♦ } they say quitters never win

[rigging]

[ So. When the devil gives you superpowers, obviously, you have to test them out.

Of course, Jesse doesn't know that he got his superpowers from the devil because he never asked. He took the powers and left - never look a gift horse in the mouth, obviously. So he heads out to the edge of the woods and decides that he's going to aim at the trees, and see if he can manage to hit any of them. He... misses, for the most part, and when he gets mad, frustrated, it gets harder to control. But the trees have a crapton of marks on them, so there's that, apparently.

And when he heads home later, he'll probably run headfirst into one of two people, simply because he's not paying attention to anything but his hands, trying to make sure they're not going to spark all over the place. ]

Comments

( back at home )

[gleans]

[ He's been feeling better. Sleeping is still an iffy process, and he still wakes up in the middle of the night from uneasy dreams, but not being under so much weight of judgement - and fucking with his hair - has really helped his mood.

When Jesse comes home, Galen wanders out of the kitchen and bumps his hip as he slips by. ]

They're still attached. Where'd you go?

[rigging]

[ Jesse blinks, snaps out of his weird blank state of mind to look up at Galen, and give him a little smile. Things are a little easier - maybe still a little tense, but it's getting better. And Galen's hair still makes him grin a bit.

But still, he doesn't want to tell Galen about his new power. He knows he should, he knows keeping it a secret or lying is going to blow up in his face, but it's so hard when he feels like it's going to drive another wedge between them. He hoists himself up on the counter and looks back down at his hands. ]

Just out, for a bit. Wanted t'smoke and clear my head. [ He says it easily, with a small sigh. ] Whattabout you, blondie?

[gleans]

[ Galen grins at the blondie comment, but still finds the hand staring weird, so he shuffles closer and takes both of those stupid stare-worthy hands. ]

I went over to the libr -- OW!

[ Galen yanks his hands back and rubs at his fingers, looking down at Jesse's hands. ] Shit, is the counter made of carpet now?

[rigging]

[ Galen's exclamation makes Jesse jump, and his hands crackle with electricity for a split second. Uh.

Clearly the best thing to do is put his hands behind his back. Shh. ] Jesus, what the fuck. Be careful.

[gleans]

[ Whoa, what? He glances down when he hears that crackle, then looks back up suspiciously. ] Be careful? What the hell was that?

[rigging]

Nothing. [ It's his knee-jerk response, as always. ] Don't shock yourself on the carpet, stupid. [ BE COOL ]

[gleans]

[ Honestly, even if Galen wasn't already a little suspicious, there's no way he'd take 'nothing' at face value. It's never nothing, especially not anymore. ]

... The house doesn't have carpet. Lemme see your hands.

[rigging]

No, y'can't. [ He keeps his hands where they are, almost petulant. He's very sure he's about to get in trouble, and he doesn't want to hear it. ] There's nothing wrong with 'em.

[gleans]

Jesse. [ That's the "Jesse, I'm not stupid" Jesse. ] If there's nothing wrong, then show me.

[rigging]

[ Scowl. Fine. He shows Galen his hands, willing nothing to happen. Nothing does - at first. And then his fingers spark, and he flinches. Fuck. ]

[gleans]

[ Galen almost jumps back a little, but just stares instead, carefully reaching -- ow. ]

What... the hell. [ Explain. ]

[rigging]

[ Jesse bites his lip. ] Don't freak out at me.

[gleans]

Wh -- why would I freak out at you, what did you do?

THE WOODS!

[onteamdyson]

[Okay, so it's probably a bad idea to wander around in the woods alone unless you have a crossbow and really want to practice this hunting thing by yourself in case a certain someone ever wants to go with you again and you really want to impress them with your skills. Obviously Kenzi is this exception, which is why she's out here trying to bring back some small game. You know, birds and shit. Rabbits. Whatever she can carry back by herself. Only downside is, smaller shit is harder to hit.

She has to concentrate. And aim. And breathe. And-- WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON OVER THERE?! Flashes of light through the trees are making it incredibly hard to concentrate and scaring off any potential prey. Gotta investigate. You know, by stealthily creeping through the woods and keeping the crossbow at the ready and being so sneaky as she gets close enough to--]

HEY! What the SHIT is going on? [Real stealth. Sooooo stealth. Oh my god, it's Jesse.] ... Wh-- Dude, do you have a camera? Pocket strobe light? What are you even doing out here?

[rigging]

[ Kenzi is so ridiculously stealth. Jesse is impressed. Except he's not, and when she shouts, Jesse jumps about a million feet and accidentally sparks - which means another tree gets hit by the electricity and starts a small flame. ] Fuck!

[ Just give him a second to stomp the fire out, and then turn around to look at Kenzi with a grumpy expression. You didn't see anything. That definitely didn't come from Jesse's hand. ] Nothing, I ain't - what are you doing out here?

[onteamdyson]

[What. The. Fuck. Just. Happened. Kenzi's just kind of staring, her eyes as wide as they will freakin' go, and she lowers the crossbow to point at him.]

Could you do that this entire time? Because if you had freakin' crazy-ass powers and didn't tell me, I am going to kick your butt, I'm not even kidding. What am I doing-- I'm not setting stuff on fire, that's for sure! I'm busting my ass, bringing you guys food, when you can just ... whatever at stuff! DUDE!

[The shock wears off and now she just looks... excited.] Do it again.

[rigging]

[ For a second, he just blinks. Because... what. It's not the reaction he's expecting, but it's a reaction he can get behind, and he grins widely, shaking his head. ]

No, I just - I ain't had it this entire time. It's just something. But - yeah, alright. [ He looks at the trees again, and concentrates completely on the bark. Hit it. Hit just that. He raises his hand and shoots the electricity at the tree - and it hits it! There's only a little bit of extra spark, and Jesse shakes his hand like he'd... well, been shocked. ] Jesus.

[onteamdyson]

Holy shit. [She sets the crossbow down and runs up to push him!]

Jesse! What the hell, man? Did you get bit by a radioactive battery? Kobra's gonna freak that you have legit powers. How is this even a thing?

[rigging]

[ He squawks a little at the push, and then laughs. ] Fuck, I dunno - this dude came up to me in the library and was like, hey, you wanna be useful and fuck some bears up? And I was like well, yeah. And he gave me this.

[ He shrugs. ] I'm workin' on it. I ain't gonna let anybody fuck with you or Galen.

[onteamdyson]

[This dude ... in the library. Haha, what? Hang on a sec, Jess. This suddenly got less awesome. Sounds kinda-- ... Nornish, actually.]

Wait, so some random dude asked you if you wanted super powers... and then gave you super powers? And you didn't question it. Or think, gee, maybe this is kinda freakin' shady as all fuck?

[rigging]

I did! [ He protests. ] I said that sounded fishy as fuck, but he said he didn't have any reason t'give me a power and then kill me with it. It made sense. And I'm controlling it. Y'just can't like, sneak up on me for a while.

[onteamdyson]

But-- what guy can just give another guy powers? How?! Which guy was this? And telling me not to sneak up on you rules out like... 67% of what I do with my free time!

[Seriously. It's a really fulfilling hobby. His reactions are hilarious.]

I just-- ... Jess, what's the catch? There's always a catch. Trust me. [Excuse her while she subconsciously scratches at her arm.]

[rigging]

I dunno, some guy! I wasn't really looking for a name. [ Which was probably stupid, but Jesse doesn't care. He has something he can use to protect people with. He's learning. It'll be fine, and it won't matter. ] I dunno what the catch is, I know there's gotta be one. Trust me, I know.

But as long as I got this, I gotta use it. [ He glances at her scratching. ] I gotta learn how to - what's with your arm?

[onteamdyson]

[Definitely stupid. She groans, eyes rolling skyward. Seriously?] You're supposed to know what it is before making the deal. This is just bad business. You should have called me!

[She immediately stops scratching, freezing for a second before shrugging and hiding the arm by holding it slightly behind her back. Don't get defensive. Do NOT get defensive!] Nothing. It's itchy. Can't I scratch an itch without checking in with you first? Because you can accept weird powers from library guys without checking in with me. Quit trying to change the subject, Sparky!

[... She got defensive.]

[rigging]

[ ... She gets defensive. Jeeze. ]

I ain't changing the subject, you're being all shifty with your arm! What's wrong with it, what - [ And he stops dead in the middle of his sentence - he can remember during the hallucinations that it looked like Kenzi had been bitten. The same arm. The same scratching. ]

Kenz, what's wrong with your arm? [ He asks it calmly enough, but he's serious. ]