"Yeah... something like that," Kal muttered to Caleb, unable to look him in the eye as she dodged his question. Fortunately she didn't have to avoid him long as Valeria stepped in, once again coming to the rescue. Kalama offered the athlete a grateful smile, but she was already looking away, addressing the group while giving Elysia an intense, curious look. She felt a pang of jealousy for the attention the other girl was getting before putting two and two together and realizing that Val probably wasn't familiar with American Sign Language. She opened her mouth to explain, but the group was already moving on to other topics and so she shut it again.

"I like the idea of going now, but it's not office hours and I assume our professor has a life," Rowan pointed out. "Does anyone know where Mr. Mouse lives? If not, we're probably stuck on that front until Monday, unless we want to go to all the professor bars to figure out if he drinks away the pain of teaching a bunch of misfits like us." He smiled disarmingly, making the statement clearly a joke rather than an insult.

"What about the TA?" Kalama suggested. "Her number is in our syllabus for any after-hours homework help questions. Could you put your spell on her over the phone, Kyle? Maybe make her divulge the prof's home address or something? Unless someone wants to suddenly manifest the power to find lost things..."

Caleb opened his mouth about to argue that he had only asked a question, but caught the meaning in Val’s glance and grumbled wordlessly to himself instead. He could sense he had upset her somewhat and did not want to worsen her mood. He gave a brief nod in Kalama’s direction and then focused on the others. Whatever Kalama was bringing to the table, the fact of the matter here is that it did not seem like anyone knew how he could teach him to contain his latent pyrokinesis. Luckily there at least seemed a path forward he could take solace in. A half-remember thought was bouncing around in the back of his head however, something bothering him that he couldn’t quite put words too.

Kyle was talking a lot all of the sudden, Caleb paid as much attention as he could but eventually just lost interest. What the hell was he talking about Elysia’s uniqueness for? How would that help get the info out? Pincer formation? Caleb gave Kyle a big thumbs up after he had finished his speech and let out a satisfied ”Sure! Tomorrow’s fine. Honestly, the professor strikes me as one of those guys who has some really specialized knowledge and then just totally clueless about everything else.”

Caleb laughed at Rowan’s joke and gently nudged him with a hand, ”You’d think he’d be delighted! We are all SO very pretty, after all.” He moved his hand to face and posed like a model out of a fashion magazine, eyes turned to the sky, finger delicately resting against his cheek. It didn’t hurt that Caleb had muscles like that of any built male model either to help complete the effect. He wanted to put on a good show after all, that smile from Rowan had been quite nice.

After Kalama’s suggestion, Caleb took his phone out, found the digital copy of the syllabus he had downloaded, but never actually read and found the number. He typed out a quick text to the TA, ‘Hey this be caleb from witch class, the hot one, can we meet tomorrow? ya boi got some questions from his study group to go over. Hit ya boi up for when be litty for ya. ’ He didn’t really know much about her frankly, his intuition had not really picked anything up, but he chalked that up to having not spent enough time observing her. It wasn’t like he had ever attended any office hours of essentially anyone teaching here at BCC.

”Alright sent the TA a text, I’ll get us a time to meet tomorrow.” Caleb stretched his arms up in the air, loosening his body up from its previous stress, having been stuck in his seat for so long, and the now fading pain of Val’s arms. ”We got the text group up now so we can stay in contact, so we are good for now right? I’m gonna go ahead and hit up the gym right now, the showers before and after, so if you wanted to stay in ‘groups’ feel free to join in.” He paused and grew suddenly stern pointing directly at Val. ”You are good to work out again, but I am not doing that shit again. No more overworking your body, as your sometimes trainer/ workout buddy, I am ordering you to take the night off.” He glared down at her in faux seriousness, before giving her a genuine smile. The plan to hunt down Ken could wait for now, there was a lot going that was fairly distracting.

Anything magical that could have happened his life? Nothing in Kyles mind stood out when he tried to think of something magical he had experienced. So he thought of it another way. There was a chance he had experienced some.....unusual things before. Thinking back he had an unusally high amount of luck back in the army, and even when he was younger than that, when trying to fix something. That was about the only thing Kyle could think of that would be in the "extraordinary" category. He remembered that was something that usually could make him stand out, Kyle secretly never knew how he was able to fix anything he put his mind to. At times Kyle has even rebuilt things that he knew barely anything about and was able to do it in record time. Kyle realized that this might be related to what Elysia was asking about and to be honest when Kyle thought back to moments he had fixed something that others had given up on Kyle realized he had such a similar feeling to when he used his Emotional Suggestion. Kyle wondered to himself if that meant he had magic since he was born and if he did what else had he done that he didn't understand?

Kyle had not spoken any of this out loud but decided to answer Elysis before he would leave.

"I'm really good at fixing things."

That was all that was said by Kyle before he left grabbed his binder, left the table, and walked out of the café. It was fine if everyone wanted to wait until tomorrow, but he felt restless and unable to not think about what was going on? What was he? Could he control anyone now, or was his power not meant to be used in such an aggressive way? He wanted to find out and while he did feel better than before he could tell the toll he paid for his powers was worse internally. Getting over emotional made him feel a whiplash from his powers that he could tell he wouldn't survive twice in a single night. Could he get away with minimal damage if he changed what he suggested? Like how deep of a suggestion could he even perform? So many questions and he only had until tomorrow to figure it out before the fun little group activity planned. Kyle wanted to wait a little bit before using his powers again, just had a feeling it would be a little dangerous since he had pushed himself so much earlier, so Kyle settled on finding his dorm room. He had paper with directions on how to find it, which was helpful since Kyle was intensely directionally challenged.

Later in the night..

Kyle found his dorm room, although it took quite awhile to do so. To become lost or to lose your way is something anyone can do. What Kyle does is truly spectacular. Somehow he had started on the right track and ended up nearly on the other side of campus! He went to the wrong building multiple times. The only reason he was able to find his dorm in truth was because he had started asking strangers for help. That was slightly discouraging but Kyle shook those thoughts out of his head. Kyle entered his room and sat on his bed, taking in where he was going to be sleeping for the foreseeable future. Kyle missed his apartment already but there was no point in paying for an apartment when a dorm was free. That was when he remembered he was suppose to have a roommate. He still had no idea who they were going to be, but that would be something he would deal with later. Kyle pulled out a small notebook from his binder and began writing things down. This notebook would be what he used to document his powers, magic in general, and any other information that might be useful.

A knack? Rowan frowned when Elysia brought it up, remembering that paragraph in the book clearly as it described qualities that, though unlikely or unexplainable, wouldn't necessarily seem like magic. Exactly like the sense of danger he would get right before shit really went down, that sense which had saved him time and time again. When Kyle answered, his mind was made up. "I think so, yeah. I know when something dangerous is going to happen, at least most of the time," he said with a little shrug. "I always just thought it was my subconscious, but who knows?"

"That sounds pretty magical to me, bruh. Does cooking count? I guess my stuff always tastes good, even when it doesn't... if that makes any sense. People really like it even when it doesn't turn out. Is that dumb?" Kal asked, scratching her head. "I didn't explain that very well, but... yeah." The group was already starting to leave, so she picked up her things and walked to the door, frowning at her shoes. She thought about asking Rowan if he was going back to their apartment, but he was already going the other way back towards campus to get his bike.

Rather than go straight home, Kalama decided to find somewhere quiet to practice starting fires. It wasn't something she was going to mess with in her own bedroom, but there were some public parks that usually got pretty quiet after dark. Hopefully any casual passers-by would just assume she was a smoker playing with her lighter. To give herself a cover story, she decided to stop by a convenience store to get an actual lighter on her way there.

Meanwhile Rowan headed back to campus to get his bike, but by the time he got there he realized that the whole Ken thing was still bothering him too much to ignore. Rather than biking towards his apartment, Rowan decided to head back to the spot where the rat had attacked the driver and see if his Gift with animals would yield any new clues. It seemed like a long shot, but it felt more productive than going home and pretending like life was still normal.

---

Homework help session in annex room 204 tomorrow 3pm. You can bring your questions & a rough draft of your midterm essay. Leave the inappropriate attitude.

Caleb left the bar and headed over to the gym. He considered it quite lucky for Ken that he had been so distracted, as the punching bag took all the anger and frustration Caleb poured into in his place. After a quick shower, he headed back out to the parking lot, round a corner to his beat up old Volkswagen bus. The thing held a remnant of the dark green coat of paint that had originally been on it, now a myriad of scratches, sun damage and rust speckled over the ancient exterior. The inside wasn't nearly so bad though, Caleb had added enough blankets and pillows that it was hard not to make yourself comfortable in the back. In addition, some of the repairs he had done with Coach provided him with some basic necessities to survive like a small electric stovetop powered by a scavenged solar panel that worked at least some of the time. It was pretty easy to grab a quick bite from the gym cafe as he got at least one meal a day for free.

If his credit hadn't been destroyed the second his father got his social security number he may have had enough credit to apply for one of those life ruining student debt loans, but he made do. Besides, he considered, all this was temporary, once he got into Pi Phi Gamma, he’d actually have some room to get some actual stuff, along with some ways to actually make some money in the future. He pulled out his phone and saw the text message from the TA, and wondered vaguely how he had been inappropriate with her. Had he hit on her in the past? He didn’t think so, but he could be wrong. ‘I guess I should actually start writing that paper if I gotta bring one to class. I wonder if Val knows…” He shot Val a quick text ’ayy octopus bring ya essay tomorrow to the ta seems low-key pressed’

He glanced over the assignment himself and turned on the voice typing function on his google doc app and started speaking in accordance to the essay prompt. It was easier than typing his entire essay with his thumbs and he wasn’t interested in heading over to the library right now. The day’s revelations had been… a lot. Caleb still wasn’t quite sure how he felt about it all. Other people were like him. Some of them were assholes who threw up on your shoes. Some of them were hot. Some of them seemed to have very few social skills. One was Val. The key, however, was none of them could help him with controlling the fire that something inside him was conjuring, he shuddered and glanced over to the brand new fire extinguisher lying within arms reach of him.

Soon enough, sleep came and with it so did his dreams. He was nude in a dark sea, the water seeming to writhe around him chaotically, the motion making no sense to his sense. The only light he could see was a blazing figure standing in the sky above him, hands clasped in anger. The motion of the water around him shifted and the water began to rise around himself. He started and tried to move up, keep his head above water, but the water felt strange not like a liquid but like something alive. What he had assumed was water, was instead an unfathomable amount of rats surrounding him and about to drown him with their sheer numbers. Having realized this, he could feel their sharps claws cutting into this skin. He reached a hand out to the fiery figure, and opened his mouth to scream for help only to find he could make no sound. All but his hand and one eye covered he saw the figure descend and seize his hand and felt the flesh melting off in the primal flame of the figures touch.

Saturday 23 September 2017
8:00 AM

And then he was awake, panting, and sitting straight upright with the fire extinguisher in his hands as he frantically glanced around him and his hand to make sure he was safe. For now, all seemed fine. He groaned in annoyance and flopped back on his nest of blankets. He texted the group ’anyone else getting real sick of this dream shit’

---

Caleb stood at the entrance of the hospital hall, his fingers clasping and unclasping themselves, trying to motivate himself to take another step forward. Everytime he attempted to, a cold shiver ran down his spine at the thought of what he was going to put himself through. He mentally ran down his checklist: ice pack, ibuprofen, stress ball, and an emergency beer if it really became too much. He was gonna get through it. Caleb took a deep breath and focused on the way he was going to walk. Swagger like his took time and attention after all, he joked to himself. He took one step forward and then another before giving Daria’s door a quick rap, before entering!
“Daria! Prince Charming is here!”

Through the comfortable haze of hospital-grade painkillers, Daria almost believed him for a moment before she blinked and realized her visitor’s real identity. “Caleb!’ She greeted him warmly, pleased that he was visiting again. If he had visited before. She was pretty sure he had, but it was difficult to tell dreams from reality with the meds, and there were some details of his last visit in her memory that she was pretty sure weren’t true.

“Do you want pudding? They give you so much food here,” She offered, using her good hand to push the unopened chocolate pudding cup towards him. The left side of her body was more or less fine, with the few superficial burns now completely healed. But the right side, where the fire had started on the center console between them, was a different story. Burns of varying severity made a messy patchwork from thigh to shoulder, worst of all on her hands that had tried to undo her seatbelt, put out the fire, and pull the melting plastic off of her body.

Despite that she was still an attractive young woman, with a bright smile and girl-next-door charm that carried through even under the circumstances. “Isn’t it friday? You don’t have a party to go to, or someone more exciting to hang out with than a cripple like me?” She teased with a mischievous grin.

Caleb put a hand over his heart in mock outrage, “How dare you underestimate the sheer depth of which I love hospital pudding? No casual friday night hook up could match the desire this tiny pot of chocolate gold inspires in me! Plus you are not the worst company, I just stole the pudding of a comatose patient down the hall and he was a terrible conversationalist!”

Caleb smiled at her and grabbed a chair, spinning it around, and sat in it backwards. He gently took the pudding from her good hand. Her left side was just about done, but the right had some serious work left to go. Her right hand had suffered the most fire and it was the spot that seemed the most potentially painful for him. He had decided it was his next target yesterday, the only way past his fear was to face it head on after all.

“Thanks for fitting me into your busy appointment schedule by the way! Must be hard to do between getting high and napping.” He took a luxurious bite of the pudding, though it could only be called okay at best, and overemphasized a loud mmm as he took a bite. “Hey, I know a magic trick! I bet I can distract you from being lightly crisped if you promise I can have your pudding tomorrow.”

Giggling at his antics, Daria let herself be charmed by her visitor’s corny performance. Some small part of her wanted to resent him for everything that had happened, even though it wasn’t his fault - but right now all of those negative thoughts were a million miles away, courtesy of the drugs that were -as he so delicately pointed out - getting her high.

“If you stay high, you don’t gotta get high!” the coed joked in her best RuPaul voice, a surprisingly apt impersonation. Making funny voices had always been one of her talents, much to the frustration of those who spent longer than a day around her. “But seriously, thanks for coming. The nurses aren’t really paying too much attention to me, which I guess is a good thing.” She shrugged, then grimaced as shrugging moved her bum arm.

“I expect some real magic if you’re expecting to get paid a whole pudding cup for it,” She warned with a mock-serious expression. “The going rate for phony fakey magic is two shreds of lettuce from my baked chicken burger.”

Caleb laughed at the irony of the statement and replied “My god, the economy for magicians is even harsher than I could have imagined!” He stuck his own right hand out of sight behind the chair with his ice pack already resting on top of it. “Okay go ahead and close your eyes, otherwise the magic won’t work.” After making sure Daria had actually closed her eyes, Caleb began chanting “Abra, Kadabra, Alakazam, Mega Alakazam, alohamora, expelliarmus, open sesame!” He reached out a gave a sharp, more surprising than hurtful flick to her ear, before reaching down and touching her shoulder in the moment of her surprise.

As soon as he made contact, he was back in the truck. The flames were crawling up the sides, Daria screaming as she desperately clawed at her seatbelt as the plastic began to melt into the flesh of her sides and hands. Except this time, it was his hands clawing at the seat buckle, trying to escape, sheer agony overwhelmed him for a moment almost losing consciousness at the burst of pain in his hand. Rather than turn red as it had when he had healed Val’s minor injuries. Caleb’s hand turned jet black behind the chair, the ice pack doing nothing to prevent the pain.

He didn’t heal the whole injury of course, it would be noticed too quickly, but all the major underlying damage and severe scarring was taken away. In due time, her hand would regain full mobility and be left with nothing but some small scars. Most importantly, the pain for Daria would not be nearly as grim. It was the least he could do for her after all. Whatever excuse he threw out there about not being able to control it. The fire came from him so it was his responsibility. He knew he would never sleep again if he didn’t balance the scales here. He gritted his teeth in a grin and stood and spun with a dramatic flourish to hide his grimace, entering the restroom with a cry of “Alas, it seems my magic has backfired upon me! Too many pieces of lettuce!”

When the door was closed and locked, Caleb slumped onto the floor exhausted cradling his hand. The color had yet to fade even slightly, but the pain, while excruciating was not as bad as the initial burst had been. Reaching under the cabinets of the sink, he pulled out a pair of nitrile gloves. Wincing and silently writhing, he put one on his blackened hand and roughly got the other one on with his teeth. He took a moment to collect himself, wipe his face, flush the toilet and turn the sink on for a moment before exiting the restroom with his trademark grin on his face, gloved hands held before him. “Daria! We should play Doctor later!” He gave an exaggerated flirtatious wink to go with his playful tone. “Especially, if I keep upping your morphine!”

“Whoa hey!” Daria exclaimed as he flicked her, shaking her head like her flopping bob cut would be any protection from further petty assaults on her defenseless ears. His ruse had worked, so when she opened her eyes to scold him the only thing on her mind was the trick he had played. She was surprised and amused when he ran off rather than face the wrath of a bedridden theater major - a tough guy like him could surely take worse than she was dishing out.

“Too much lettuce? Is there any such thing?” she called after him, glancing at her tray for anything she could use for revenge. Discarded lettuce was the only weapon she could find, so she gathered a few shreds into her good hand, but had trouble positioning them well. With a preparatory grimace she reached her right hand over to try and nudge the pieces around, but when she flexed her fingers to move her projectile into position she was surprised to discover the joints bent without the creaking pain she was becoming used to. She flexed the burned digits experimentally and winced when the skin started to stretch, but found that motion was far easier than it had been with the nurse only a few hours ago.

She supposed a positive attitude really must make a difference when it came to healing. He had only been there three minutes but she was already feeling much better both emotionally and physically! It was almost like… magic. She shuddered as she thought about the other inexplicable event in her life recently. One that Caleb had also been present for. A coincidence, surely, but an odd one.

As he came out of the bathroom with that goofy grin of his plastered across his face, she chided herself for her suspicions. He was the only one who had visited more than once except her family, and she was high as tits. Everything would make more sense once she was out of the hospital and thinking clearly. Right now she just wanted to enjoy his company.

“Sounds like fun,” She agreed with a wink of her own. “I’ll play the wise, experienced Doctor and you can be my slutty nurse!”

“Oh Doctor! I seem to have dropped my pen!” Caleb turned around and bent down to pick up his imaginary pen giving her a good show. Coming back up, he glanced at the time and then looked back to her. “I can’t stay too much longer today, I am afraid I got class in a bit, and apparently if I ditch any more of that professor’s class she isn’t gonna let me back in for some reason! Still, got at least a bit more time, and I will come by tomorrow round the same time to collect my hard-won pudding cup.” He scooted his chair up closer to her bed looking thoughtful.

“Let’s see what story shall I tell you about today? I can tell you why I am never going to try and help an emo kid again, or the latest words Val has learned in english, ooooo or I can make you jealous by telling you about my latest targets of my vicious flirting… one of them has a surprisingly nice set of dreads for a white guy.”

Daria stuck out her tongue when he mentioned his latest target, as much to cover a pang of jealousy as to tease him. She felt dumb expecting anything more from him, yet the disappointment was still there. This was not exactly the exciting fresh start she had been hoping for when she hooked up with him two weeks ago.

Then she put two and two together. “Oh shit, a white guy with dreads? Kal’s roommate, whatsisface… Rowan! That guy?” She raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. “That’s your type? You can do better.” She blew him a kiss and winked. “Not as good as me, obviously, but like… better.”

Distracted by the drugs, she didn’t realize she’d brought up Kalama until after she finished talking. Was that a mistake? She still wasn’t sure if he knew she had a girlfriend at the time or not. It wasn’t exactly a conversation she had been keen to have with him.

Caleb blinked in surprise "You know Rowan and Kal? Huh small world! I can't remember if I knew if they were roommates." He paused for a moment checking to see if he felt that same magnetic sensation in his chest as he had with the others, but felt nothing with some relief, "Give me a break I just met those people yesterday! Hippie's can be hot! And that Kal seem's like a tough nut to crack, I get some real self-sabotage vibes you know? Besides, I am sure no one is as good as you! Why do you think I keep coming around? Once you're all healed up we can finish up our night together... maybe on a waterbed this time though huh?” He gave an uncharacteristically small, soft smile and patted her good hand.

I don't think Kal is much one for nuts, tough or otherwise, Daria thought but decided against saying aloud. There was too much to think about right now, and the guilt was eating at her. She chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip, managing only a very small smile in reply. Now she felt like complete garbage, which was definitely not how she saw this visit going. But if he was going to be spending a lot of time around them, he would figure the truth out sooner or later…

"Yeah, sounds good," She answered, yawning as big as she could. "Hey, as much as I appreciate the visit I'm crashing pretty hard. I might need to catch a quick nap." It sounded like a lame excuse even to her own ears, but she didn't feel nearly ready for confession time.

"Such a layabout! Here, head up for a second." He gently supported her back on its good side to help her up and took her pillow out with the same hand, the other still out of commission, flipping it to the cooler side and fluffing it up a bit. "Get some rest, Doctor..." He gave her cheek a quick pat, healing her side just the smallest bit to make her feel more comfortable as she slept. With that he left the room and went back into the hall. Immediately, he swallowed some ibuprofen hoping the placebo effect would kick in and make his hand more manageable. Checking the skin under his glove, found his skin still black but at least a lighter shade of black. With a sign he walked off, heading towards the TA's classroom.

It seemed to be a mutual understanding when their little group broke up, though Kyle’s departure was rather sudden. Val tilted her head as she watched him leave, akin to a puppy, before turning to her own things to begin packing up as the others did. A thoughtful hum bubbled up in her throat as the others expressed their own little oddities, but…

”I do not have one, I think,” The athlete stated, unsure, as she threw her bag over her shoulder. ”I will have to think on it!” She flashed the others a grin, raising a hand to give a wave before departing.

A minute after everyone had already left however, Val returned. She forgot to pay the bill. Oops.

It was only later that night that the thoughts churned in her mind. Her workout routine was almost automatic, an easy to remember pattern that she didn’t even have to think about and was engraved in her mind. What was Val particularly good at? The only thing that really crossed her mind was she was a little more athletic than her peers. Something she was very proud of, but that was only her own hard work.

It had to be.

A deep sigh escaped Val’s nose as her phone went off nearby, and she set the dumbbell in one hand down to reach out for it. The weight clanked loudly, but her ground floor apartment was only shared with her cats for this particular reason. In truth, she was very lucky with everything that life has granted to her - and her very supportive parents, of course.

Actually, her phone’s buzz reminded her of something. Val quickly opened the group chat that Caleb had sent Kyle’s notes to, typing out a quick ’This is Val, please feel free to add my phone number’ followed by a few heart emojis, and a turtle since it was cute. Satisfied, she thumbed the notification for a new text, and promptly laughed out loud at the message from Caleb. It was nice that he was so accepting, even if he did call her a sea creature. She typed out a quick thumbs up emoji, only to quickly erase it as inspiration struck. Instead, she sent eight thumbs up with an octopus emoji in the middle. Brilliant.

Quite pleased with herself, Valeria set her phone down and reached for the dumbbell once more, only to pause.

”Oh no, the essay!”

Another pause.

”Wait, did anyone else get a heart in their drink?”

---

A sharp gasp escaped Val’s lips as she half sat up in bed with a startled jerk, a yowl sounding from her chest. She caught herself for only a moment, before her stricken gaze quickly found the displeased, fluffy forest cat that had tumbled into her lap into an equally unimpressed white and orange bastard.

”Oh, Rybka, I’m sorry boy! Here, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Her hands soothed over his fur, the russian words slipping out easily. As the other cat squirmed away, another hand found his ears to scratch behind them - this one a glowing orange. Soothing the two cats and asking their forgiveness chased away the shadows of the dream that still clung to Valeria’s mind, wisping away with countless others and leaving only an impression of darkness, and glowing eyes peering at her from high above.

Valeria’s morning routine was amazingly efficient when she had access to a helping hand - or four. As she stretched her actual arms high above her head, loosening up for her morning run, a glowing hand ran her brush through her hair. Another two were readying her cats’ food, and a fourth was struggling to open her phone. Apparently whatever these light-based appendages were made of, the screen of a modern smart phone couldn’t recognize it. Finally Val gave up and grabbed the phone with her actual hand to open it.

’I am aware of a couple boys that are quite tired of me waking them with these dreams’ She sent quickly in response to Caleb. Setting the food bowls down, she snapped a pic of Rybka and Creamsicle gathering and attached it after her message.

”You two be good, I’ll be back soon!”

An alarm coming from the phone in his pocket drew Kyles attention from what he we writing in his notepad. Quickly Kyle took the phone from his pocket and turned off the ringing alarm that he saw was set to remind him to look at the time. At times Kyle would become lost in his work when approaching something he found something extremely interesting. Writing about his power and analyzing it was definitely something extremely interesting. Seeing the digital clock on his phone displayed that it was ten to midnight Kyle reminded himself he needed a full nights rest for the the next day. Putting his notepad and pen inside his pillowcase and putting his phone on his pillow Kyle started walking towards the bathroom and taking off his clothes. Starting with his shirt Kyle slowly but efficiently took his shirt off by lifting it from the bottom to over his head. When the shirt had left his head and he could see again Kyle spotted his reflection in the bathroom mirror. Kyles eyes immediately met his reflections eyes.

"I will master this power and unlock it to its full potential. Besides ," Kyle said with a grin forming, "Wars have been fought and stopped due to words and war.....war never changes."



Kyle sat upright as seven am came to pass. He had only slept for four hours and laid in bed for the rest of the time. Not really thinking but not falling asleep, simply waiting. He preferred to be working on mastering his power but chose to rest in bed until it was to rise. He sustained some serious damage the last time he used his power, and Kyle wasn't sure if it would happen again if he tried to use his power again. Plus he didn't understand it completely but realized he could sort of feel the way his power dwelled inside of himself. Not so literally, but in a more mystical magical way.

The dreams had come back to him while he slept, again none restful or peaceful. The difference this time? They were more clear than they had ever been before while still unfortunately not exactly something Kyle could completely remember in the morning. In this dream, Kyle was standing somewhere but he could not make it out completely. Possibly a hallway? He began walking forward and as he did his path became clearer but if he looked back he would be unable to see clearly. Kyle reached a door with light pouring out of the cracks in its hinges so he reach out and opened it. As soon as his hand had touched the door handle, faint whispers began echoing behind him in the dark. Kyle could not make them out clearly but something in his chest told him not to look back. Kyle walked into the room and saw it was an office of sorts. Kyle could still hear faint voices echoing behind but he pressed and started to look around the room. When he got to the opposite wall of the door Kyle realized there was a desk and two windows. One red window, one blue window, and a black desk. Then just as suddenly as they started, the voices began to become louder and less clear. Kyle pressed his hands against his ears and began to think as hard as he could over the noise. He could feel something was in the desk and he could feel there was something he could see out of the windows, but strange enough Kyle believed the window he would look out of mattered for some reason. The voices were intensifying with every passing second and Kyle began to feel immense pain. Only a short time remained before he felt he could not remain conscious so Kyle make a quick decision. He looked out of blue window. As Kyle peered out of the window he could almost make out someone. That was when he woke up in a sweat. He felt angry at once because he could only barely remember this dream and could not for the life remember who he saw.

Kyle swung his foot out of bed and on to the floor. After standing up Kyle started to stretch his arms and legs. He may not be a soldier anymore but a proper workout was essential. His five day a week workout routine was as follows.

5 sets

• 10 regular pushups 20 squats
• 10 crunches 20 crunches
• 10 wide pushups 10 lunges per leg
• ]10 crunches 10 crunches
• 10 tricep pushups 20 calf raises
• 10/10 Left/Right crunches 20 crunches

On the weekend Kyle forgoes his usual routine but run about seven to ten miles. This was not the best workout but it worked for Kyle since he did not like to spend money on workout equipment or a gym membership. The usual routine took about 30 minutes, after which Kyle showers and readied himself for the day. After putting on a short sleeve gray V-neck, black jeans, and dark green low collar jacket. Kyle looked at his photo and saw the stream of messages he had ignored. Nothing of importance was said but he still saved everyone's contact info. Then a thought struck Kyle. These people were the first contacts in his phone that wasn't business, co worker, or family related. He felt very nervous about that. He wouldn't say they were his friends yet but this is how friendship starts. Kyle didn't exactly hate the thought of that. Kyle put his shoes on and started walking out of the door but as he did he spoke.

"Time to see what's going to happen today."



Kyle was sitting on a brown bench in a beautiful park he had happen to see while walking about. He had brought a small black backpack with him containing several items but at the moment Kyle was reading the notes he had written earlier and adding in a few new ones. He has spent the morning testing out his power at various locations and on various people. Several breaks were taken though not out of choice. At the times the pain wa staggering but Kyle could feel his power becoming easier to figure out and control with every pain inducing breath. Kyle was fine at the moment but at one point Kyle had coughed up blood in a public latrine and could not stop for a solid minute. During the morning he tested on if his power worked differently on different people, did weight or gender matter, did it matter what he said or where he said it? Kyle learned several things, such as he needs natural light in order for his power to work properly. He did not yet know if the moonlight emitted from the moon would be sufficient since it was sunny during the morning and day. Kyle surmised he would simply have to test it out at night to see. A persons sobriety matters greatly as it turns out, as a completely intoxicated person is unaffected by Emotional Suggestion.

Overnight

Practicing her fire went well for Kal, although she did manage to burn her fingertips and returned home with a splitting headache and a bad case of the sweats. She was learning more and more how it all worked, though the whys of the entire situation were still beyond her. Though summoning a small flame, no bigger than a lighter, proved easy to do even when she felt completely calm, creating larger fires was impossible until she got frustrated or scared. Any strong negative emotion, she suspected, would have the same result - when her temper flared up, so did her flames. The problem then was controlling it. After one particularly painful burn, she lit a log on fire trying to just start one small piece of the bark going and had to awkwardly kick it into the pond. She could only be thankful for the lack of witnesses.

Except, of course, for Rowan's judging eyes when she came home late smelling like smoke. "You're up late," he commented when she came in after midnight.

"You're up late too," she pointed out, heading into the kitchen to find some ice for her hands. "And you haven't been talking in the group text." She hadn't been the most active participant, mostly deflecting Val's attention from the heart and then feeling stupid for it, but Rowan had been suspiciously silent.

"I was trying to communicate with rats at the crash site from earlier," he said plainly.

Surprised by his honesty, Kal turned to him with curiosity tinged with a hint of suspicion. "And you weren't going to tell anyone what the rats said?"

"There's nothing to tell," he sighed, grabbing his kombucha from the counter and pouring a small glass. "Either the rats didn't understand what I was after, or they didn't know what had happened. Total dead end."

"Bummer," she sympathized, holding a bag of frozen corn to her burns and wincing.

"Burns?" He asked, frowning. "Let me get some aloe and tiger balm for you..." He returned a few minutes later with the supplies. She felt awkward letting him tend her wounds, but it was nice being looked after. It had been a while since anyone had done that - even though she had only broken up with Daria a few weeks ago, things hadn't been good with them for a while. "So, your power is burning yourself?"

Startled out of her guilt, Kalama briefly wondered if it had been wise to let him on. One wrong word to Caleb and her house of cards could come crashing down. "Burning myself is all natural talent. The supernatural part is starting the fires," She admitted. "Ever be out in the middle of nowhere and realize you've got a joint but no lighter? Guess I'll never have that problem again. Sure would be handy if it made me fireproof too though."

"Better question, when are you going to tell the others? I noticed you avoided the question earlier," he observed, raising an eyebrow at her. "You don't need to be afraid, you know. We're the last people in the world who would judge you for your Gift. Especially Caleb, since he has the same thing."

Yeah, it's not the gift I'm worried about you judging, Kalama thought, but only frowned for a moment. "Look, it's not that. I just... all the rest of you have cool, productive powers. I'm the only person who can't do anything good or useful, just destructive," She explained, shrugging as she walked towards her room.

"Fire isn't a good or bad thing, Kalama. Just like guns, or money, or any kind of power. It's all in the person controlling it," Rowan pointed out as she walked away.

That thought lingered in both of their minds as they tossed and turned, dreaming fragments of dreams that made no sense in the morning, fading away like fog so that neither of them remembered more than snippets by noon the following day.




"Hello Caleb," Rowan greeted their classmate as they joined him outside the room at the annex. To his surprise, the door was still locked and the room inside was dark.

"Is the TA not here yet? Did you text her?" Kalama asked, frowning as she pulled out her phone as though it might have some answers on it. She winced, forgetting about her burned fingertips and holding her phone wrong for at least the twentieth time that day. "I've been thinking about Elysia's picture all morning and I just can't figure it out. I was hoping it's some kind of prediction and I'd figure it out when I saw her."

"Maybe she's just running late? To be honest, I'm getting a bad feeling about this but I don't want to be paranoid," Rowan said, glancing around. "Are any of the others here yet?"

Caleb was replying So cute! to the pic of Val’s cats as Rowan and Kalama arrived around on scene. Texting was made a little more difficult at the moment given he could only use one of his hands. He had kept the glove from the hospital on his right hand for lack of a better option, now hanging uselessly at his side. He looked over the pair approaching. It made sense that they had arrived together given that they were roommates he supposed. Rowan was looking as cute as ever, if not a little on edge, so Caleb flashed him a coordinated smile and wink in greeting along with a ”Morning handsome!”

To Kalama, he gave a quick wave with his left hand. ”Not here quite yet, and no haven’t had a chance to text her yet.” He noted Kalama’s wince as she held her phone, but couldn’t tell what had caused the reaction. “Probably that the TA is in an orchestra or something or even just likes being in charge. Seemed pretty easy to annoy too, though I am not sure what set her off.” Caleb gave an easy shrug, confidently dismissing the concerns they’d brought before him. However it went, he was certain that he would be able to handle it either with his words or if really needed his fists, though he was certain it would never come to that.

Making sure the hallway was clear of people who could overhear them and stowing his phone back in his pocket, Caleb moved closer to Rowan and gave him a gentle pat of the back. “Besides, we have Rowan with us! If we got into some real trouble, he could just call an elephant to sit on the problem!” His last pat on Rowan’s back lingered for just a second before he pulled his left hand back. He gave Rowan a curious glance out of the side of his eye to see how he had reacted to the contact. Rowan hadn’t said no to him continuing his advances after all.

“Just me for now though.” He replied to Rowan’s question. “I think the others should be getting here soon. Honestly, I tuned out when Kyle explained his plan so I am not certain who else is coming, besides Kyle and Val. The only reason I am here a bit early is that I was already out and about visiting Daria this morning. She mentioned she knows you both! You guys should come by tomorrow, I’m gonna bring some of the devil’s lettuce and eat some hospital pudding cups. Besides, I’m sure she’d appreciate some more company.” Caleb gave a lazy yawn, speaking casually as he stretched his left arm across his body showing off some of the heavy muscles lining his frame.

“My friends!” Val’s voice boomed as she approached Room 204 of the Library Annex, dressed in a form fitting black half top that showed off her arms and a strip of her stomach paired with a set of loose flowing white pants, not seeming to notice some of the looks thrown her way. Thankfully her voice dropped to a normal level, and soon any wandering gazes returned to their own work. “I brought gifts!”

After her morning run, workout, and subsequent shower it had been a trip to the bakery. A little out of the way of campus, but not too bad considering how much time she had. Plus, it was in theme! Proudly, Val presented the box she had with her bag - a simple white thing with a clear plastic lid. Inside were a dozen chocolate and vanilla mini cupcakes, each topped with a little music note.

“I was going to get traditional donuts for our meeting, but I saw they could decorate the tiny cakes! I do not know what Elysia’s drawing meant, but I figure buttering our TA wouldn’t hurt, right?” The Russian beamed, a grin full of teeth and obviously not feeling the press the others had. At least, not visually - sleepless eyes hidden behind a careful application of makeup. “Oh, and I brought my essay. Eh, what I have for it anyway…” She shuffled her feet awkwardly for a moment, smile dimming before returning in full force. Her voice pitched low as she leaned in towards the three before her.

“I am getting quite good with my ability. It does not work on phones very well, though.”

Kyle was nearly finished writing in his small notebook when he felt a cough about to erupt from his throat. Quickly Kyle grabbed a tissue from his pocket that he acquired earlier in the day and coughed into it, producing several soft but rapid coughs. He did not need to look to be able to tell that there was blood on the tissue, a problem he has been having for a good portion of the day. Using his powers was rather unhealthy for him, when used multiple times with a power suggestion that is, and caused him to bleed more than Kyle was comfortable with. That did not mean this impeded his experiments but rather forced him to take breaks from time to time. Rehydrating and eating helped so it seemed his body recovered in time if left alone but can also healed quicker by reinforcing the body with supplementation and nutrient. Using less powerful suggestions did in fact lessen the burden placed on his body and with time and practice Kyle could tell he could lessen that pain to almost nothing if he worked at it consistently. The fact that he had written this down was something he would most likely not share with his newfound companions, but the fact that a body can recover in multiple ways confirmed is a useful fact to know that he would share. The others might already know this but it is unlikely that everyone's magic worked the same way anyways. Flame Wonder seemed to be hurt by their flames if Kyle recalled correctly. Luckily he might be able to help in a very small way with that, he just needed to remember to say something at the group meeting. Kyle suddenly took his phone out at checked the time, sighing slightly when he saw he had a few hours. He had plenty of time so no way would he be late if he stayed where he was for awhile, is what Kyle thought to himself. Kyle was sitting on a brown metal bench next to the side of a building in a shopping plaza. Most people around where he was were walking around, going in and out of different shops, while having parked close by in a parking lot. Kyle liked to go to plazas like this when he wrote in his notebook if he could not do it at home, mainly because he would find a spot that had a convenient sitting area where someone could not catch him from behind. He would write, and ponder in thought, but kept one eye out with his head on a cholent swivel checking his three and nine. He had been sitting in a park earlier but was unfortunate to be there as the same time as several school children been running amuck in the park, acting as children do but were enough of a nuisance for Kyle to want to find somewhere else to write. If attractive surroundings were not available then a secure location was better.

That being said, danger was always present. Kyle narrowly avoided a skateboard to the head by quickly and quite suddenly ducking down and diving forward, only being saved by seeing the oncoming threat out of the corner of his right eye. Kyle ended his roll by landing on one knee and looking towards the two young men running towards him. Stopping only a few feet in front of Kyle after retrieving his skateboard the first youth spoke. "Damn dude my bad, that was insane," exclaimed the youth in obvious shock, "Ya just...dodged my board dude. Like a ninja." Kyle rolled his eyes and sighed, wondering why he had to be bothered when he had done nothing wrong. Accidents happen though, Kyle thought. He stood up slowly and brushed himself off, eyeing the two youths. Kyle smirked, thinking how this could be a prime time to test something he had been meaning to but figured he could try tomorrow. "You ight dude", the second of the youths asked weirded out. To him this ninja guy was being awfully quiet and eerie. "YO you got sand in your ears dude", The first of the youths asked annoyed. Kyle held up his right hand in defeat and spoke.

"Hey now, I have a great idea", Kyle spoke his voice filling the air with a sense of magic. Kyle looked directly into the eyes of the first youth and spoke. "Your friend next to you looks like her could kick your ass. Doesn't th-", Kyle tried say but was cut short by a sudden cough. More than a few droplets of blood were attached to the palm he covered his mouth with but Kyle wiped his hand on the bac of his pants and continued. "-Doesn't that piss you off even a little?"

Kyle then turned to look the second confused youth in the eyes. "Your friend there has better brand clothes than you. Doesn't that make you green with envy?"

The two youths looked momentarily confused then turned to look at each other. Youth number one spoke first. "This dude is fucking weird but......what? Why you looking at me bruh? You wanna kick my ass? You think you could?" The second of the youths replied, "Fuck you you think your better than me? Cause yo fat momma gives you money all the ti-," The second youth was cut short by the first youth suddenly slamming his fist into his friends face. For a minute they tussled in such a way, each exchanging blows with the other, while Kyle looked down in disapproval. His power did not make them fight, they were ready to fight all on their own. They just needed a little push, dumbass kids that they were. Kyle watched the two fight as others began to spectate or walk away, and after another minute Kyle stepped in. He kicked the friend on top of the other off with a swift kick to the ribs, the grabbed the second and hoisted him up to his feet. With a decisive blow Kyle gut punched the youth, knocking the wind out of him. Tired and in pain, the two youths laid on the ground in pain. Kyle walked in between the two and sighed.

Kyle grabbed one of the youths head and opened his eyes, forcing eye contact. "Listen, woulndt you rather be feeling happy than in pain?" After a few moments and no responce Kyle again spoke a bit firmer. "Don't you notice how parched you feel more than the pain or anger?" Again Kyle waited a few moments but this time the youth quit writhing in pain and began to stand up, exclaiming how thirsty he was. Kyle smiled then proceeded to do the same with the one he suggested jealousy to.

After a few moments the youths left in search of nourishment and the crowd dispatched but Kyle remained where he was, smiling. He could not control others actions but if he could find out or predict what makes someone tick he now knows he can influence their decision making if they are emotional like the youth of today are. Kyle winced as another headache came on strong just as suddenly as before. The pain was something he was used to, but he was a civilian now and had ways to deal with it. After a quick trip to a medicine store in the plaza and a quick bite to eat Kyle checked his phone and was alarmed to see how the time flew. He was going to be late to the group meeting! Kyle, as quick as he could, raced to the library.



Kyle walked up to the group, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head. He had tried to run as quick as he could but he had forgotten about the meeting in the commotion of his experiment and not all the pain from that had subsided yet. Kyle took a drink from a water bottle he had with him and sighed.

"Sorry I am late, but I learned some amazing things about my magic in return."

Kalama paled noticeably as Caleb brought up Daria, panic rising for a moment until she realized he still didn't know anything else about the situation. Guilt started to replace the panic, and then Rowan opened his mouth.

"Are you sure she would want to see us, Caleb?" The veteran asked, scratching his short beard awkwardly. "I would be glad to visit, but I'm not sure seeing her ex would really be best for her healing..."

Luckily for Kal, the others started arriving before that conversation could continue. She thanked the other girls for bringing treats, feeling a little guilty that she hadn't thought of the same. Maybe she should have spent last night testing her magic cooking instead of her fire, in hindsight "What did you learn, Kyle?" She asked eagerly, hoping there would be something he had learned that could help her out too.

"Here she comes," Rowan interrupted, giving them a warning glance about the topic of conversation as the TA hurried towards them, the high heels on her black boots rapping sharply against the linoleum floors.

"Sorry I'm running late," Bela Ward said to the group, shoving her armful of papers and folders into Rowan's open hands as she fumbled for her keys and unlocked the door, flipping on the lights and ushering them all inside. The TA was a tall and thin woman who looked maybe 25, with thin features and fine blonde hair in a messy pixie cut. She wore a rosey pink sweater dress and black tights, and Kalama couldn't help but notice that her makeup was impeccable: dramatic winged eyeliner, smokey eyeshadow, blood red lipstick without a smudge or flaw.

"No problem, we were just discussing what questions we had," Rowan explained, setting her things down on the large round table before pulling up a seat across from her. It seemed to make more sense to have the people with emotionally tuned powers sit closest to their target. "I think we were all a bit confused about that one class over ritual and superstition. You know, the one where we did that chant or summoning thing."

"The ritual of awakening? That's not on the midterm, I wouldn't worry too much about it," Bela advised, putting on a thick pair of glasses and sorting through her papers. "Fascinating to think that people used to consider things like that extremely powerful, isn't it?"

Caleb gave a small, knowing smile at Rowan’s words. He had wondered for a moment which of them had dated Daria, but he remembered what Daria had said at the hospital. No wonder Daria had questioned his taste if he had brought up that he had flirted with her ex! He didn’t seem to have any reaction to his touch unfortunately. Rowan seemed rather unresponsive to his flirtations in general or they had been cut off by the goings on. Still, he had one more secret weapon in his back pocket to try out when they had a moment alone. Caleb had seen in the campus news page that a new vegan restaurant was going to open up nearby. The perfect destination! At least, he assumed anyway, the dreadlocks and the almond milk in his chai were really the only clues he was going off that Rowan was vegan, but Caleb felt they were solid enough clues.

Before they could continue chatting, Val burst onto the scene, larger than life as ever. “Val! Sick cupcakes!” Caleb reached out to the box with his gloved hand, paused and switched hands to the other one, popping the top half on the cupcake into his mouth. “Yer bribbin style mmm so goo!” He managed to force the words out in between bites of cupcake. When she mentioned her essay though, Caleb caught on to her body language and narrowed his eyes at her, his knack’s appraisal making it clear what was going on in her head. He swallowed quickly, abandoning enjoying the sweet treat and gave her a quick pat on the back with his left hand. ”I know what you mean! Putting an essay together at the last minute is rough! Will you help me with mine later? I could use some good company and possibly more cupcake bribes.” He felt a little uncertain whether he was helping or not, but Val had been a good friend to him here and he wanted to help her self image, if just a bit.

Elysia came up next with coffees for all of them. Caleb began running some quick numbers in his head. Apparently, supplying snacks was going to be a regular thing with these people so what could he afford to give in his budget. At least a couple small things, here and there he supposed, especially if he caught another extra shift soon. Noting the precarious balance of the coffee as Elysia spoke to them from her phone Caleb reached out with his left hand and took possession of the drinks. “Thanks for the coffee, sorry just trying to avoid the inevitable accident with our collective luck.” He gave a friendly nod to Kyle, and was just about to ask what he had learned about his magic, excited that it may be something to help, when the TA arrived.

The TA was definitely cute, the hair worked well on her, but Caleb was still somewhat wary of her from his confusing telling off over text last night. Might not be a good idea to piss off the person they were trying to get information out of he figured. He pulled in a seat at the round table next to Rowan and grabbed another at the same time so someone else could have a seat next to him. “I mean what people though? I can’t remember where the teach said he found it. Wouldn’t it be pretty easy to tell it was bullshit when no one started … setting fires with their brain?” He waved his left arm in the air in some mystical seeming motion to display his “so called” incredulity. “Also, here’s my essay.” He opened his bag, hesitated for a moment, and pulled out only the first page of his paper so far, leaving the other two he had printed out in the library earlier in his bag, thinking of the awkward stance Val had earlier.

“I would be happy to help!” Val beamed at Caleb’s words, a grin lighting up her features as she nodded. It was a relief that she wasn’t the only one lagging behind - the phrase was misery loves company, wasn’t it? “I will even bring more bribery for you. Speaking of,” Her eyes turned to Elysia as the other woman approached, and she lifted a hand to wave, accompanied by a shrug after taking in her note. Of course, it seemed everyone was trickling in a little late, as Kyle soon joined them followed shortly by their TA.

“Good afternoon Miss Ward,” The athlete greeted politely, waiting patiently as the door was opened. She allowed the others inside first before following, picking a seat a bit far. Val couldn’t help but assume the others would do most of the talking. Instead she plucked a coffee from the drinks Elysia had brought, giving her a quick thanks before setting her own treats down - closer to the TA. Collective bribery was always effective!

Her paper came out next, a mere page and a half. She felt rather bad seeing Caleb’s paper, resolving to definitely help.

Now, Valeria was self-aware enough to know that the others would be more effective at this. Between Kyle’s apparent power, Caleb’s smooth talk, and Rowan’s leadership they should have this in hand. She was here as … back up, mostly she supposed. As such, she waited patiently, giving Bela her signature wide grin and a little wave. Of course, she couldn’t help but add on one friendly little quip.

“I hope it is powerful, I always welcome the extra push in my workouts.”

Kyle had stepped aside as the TA approached their group thinking how unusual it was that he would be the last to arrive somewhere. The army was all about being fifteen minutes early to anything, if not you were late. He mentally cursed himself for his lagging behind blaming this partially on the fact that he had been living as a civilian for so long now. Kavius felt a small twinge of pain in his upper right temple from his earlier experimentation but at least he did not smell like sweat from running to get here or have sweat stains. Kyle was thankful for the small miracles. Walking into the room behind the others, Kyle handed in his paper next. Although to call it a paper would be understating it. Kyles paper was slightly thick from the amount of pages, attached inside a vanilla folder, all hand written. Kyle looked sheepish as he realized he might have gone a little over board.

"There was a lot of information relating to the topic," Kyle said to the TA forgetting to use his power, "So I was as thorough as possible." Kyle took a seat at the round table two seats to the left of the TA.

A few silent moments passed before Kyle heard a grunt coming from caleb, who was trying to catch his attention. With a look that held meaning from Caleb, Kyle almost smacked himself mentally when he realized a moment later that he was suppose to be interrogating this women for information. He had almost forgotten after seeing how his paper compared to others. Especially since they had been given such short notice on it, Kyle could not help that he had gotten to it as soon as he remembered it the previous night. So much had happened so recently that Kyle was almost having trouble managing his time. It was difficult to remember as well that his body had its limits and using his powers too much would wear him out and leave him in pain, with a time limit that was not set in stone. He did not have any magic to heal himself and he had yet to test if his power worked on himself somehow. Kyle leaned forward with rested his elbows on the table with his hands clasped together.

"Miss Bella, the midterm isn't really a concern for us at the moment." Kyle felt somewhat like he did when speaking to a superior officer. "to be honest, after the mock ritual exercise, all of us just felt....," Kyle pretended to search for the world he was looking for, "More intrigued by knowledge related to that learning topic. The chant, the paraphernalia, all of it its all just.....very neat to know about." Kyle leaned in a little closer to the TA and spoke. "Doesn't having so many students so interest make you feel encouraged? Like you want to share as much possible with us even if its something we shouldn't know?"

Suddenly Kyle started coughing deeply, spots of red that stuck to the side of his hand that had been covering his mouth that were clearly visible. The TA looked visibly confused and worried, offering her help to Kyle and asking what was wrong. Kyle could not answer, his head in a daze while a trickle of blood slides out of his nose.