♦ } 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

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. ]

[onteamdyson]

I'm not being shifty, I just don't see why I have to answer stupid questions that aren't even relevant or anything!

[Galen's been helping her wrap it. Anna couldn't heal it. Bruce doesn't have any idea what it is or how to stop it and it's just not something Jesse needs to deal with, too. He's already got enough going on with Galen stuff and-- Oh shit. Yeah. She'd have to explain that it wasn't--

Kenzi turns around and heads back to where she dropped the crossbow to pick it up and just try to get the hell out of here.]

[rigging]

[ It's relevant, and Kenzi just tries to walk away? Nope. Jesse needs to figure out what she's running from. What she's hiding from. He won't let her walk away - he strides forward and grabs her by the wrist, and he knows he shouldn't, because when he's this agitated, she's likely to feel a static-y sort of shock.

The second it happens he lets go, but still. ] Don't you fuckin' go, tell me. Or I'm gonna assume the worst, and you know what that is.

[onteamdyson]

Fucking Ow! [He gets another push for that. Abusing your powers already, are we? How fae of you. Kenzi glares, but at least she's facing him again.]

It's not what Galen had and that's all you need to know. Okay? I didn't get bit by some freaky dog and I'm pretty sure I don't wander around in people's heads, so you're gonna be fine. It's all peachy freakin' keen for you guys, don't worry about it.

[rigging]

[ He doesn't mean to do it, and he immediately feels awful - that's not what he means to use this ability for. Jesse shoves his hands in his pockets and shrinks back. ]

You know that's what Galen said, yeah? 'I ain't wandering around in people's heads.' [ He snaps. ] I ain't concerned about me. It's you that's gotta be okay. [ Stupid. ]

[onteamdyson]

[Shit. Shiiiiit. Okay. Well... fuck. She sighs, setting the crossbow back down and shrugging out of her jacket so she can pull her sleeve up and show him the bloody bandages. Nope, he didn't hallucinate this.] ... I don't know what's wrong with it. I mean, I know what happened, but I don't know what it is.

Anna couldn't fix it-- for the love of everything, do not say anything to Galen! If you do, you have to immediately follow it up with your super power confession to take the heat off of me and put it on you. [STUPID!]

[rigging]

[ He stares at it, expression dark. It looks awful, and Jesse is definitely not going to touch it or get close to it. He'll look. But that's all. ] I ain't gonna say anything. [ He rolls his eyes. ] I just wanna know you're good. You're okay, yeah? Ain't gonna keel over and die 'cause of this. 'Cause we can't have that.

[ He pauses. ] I'll help y'look for something t'fix it. I dunno what I can do, but I'll look.

[onteamdyson]

[Uuuuuuuuhhhhhhh--] Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Had it since I got here, haven't died yet. It's fine. [Blatantly lying to his face. Good plan. She pulls the sleeve back down and shrugs her jacket back on.]

Thanks, man. You ... wanna practice your shit a bit more before heading home? Might be easier hunting with you than with medieval weaponry, and we totes need the food. [She smiles nice and bright, trying to be encouraging.] Having bffs with cool powers isn't exactly something new. Maybe I could help?