[ video ]

[hostage]

[From what's visible behind him, Jesse's seated at the nurse's desk of the Xavier School infirmary. That's not really relevant to anything, just that he's at work and he's bored and out of anything useful to occupy his time. He's currently wrapping a gauze bandage around an empty soda can. An art piece, maybe. Or just keeping his hands busy.]

What's up? Anything exciting going on?

[He's talking to the comm device, but his eyes are on his "work".]

We got new guys coming in, right? How 'bout you? Freaking out about this superhero thing? It's pretty wild...

[That might be touching on sardonic. He knows it's no fun to be new here.]

You guys wanna talk or anything, I got nothing better to do.

[As thrilling as it is to keep winding this bandage around a soda can.]

Comments

video

[huntergames]

[ Seeing the school nurse in the school sets some alarms off on Sasha's end. ]

Hey... the school didn't re-open already did it? Isn't it still spring break? That's what they called it, yes?

[hostage]

Oh, you're in so much trouble.

[huntergames]

It was open this whole time?!

I wasn't skipping on purpose!

[hostage]

[He snickers.]

I'm messing with you.

It's a boarding school, so I put in hours even when there's no classes.

[huntergames]

[ Oh, thank god. Her heart isn't pounding too hard in her chest anymore learning it's a joke. Rather than take offense, Sasha laughs awkwardly. ]

O-Oh! Yes... a joke! I should have checked the calendar. Very silly of me...

[ She sounds relieved, though. ]

Having to sit at your post all day with no work to do does sound very boring.

[hostage]

I ain't complaining. Rather have nothing to do than a whole ton of shit keeping me busy all the time.

[That's not exactly true. He'd rather be cooking meth right now. Haha, what a sad life. Going straight and being a regular person is hard.]

[huntergames]

[ She can sort of relate. Minus the meth business, of course. ]

Maybe you could take a sick day and do something fun.

[hostage]

I bet the second I take a sick day, somebody's gonna break an arm.

[huntergames]

At the school? There's nobody else that could cover that shift?

[ Awkwardly looking at her own sling now. ]

[hostage]

Probably, but they wouldn't heal as good as I do.

[huntergames]

[ She nods, listening closely. ]

You healed Laurie, didn't you? Her hands were...

[ Dead? She still isn't entirely sure how that can happen, but Laurie did tell her it was something that happened back home. ]

[hostage]

Yeah. That was a pretty weird one.

[No offense to Laurie, but it was probably the weirdest thing he's had to heal yet.]

[huntergames]

I've never heard of anything like it myself, but there's a lot in this world I'm still learning about.

[ Peering at Jesse curiously now. ]

Is that your superpower from home?

[hostage]

Nah, I was a regular person back home. We don't have superpowers or magic or nothing.

[huntergames]

Really?

[ Laurie's hands seem to be fine now, so he must really know how to utilize these new powers of his. Probably why he's a school nurse. ]

Can I ask how you learned to control your powers then?

[hostage]

Ah, I just kinda... figured it out. It's hard to explain. I mean, most of it's just in my head anyway. Thinking about what I wanna do. Lotta people need healing all the time, so I kept practicing.

[huntergames]

So kind of like... willpower.

[ She sounds impressed. ]

Ah! I should give my thanks for healing Laurie. She's one of my good friends here.

[hostage]

Aw, it was nothing. Seriously.

[A few days of localized paralysis. Not even painful.]

[huntergames]

It was something! That's an amazing power to have and to have taught yourself... that's just as incredible. It took me months to learn how to control mine and I had an instructor...

[hostage]

[If there's one thing that comes naturally to Jesse, it's empathy.]

I bet your power's a lot more complicated.

[huntergames]

Just... a little? At the start; we don't have superpowers back home either.

[ What does titan shifting even constitute? Nobody knows. ]

[hostage]

What'd you end up with?

[huntergames]

Flight powers... sort of. It's very limited, so it's not really like flying.

I can also summon a bow with my thoughts. That's actually been useful.

[hostage]

The bow thing sounds cool, but... Man, that sucks about the flying thing. Is it like how chickens fly? Like not really flying, sorta just flapping around?

[huntergames]

[ That earns a small laugh. ]

It gives me something of a boost when I climb or run up the walls. The boost is extra helpful when I'm using my gear.