wolverbells

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov
Auditorium: @HecateProxy@Jinxer@Thundercrash@Lillium@SheriffLlama

Irina’s conversation had been cut a bit short as Uriel made his entrance into the auditorium. Irina had quieted down the voices in her head by now so there was no way that she knew he was coming. She watched him as he sat down and listened to what he had to say, her eyes widening a bit at the audacity of him actually suggesting the scientists give Irina drugs. She didn’t know whether to be angry or surprised. A bit of both would probably do, but she chose to keep quiet and not respond to him after he was done.

More people arrived, and the energy in the room began to change. It livened up Irina bit and she found herself actively listening to the other speak. Or think. That might have been the reason why the way the room felt had changed. The voices were back in her head and there were people talking around her. Usually she’d find it overwhelming but at that moment she found it pleasing. It was keeping her awake and aware. She shot Nikolai and quick glare as she got a taste at his ‘colorful’ thoughts. A bunch of curse words and fighting going on there. By the way he looked at her, she knew that he knew what he was doing. Her attention was quickly taken away from Nikolai and drawn to the other Russian girl that was there with them. She was very quiet during the day but at night it was the complete opposite. She was the one next door to Irina’s room that kept her up at night. Irina simply stared at the girl as she went to take her seat, wanting to stay away from her thoughts. They were too intense and too intimate for Irina too handle.

Luckily, Abel had walked in and had enough in his mind for Irina to become preoccupied with. She had no idea what any of his thoughts meant but they were extremely aggravating. So much computer talk. Irina had learned from Esme to tone other’s thoughts down a bit, so that was exactly what she did whenever Abel began picking up on the technology around him. What she couldn’t tone down though was the swearing that followed. She turned over to Abel as she watched him remain cool and collected. With a small smile, Irina reached up and placed a hand on his knee. “Any louder and they might hear you too.” She smiled at her own little joke which was made just as Lucie sat next to Abel. Irina smiled at her as well, mainly out of politeness. She hadn’t really spoken much to the French girl but she often found herself either agreeing with whatever she usually said or seconding whatever she said. Plus whatever snide comment Lucie made usually made Irina laugh.

“Good morning, everyone.”

The strange voice made Irina turn around immediately. She hadn’t heard any new thoughts which took her by surprise. The woman that had spoken had not been seen before which filled Irina with unease. She was frighteningly beautiful and spoke as if she had been doing this for years. Not knowing what was going only made Irina’s anxiety grow. Her mind usually leapt at the chance to read other’s thoughts, which was completely involuntary. Irina had grown used to her mind doing so and it offered a sense of relief once she knew what the others were thinking, but it wasn’t working with this lady.

Nilin was her name, and she was practically giving Irina a nervous breakdown. ’She’s probably another mind reader’, Irina thought as she looked at her up and down.
Another voice caught Irina’s attention once more and she turned to see that Arthur had turned to look at her right as he thought of her name. ’How….. What….’, The surprise on her face was clear to see, right before it turned to excitement. Arthur had just spoken to her using his thoughts. It was the weirdest experience but amazing nonetheless. She smiled at Arthur before composing herself and turning to look back at Nilin. She heard nothing that the others said after that. Her mind was in deep thought as she thought of the mental exchange that had just happened. ’What if I can do that to other people? I can have private conversations. These people wouldn’t know what I would say…’. With the thought of the endless possibilities of what her newly found discovery could bring, Irina began to slowly work with her mind. She didn’t know what she was doing, but there had to be someone in here that was open minded enough to hear her out. Sure it would be a bit intrusive but it was for the greater good, so she went on trying to probe each mind, saying the other’s names and listening intently to see if anyone heard her.

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov
Auditorium: @HellHoundWoof@Jinxer@HecateProxy

Though the week had dragged for Irina, she had still managed to make some new friends despite the situation. Nikolai and Abel had been her preferred two thus far. If she ever needed to get away from her thoughts or from the intense psychological training, Irina would just go over to either two and hang out with them to relax her. She had gotten used to their thought process by now, making it easy to pick them out if they were in a group of people.

The young woman heard Nikolai before he even managed to walk in the auditorium. She never moved though. Not even when he sat down next to her did she turn to look at him as she stared ahead. It wasn’t until he practically shouted in her ear that Irina turned with a half smile on her face. If it were anyone else, she would have not thought twice about swinging at them, but it was Nikolai. For some strange reason, Irina felt a bit less tense around him. There was a more familiar aura around him that made Irina relax and truly be herself. Not her loathing self where she wanted to burn the place with everybody in it, but her laid back and joking self.

Irina reached up and shoved Nikolai without putting much effort into it. She laughed a bit but it felt as if that only took more energy out of her.

Yet another voice spoke out, which caught Irina by surprise because she hadn’t heard any thoughts. ’Oh. It’s Arthur.’ Irina once again attempted to give him a smile, but failed as it turned a bit into a pout. She couldn’t keep up the charades. She was a terrible liar.

“Morning. You’re getting really good with your Jiminy Cricket,” She placed a fingertip on her temple as she meant Arthur’s inside voice. She had grown used to calling everyone’s conscience, or inside voice, Jiminy Cricket due to the fact that she couldn’t pronounce conscience. It was a strange word for Irina and by now almost everyone knew what she meant, “I did not hear you come in.”

Irina had chosen to during, and even after Arthur had spoken. She had wanted to agree with what he had said but instead she simply stared at one spot on the wall as she struggled to keep her eyes open. Struggled until she sat bare feet, that is. Irina’s eyes blinked several times before she looked up to see who was walking around barefoot. It didn’t surprise her that it was Mara. That girl belonged in a fairytale of some sort, with her being a tiny pixie. She wanted to smile at the petite female but couldn’t, due to the thoughts that were now being picked up by Irina.

Her mouth fell agape, slightly, before she closed it and bit her bottom lip. She wanted to cry just by seeing the person that the others seemed to be looking at. It was her, but it wasn’t her at the same time. Irina’s skin had gone from being a fair and peachy tone to this pale and nearly pasty color. It was ghostly. She had seen herself in the mirror but she thought it might be the lighting in there. The dark circles under her eyes were even worse than she had imagined. Hollowed out. The green in her eyes had become dull. There was no way that she couldn’t see this in her own mirror. Even her freckles had gotten darker. The rounded cheeks had slimmed a bit, only by the slightest, but she could tell. Her hair had been thrown up in a messy bun which did her no justice at all and only made her seem more daunting.

“I’m fine.” Irina finally spoke in a shaky voice, seeming as if she was about to cry. The vision replayed three times as she saw it go through each of their heads. Three blows to her self esteem. She needed to eat, and she needed to sleep. She had begged and asked politely if there was any way that the ability nullifier could be turned on at night, at least. It’s not like anybody was practicing, right? No, they weren’t, but each night she just heard the same thing over and over again.

With a sigh, Irina closed her eyes and began counting down from ten, clearing her mind out and soon enough clearing the voices and the pictures. It was such a relief. Once she had regained control of herself, she quickly reached up and cleaned her face by tucking loose strands of hair behind her ears and making sure she wasn’t actually crying, then cleared her throat.

“I’m sorry. I had a rough night,” ’More like rough nights,’ “how’s your hand doing?”

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov

Room 3 to Auditorium

"To celebrate the successful completion of your first week in the facility...."

Had it really been a week though? Irina had scrunched up her nose in disgust as she hear Elisa's voice once again on the intercom. The week had dragged for her. She had very little sleep and the dark circles under her eyes were only getting more prominent as the days passed. She had taken to sleeping in the game room on an oversized couch due to the fact that everyone's dreams were very 'loud' and the girl in the room next to her had nightmares every single night. Irina didn't want to get upset with her. From what she had seen, it wasn't the girl's fault for the horrific scenes that went on in her head, but Irina couldn't help but feel some resentment towards the fact that she had to suffer through them as well. At least until she walked as far away from the dormitory corridor and her mind would go quiet.

Through out the week, Esme had tried to help as much as possible. It wasn't until the day prior that Irina had actually tuned Esme out for a whole five minutes. She had tried it again during the night, and from her sheer exhaustion, Irina had managed to block everyone out and fall asleep within seconds of doing so. She hadn't woken up at all until about five hours later when the voices practically shouted at her.

Still, the week had dragged and now she had found herself sitting on her bed, staring at nothing as she tried to find the motivation to move. Having woken up so early, Irina had already gone into the cafeteria and grabbed a granola bar and a glass of chocolate milk, then came back to her room. Eating had also become something that Irina did little of. Upon her arrival, she had ate well, but after the first two nights it seemed as though her motivation to do anything had died.

Voices began to echo down the hall as others began to not only wake up, but leave their rooms. Taking a sip from her chocolate milk, Irina supposed that she should began moving towards where the scientists were herding the teenagers.

'But why should I? Why can't I just sleep?'

Although the voice inside her head went against what Elisa said, Irina's body seemed to be compliant. Without hesitating, the teenager stood up and walked out into the hall as if she was a zombie. Her body felt numb and her brain thought of nothing as she moved. It was purely on muscle memory at this point.

If anyone had been in the hallway with Irina, she hadn't noticed. She had made it her goal to make it to the auditorium from her room, and fortunately for the scientists, she had made it. How she got here? Irina couldn't recall. She remembered sitting on her bed and trying to finish her granola bar but that's about it. Now she had found herself sitting in the first chair that she had seen, and waited for the others to come.

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov

Cafeteria -@Jinxer@Lillium@HecateProxy

Irina had waited patiently for the girl’s reaction of wanting to help cook. From the moment Irina had began to speak to the petite young lady, she could sense giant exclamation points and question marks form in her little white haired head. Irina had held her composer as she was somewhat able to understand the thoughts of the girl; they were amusing, to say the least. Irina found herself getting lost in the way the girl’s thoughts shot out as if going a million miles per hour. She didn’t mean to have taken her by surprise that much.

Finally the young woman had spoken and Irina’s undivided attention was back on her. A simple “uhh” before she began laughing without having any real reason behind it. Irina looked around and quickly saw her reflection on one of the stainless steel pans that was handing from a hook.

’Nothing’s on my face…. Why is she laughing?’

Although Irina did seem to be taken quite off guard, she couldn’t help but to let out a little laugh herself. A bit more nervous than the small girl’s laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. Luckily the laughing fit hadn’t lasted so long. Irina had never been the laughing type, and it was never easy to get a chuckle out of her, or a giggle.

“It’s okay, I understand. It’s not every day you get kidnapped and told you have ‘powers’,” Irina lifted her hands to make air quotations as she rolled her eyes. She looked back at the girl and smiled, listening once more to what she had to say and watching what she was doing. Irina had barely picked up her fork and began to eat while standing when the knife that the young woman was cutting with decided that it was out for blood.

Irina’s eyes widened as she watched the small teenager begin to run around quickly and shoot towards the sink. “Oh! Let me help.” Irina spoke with food still in her mouth as she looked around for something to wrap around the cut so that blood spillage wouldn’t be too big of an issue. She was sure that once they settled that they could go off and find a first aid kit. Surely there was one in the kitchen. There always were kits in kitchens.

As Irina made her way over to the girl, she once again heard the ongoing battle against herself in her own mind. Irina smirked as she sat a small towel down next to Mara, who had finally given up her name, and crossed her arms as she leaned on the counter, “That Jiminy Cricket you have in your head is very sarcastic, you know? Very funny to hear.” She had barely made her comment when she heard more voices and turned her head to see Arthur and the French girl arrive. Irina gave them both a small wave as she remained quiet for the rest of the time being. Arthur had stepped in and taken over the first aid, which Irina had no issues with. She merely waltzed back to her eggs and began eating them as if nothing had happened. Blood had never bugged Irina, so she decided to stay within a good distance from Mara and oversee what Arthur would do. She felt as if it would be too rude if she just up and left after all of that.

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov
Cafeteria: @HecateProxy

Irina's mouth had began to water as she watched the eggs nearly finish cooking and she prepped the cheese to be added in. The only reason she had even looked up was because the voices in the hallway had faded but the voices in her head had begun. Quiet, but present. A sigh escaped her barely parted, full lips as she looked towards the door. It was a small girl with hair like Irina had never seen before. Irina's mouth had fallen slightly open as she stared, but she caught herself quickly as she remembered something that the girl had told herself in her thoughts. Staring, indeed, wasn't a good thing to do. Luckily, the girl had not seen Irina, so she went back to focusing on her cooking, only looking back up when the petite young woman walking in to the cooking area. She smiled at her in response to the small wave, not being able to use her hands as she was placing the food on a plate.

'What's she going to make?'

Irina had deliberately began to move slower to be able to snoop in on what the girl was doing. She seemed a bit nervous. Through her thoughts, Irina was able to pick up on things here and there which made her smile. Mainly the giant 'awkward' sign above both of their heads. In an attempt to make things seem less awkward, Irina decided to finish up her cooking and turn to the girl. "Hello." Irina flashed her pearly whites at the cute girl and walked over a few steps to get a good look at her choice of ingredients. "You backed me up very nicely in the auditorium. Thank you.. For not making me feel or look like a fool... I'm Irina" Her Spanish accent and nervousness caused her to be more awkward than she thought she would be. 'So much for easing the tension.' She drew up several blanks as she spoke to the girl, which made Irina want to go jump off a cliff. She wasn't like this with Abel or Nikolai. Probably because she kicked the crap out of Nikolai and Abel had to stop her from nearly punching him right after. That was one hell of an ice breaker. "So, um, what are you cooking? You need help?"

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov

Cafeteria: @anyone really

The fact that Irina had the same train of thought as the so called scientists of their newly found prison made the young woman want to gag. Or maybe she didn't have the same train of thought but had reminded them that they were also human and needed food to survive? Regardless of whichever it was, Irina found herself standing in the large dining area, listening to the announcements as they went on. She had already began braiding her hair, having not seen any people that served lunch, and had planned to walk on over to make herself something to eat. Nothing fancy, but something with good sustenance so that she would not find herself arguing with a growling stomach.

By the time the announcements were over, Irina was already in the cooking area. Her emerald eyes scanned the area as she slowly walked through it, picking a few things here and there. She felt like eating breakfast, which might have been strange for the others but for Irina it was quite normal. She could have breakfast at any time of the day and not be upset.

"Eggs, cheese.. I'll go with pepper jack. Sausage links? Okay."

Irina was actually having a pleasant time talking to herself as she selected the following ingredients. She smiled to herself as she enjoyed the quite not only in her head but in the room. Not a single sound. That was until two different tones of voices echoed down the hall. Irina's head shot up as she listened in closely. Nothing but her own inner monologue filled her head. 'Thank god.'

It sounded like the French girl and Arthur from back at the pool. More noises resonated through the hall. Male voices. From where Irina was at, she couldn't distinguish them, so she decided to ignore them and continue making her concoction.

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov

Pool to Room 3

Irina had remained silent after making her sarcastic comment towards what had happened regarding the girl and the pool. She had inwardly sighed and rolled her eyes slightly at the sound of the young girl snapping back and then trying to make amends. 'Some people just can't take a joke', thought Irina as she looked over at Arthur, who quickly cleaned up the situation. He was even kind enough to have attempted at making his mind more 'quiet', which pleased Irina tremendously, although she didn't let it show. She simply smiled at Arthur in a form of a thank you and let him go on his way.

'What a nice guy...' Irina had made a note of his min case of any future need of assistance. Maybe she'd need someone calm around her to keep her from going mad.

Her attention was once again brought back to the other two girls that were there, whatever they had said had flown right over Irina's head and she now awkwardly moved around as she realized her skin had become sticky from the sweat.

"Eating sounds like a good idea... See you all around." With a quick flash of her pearly whites, in an effort to seem friendly, Irina turned on her heel with no effort and made her way out of the pool room. 'These people can probably smell me by now'. Irina had made sure to quickly retreat to her room and shut the door before turning and digging through the dresser for something to wear. She didn't find just something though. She had found clothes that nearly matched everything she had back at home. "What the hell?" Her voice was quiet as she spoke to herself, letting her hands feel the fabric of the clothes before picking out a random black, long sleeved shirt and some light blue shorts, along with her under garments.

The young woman had never been one to take long showers. Ten, sometimes fifteen minutes tops where the length of the showers and maybe five minutes more to brush her hair. Not being a fan of make up, she didn't need nearly half as much time as probably any other girl her age. So within ten minutes, she was out of the shower. Paranoia had also taken part in the reason that she pretty much hopped in and out. There surely had to be cameras everywhere. Even Abel had said so before the meeting. Irina couldn't stand the image of people watching her as she undress and showered, so she quickly dried herself and dressed in the clothes she has picked out. "Perverts," she muttered as she walked over to the vanity in her bathroom as she towel dryer her hair.

"This is nice." Her attention and direction of thoughts had been completely changed after she ran her finger tips on the smooth white surface of the counter. She had never been somewhere so clean. So pristine. Every hotel and apartment she had found herself in was either moldy or had insects of some sort. Especially after her mother lost it all. It didn't do her well to dwell on these thoughts though. Irina quickly turned away from the direction her thoughts were once again headed in and she focused on brushing her damp curls thoroughly after brushing her teeth.

What if these people did mean well?

What if they actually wanted to help?

As Irina stared at her green eyes in the mirror, she couldn't help but not to think these things. In a way, she wanted to hope that it was true.

She let out a loud, exasperated sigh as she set the brush down in its rightful place. She wanted to think more. To let everything sort of sit and simmer in her head, but as she began, her stomach began to growl enough to make her hand go up and touch it. She had been so caught up in the moment and stress of the situation that she had not stopped to think or ask how long she had been asleep for. When the last time she ate was.

Another growl.

Irina slightly groaned as she thought about heading out to the semi crowded rooms again. In her bathroom she had been fine. She has guessed that her ability must have suddenly "turned off" as she showered and relaxed. Still, she had to go if she wanted to shut her stomach up. So, begrudgingly, Irina walked out to the room and slipped into her maroon chucks before making her way out of there and into the hallway.

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov
Pool Room: @Lillium@Jinxer@KahleenCuthald

'Are you serious right now?' Was all Irina could think as her legs carried her into the pool room where everyone's thoughts practically screamed at her. 'Shut up!' She wished she could yell at them.

Irina walked in at the same time that another young woman did. A red head that should've stuck out earlier, but didn't due to Irina being so unbelievably pissed. She was dressed differently than everyone else. Why? Irina made a mental note to ask her about it later. Right now her attention was caught by a shirtless guy and a fully dressed and soaked female. Their thoughts all became a muddled cluster-fuck as Irina walked up to them and stopped next to the fiery red head. She kept quiet as the listened, her eyes widened as she heard the remarks come out of the French girl. At least she sounded French. If Irina didn't have so many emotions running around inside of her, she might have even laughed, but now she just stood, her face portraying nothing but a sort of angry look. It wasn't until the French girl was finished speaking that Irina spoke up, her tone sounding slightly annoyed but mostly full of sarcasm to match the red head. "Or.... you could have just let her die." Her eyes made contact with the red headed woman and she smirked a bit at her before turning to look down at the drenched girl and then the young man whom she had heard in her mind introducing himself as Arthur. He wasn't introducing himself to Irina, but to the girl he had presumably saved. "You guys think very loud, did you know?"

The House of Powers

Irina Ivanov

Gym: @Gonzo@banjoanjo

How long had Irina been pounding away at the punching bag now? Few minutes? More than fifteen? It had surely been longer than she thought since she had now built up a sweat. She could feel the beads of perspiration trickle down her forehead, through her brow and down the bridge of her nose, as well as on the sides of her face. By now she had nearly gotten rid of the majority of her anger. She had focused so hard on punching the object in front of her that her mind had gone blank. She hadn’t even focused on the pain that was radiating off of her hands until she stopped.

“What?” Irina looked up slightly confused as she let her hands fall to her sides and looked at the young man that had spoken to her. Irina’s green eyes simply gave him a blank stare as she tried to recollect her thoughts and figure what he meant by that.

As if on cue to what the young man meant, and to what Irina was trying to figure out, her hands began to sting in a horrible way. She looked down at the same time that she lifted her hands so that she could examine her fists. She had punched the bag so hard and for so long that the skin on her knuckles had opened up to reveal what was underneath and they had began to bleed out. “Oh… I like pain.. It helps with whatever is wrong in my head.” It was a poor explanation but it was the best one the young woman could offer. She smiled a bit at the teenager and made her way over to a small area where there were towels as well as disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer in some shelves. The bleeding would stop eventually.

As Irina began to clean up her small wounds, she heard someone else walk in and she returned the greeting to the other guy that was setting up a bench press. “I don’t think my hands are that big of a deal,” she spoke again to the previous guy as she looked over at the amount of weights stacked against each other. “If he continues with this, he’s going to fuck up and kill himself.”

Irina wanted to ask if he needed a spotter. Even if she couldn’t lift half of the weight that he was lifting, she was still concerned that he might end up getting hurt while they were in there. She even went as far as to take a few steps towards the teenager but something stopped her.

Voices. Hushed whispers filling her head with the same effect as if someone was raising the volume on a TV. “It’s off..” Irina’s voice was quiet as she realized that the nullifier had been turned off. She turned quickly towards the door as she heard more thoughts jumbled up in one certain spot. “I think something is going on out there.” By now the young Spanish woman was speaking aloud to herself, acknowledging everything that she heard in her head.

Without really acknowledging the two boys that were in the gym with her, Irina began to walk out of the room and into the hallway. The voices in her head were taking over her attention and actions as she found herself walking down towards the other rooms where she heard the most prominent thoughts.

The House of Powers

@sakurasan Thank you for telling us! Wishing you the best of luck in life!