Magic Hands

David stood in an empty classroom; choosing to practice there, rather than in a room full of students who he could harm if he ended up doing something wrong - which he usually did. He was practicing his telekinetic abilities and was actually doing well, that was until he became too distracted by the voices inside his head. Objects started to fly in every direction and he did his best to duck out of the way to keep from getting hurt. The feeling of something hard hitting David’s head made it clear that he unfortunately hadn’t been fast enough. “Shit!” he screamed out in both frustration and pain. A hand was brought to his head, “Oh come on,” he mumbled out as he pulled his hand away to see blood on his hands. He didn’t have to much time to dwell on his self loathing, because the moment he stood up the sound of someones voice pulled him away from his own thoughts. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just trying to practice and it didn’t exactly go as planned.”

“I can see that,” Rowan said from the doorway. When he was sure there were no flying objects, nothing heading his way, he walked over to David. Eyeing the blood slowly dripping down David’s face, he knew that it would have to be healed or else David was going to lose a fair bit of blood. Damn head wounds. His fingers twitched, instinct driving him to heal it now but he held back, not wanting to surprise David. “Want me to patch that up for you? I could even leave you a scar if you want - I’ve heard they’re really in right now.” His voice was overly excited, a poor imitation of a gossip column. 

Drat. Discovered. Cu’s reptilian form flicked it’s tail and let out a series of odd barks as his head pulled back, almost like a laugh. A really creepy reptile laugh. As the round unblinking eyes fixed on his roommate, he struggled to fight off the brain that wanted to just eat him and attack, and slowly began to work his way up to transforming back to normal. It took a moment, a low rumble in the back of his throat as he thought about it. Nope. Don’t eat roommates.

He shook his head, as if the thoughts were tangible, and began to shift awkwardly back to his present form ripping some skin and breaking some bones in the process. It left things a little bloody here and there, but the cuts healed fast enough it didn’t last much longer than a second as the large predator went back to a muscular dark-haired man gasping for some air and sweating a small amount. 

“Agh! ye ruined it! Oi’d a’ expected ya ta be guessin’ who Oi was a bit longer.” He said, laughing and staying seated on the hard tile, loving how cool it was. His body felt weary from the exertion of a new form and quickly he flopped down onto his back, spread eagle on the ground. “Why in th’ world would ye tink Oi’d be braidin’ daisy chains? Tha’s a girl’s pass’time.” He said, matter-of-factly. He didn’t let on about his little secret with drinking, though as he panted and stayed glued to the floor.

Rowan watched the transformation unflinchingly; while it was certainly disturbing, it wasn’t a far off image of things he’d done to other people. He didn’t relax until Cu was completely human, not trusting the gleam in the raptors eye that had not gone away. The last he needed was news spreading across the school that he’d been eaten by a dinosaur. He had absolutely no plans to go out that way, no matter how different it would be. 

Rowan snorted from his position on the floor as Cu whined. “I’m sure you’re the only one crazy enough to even think about bringing a dinosaur to the school. It wasn’t hard to guess.” He would not tell Cu about the absolute panic that swept over him at seeing the raptor. Torture, murder, those things he was equipped to handle. Creatures from billions of years ago? Those were certainly not his wheelhouse. 

“I don’t know, you’ve just got that air about you,” Rowan teased, a rare smile making its way across his face. “I can just see you running through a field, arms spread open with flowers in your hair. Like that movie with the singing nuns.”

Victor hadn’t meant to scare the student. It was honestly an accident. She had simply been wanting help with the assignment but when she began asking about personal things his blood began to boil. It was on him faster that he could handle this time and he only managed to scream at her to leave before he threw his desk against the wall shattering it. She wailed in fear and fled. He didn’t notice the new presence enter the room.

The ringing in his ears was getting louder and he placed his hand against the wall for support, not realizing his claws had come out and were now raking down the chalkboard. He growled low as he tried to reign it in. After a few minutes of tension he slowly felt the rage receding. He slumped a little and slowly slid down the wall into a sitting position. He pushed his sweaty hair back from his eyes and finally noticed who it was that had witnessed his little episode. “No. No I think she made it out before I could hurt her.” He made to stand but decided against it when he felt a spell of dizziness attempt to knock him back down. “I’m sorry Rowan. You weren’t supposed to see that.”

Rowan watched as the girl pushed past him, tears streaming down her face. He knew Victor could be intimidating but even this seemed excessive for him. Flinching as the sound of nails on a chalkboard filled the air, he resisted the sudden childish urge to cover his ears until the sound stopped. It was not a good feeling. As he watched Victor slump to the floor, he hurried over to his side, hands reaching to diagnose what was wrong. 

“Is this your newest teaching method? Throw furniture at them until they’re prepared against even the scariest desk?” His voice low, he gestured towards the pieces of wood spread out across the classroom. “I may just be a lowly nurse here but even I have doubts of its effectiveness.” 

the girl couldn’t help but scoff. she couldn’t stand it when people were rude to kids. “god you are more of an ass than i thought.” laura stated before crossing her arms over her chest. “yes we just went through something terrible and yes there is a chance that it will happen again but yelling at them isn’t going to change anything –– not everyone learns but being screamed at.”

Rowan continued down the hallway, not acknowledging anything she had said. The last thing he needed was a lecture on manners from some self righteous girl child. Images of Lucy playing on the carpet, Kimberly watching her with so much love in her eyes played over and over in his mind.

It always ended the same - there was so much blood on the floor. Rowan had no idea that kids could hold so much until he watched it spill from his daughters throat. Kimberly would scream and as the two mutants left, she would race towards them, bare hands outstretched as if she meant to tear them limb from limb.  He would wrap his arms around her, ground her in his arms even as she railed against them. He would not let her die too. The scratches she left in his arms disappeared almost instantly and it seemed to set her off even more.

Moving into the nearest empty room, Rowan slammed the door shut behind him and slid to the ground, his back pressed against the wood, barring entry for anyone as his own personal horror movie played over and over and over. 

Cu Chulainn–dino form– flailed awkwardly as Rowan stepped forth, bursting through the door and bumping the uneven professor awkwardly to the ground. His short arms flailed in a vain attempt to catch himself, his claws on his hind legs scratched the tile.

He hissed as a hand came near him, not wanting to feel his roommates wrath or powers turned against him. He’d seen it before, and it was still up in the air as to whether or not Rowan could tell it was him or a normal animal. Not to mention that a fleshy animal like a human looked oddly delicious as a large predatory reptile. He eyed the hand and his roommate with his tail flicking.

Okay so it was a dinosaur. This was fine. It was no illusion that was for sure, not if the way he was currently sprawled out on the floor had any say.  Which meant that either someone had somehow conjured up a raptor into present day earth or... 

“For fuck’s sake Cu, a dinosaur? Really?” He resisted the urge to charge at the reptile and set his cells ablaze. He wasn’t sure how new this form was or what sort of control his roommate held over the carnivorous brain. Slowly standing up, Rowan kept his hands loose at his sides and watched the raptor. It held a disturbingly hungry look in it’s eye and he fought the urge to sigh. “Come on, fun’s over. Shouldn’t you be making a lesson plan or drinking or braiding daisies in the field?” 

Angels frown slipped onto her face instantly and she had to remind herself to calm down, lest things get out of hand. Of course this big tough man thought she couldn’t handle a knife. Her frown increased the more she thought on it and once he was done her hand ripped from his. “I do know how to act, thanks, as well as do a lot of things including use my own implements for my job.” Maybe it was a surge in militant feminism that ran through her, but there was a right way to offer advice and a wrong way. He went the wrong way that bordered on disrespectful.

“Someone had a powers incident and sent a knife flying about the place. The kids are still learning to control them, sometimes. Incidents happen now and again, especially in a kitchen.” She felt her shoulders square as she attempted to use her full height to her advantage, “Thanks for your help with the wound. I can handle it from here.” Though she was mad at him for the slight to her capability, she wasn’t above thanking him for what he did do. It would make her life far less painful for the coming weeks.

Rowan’s brows raised at her sudden vehemence and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He was pretty sure she was trying to be intimidating but unlucky for her, it took more than a sharp tongue and angry eyes. “No problem. Try to avoid anymore flying knives in the future. They aren’t safe.” Taking another bite of his apple, he continued to stay exactly where he was. And if his tone was a touch lighter than before, well he would just chalk it up to finally getting some food. It definitely wasn’t brighter at the idea of getting a rise out of her - he was far too mature for that.   

He continued their little stare down until he heard a low moan coming from the table. The student was finally coming to and their eyes flitted around the kitchen, trying to regain their bearings. Rowan turned away from the baking teacher, resolutely telling himself that he hadn’t somehow just lost whatever they had started, and made his way to the groggy student. 

Somehow he wasn’t surprised to see the girl here - she had ended up in his lab no fewer than six different times over the past couple of months. Rowan was pretty sure that her mutation was actually just an intense clumsiness. “You’re alright.” He said as her eyes met his. “Go back to your dorm and take the rest of the day off. If anyone asks, tell them to come see me.” 

He sighed as she scampered out of the room and ran a hand over his face. “If I don’t see her for a week I’ll be surprised.”