. Those were out of his comfort zone. Those were where he was learning to tread rather than diving in headfirst.

“It’s certainly proving to be of interest to some of the guys here.” To him? So many other powers were more impressive, but he supposed that was human nature. Always found things that you didn’t possess to be more blinding than what you did. Of course, the other’s curiosity was warranted. Rafael was still learning as he went, figuring out just what he could do. And that mostly involved pushing his own boundaries and making a fool of himself repeatedly.

IN A PLACE WHERE OTHERS COULD PROBE HIS THOUGHTS, to find somewhere quiet and isolated to be alone with the voice inside his head was… soothing. Not that invading his mind and hearing his thoughts and having access to his memories was easy. Only James possessed enough raw power to invade his mind without a care and even so in their current state – it could prove tricky. That was why Emmet walked the grounds on his diamond form. The brilliant skin looked ever the exotic under the starlight, reflecting the stars painting the dark sky. In this form…? No need to sleep or eat. Hell, he didn’t even had to breathe if he so wished. It would shut his mind off to every telepath on the planet and give him the time he needed to… think.

AS HE WALKED DOWN HIS USUAL PATH, the sound of a ball hitting the ground broke the usual silence from the outside. It was somewhat past curfew within the school but there had been occasions were students attempted to escape to adventure themselves out there. Luckily this time around – it wasn’t children. The man was clearly an adult, sweaty and panting, training some sort of scheme that he had worked out in his mind. Also someone who needed some alone time to think. Always a difficult thing with telepaths around… and Emmet knew how good it felt to be on their own. With the only voice inside their head being their own.

“IT’S A BIT LATE TO BE PLAYING.” The diamond skin receded almost automatically as Emmet unfolded his arms and just stood where he was, eyeing the dark haired man for a second. He should be the responsible adult and accompany the other to his room. Opening one exception to one could cause a tidal wave of exceptions to the others. Yet – that night – Emmet was not really concerned about the rules. “People usually play basketball during the daytime. It’s easier when you have a partner to play against. Which leads to the most obvious conclusion. You wanted to be alone.”

Rafael had adjusted to the idea of somebody always having an ear to his thoughts fairly quickly. While it certainly felt like an invasion of privacy, he understood that for some it wasn’t an intentional invasion, and or some it was viewed as a way of keeping them and theirs safe. It wasn’t like he had any thoughts that would get him in trouble anyway. He took care of himself more than anything else.

That didn’t take away from also enjoying a moments privacy. Just him and his shadow. Quite literally, considering it was only when he realized he had company that the solid form opposite him once more sank in to the ground. It was a new trick he’d been practicing, and was at least a large chunk of the reasoning as to why he’d sought out he comfort of night. Nobody to oversee him when his ideas failed to take shape. He took a moment, taking in the shimmering diamond coating the others sin, and knowing he was probably at least slightly in trouble.

      Rafael had fallen in to a fairly easy pattern with work while attending the boarding school. He was aware that he had a lot of time to make up for, his mutation only have presented itself a couple of years ago compared to most of the people here having it spring to life in their teenage years. So, he pushed himself to do more. Even now, far past what he knew to be a less than official curfew, Rafael was out in the grounds. Sure, basketball was hardly training on it’s own, but he made it a challenge. Attack and defence. He needed to learn how to find a balance between the two, and if that stemmed from stopping himself scoring with his shadows, so be it.

     By the time he became aware of another presence, he’d already worked up a sweat and lost his jacket, tank top sticking in patches as he finally turned dark hues toward the side of the court. A sheepish grin glancing over his lips, illuminated by the court lights.

Name: Rafael Cardozo Age: 25, born 19/07/95 Gender: Cismale Sexuality: Homosexual Position: Top-Leaning Verse Height: 6'2''