Owner	Pose
Tyler Grant	Though evening time, the sun is still up and the sky is still blue. It's cooling off, making it a good time to be outside. Tyler's taking advantage of this by relaxing under a tree, ear buds in his ears and cell phone in his hands as he leans back against the trunk. His attention is occupied by his electronic device mostly, as he holds it sideways to watch a video play.
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir walks over in sweats and gloves and no makeup and flops down beside you to stare vacantly up at the sky for awhile in silence. She closes her eyes quietly. Eventually she lifts a hand to wave faintly.
Tyler Grant	When Erika makes her way over to him, Tyler glances at her and raises his chin in an upnod. After a moment to finish out his video he puts his phone away and pulls his earbuds out, "Hey." He says nothing more for the moment, letting the girl do what she needs to in relative peace.
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir offers a quiet, "Are you OK?" She stares at the sky quietly a bit more. "I'm not sure if I am. Talk to me?" She sighs some quietly.
Tyler Grant	When he's told to talk Tyler nods at his friend and begins to speak, "I was more worried about you than anything else. I don't know how hard being exposed to violence like that must have been for you but I've seen people get killed before and it's left me aching and messed up." The young man lets out a sigh, "Hell, I might have killed someone, but they were burned up by some guys with flame powers anyway so it doesn't matter."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir takes a deep breath and lets it out. "So how do you deal with it?" She frowns and thinks a bit. She mmms, "I feel like I am in danger. But everything is numb. It's like.. I had a friend who shot a pistol next to me, at a bottle. He was a total dick. Anyway, it was super, super loud and I wasn't expecting it, and I jumped so bad, then after that all I could hear was ringing for a little bit, and people were saying things but it sounded like they were way far away or in the next room. Kind of like that. "
Tyler Grant	"I work out. I cry when I'm alone sometimes and I talk to people about it a little bit," Tyler replies, looking off into the distance when he speaks. "If I killed that guy, and I might have, I did hit him really hard in the throat, I don't regret doing it. I still feel bad, though. I made a conscious decision to do something that might kill somebody because I didn't have any other way to take him out of the fight that I could think of." "You're safe here. I guess you know that, though," the young man says. "I guess you going numb is probably your brain's way of protecting you from feelings that are too strong for you to deal with right now. I don't know. I kind of feel the same way sometimes, shit you see and do can get in your head."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir nods quietly. "I don't feel like I am ever going to feel safe anywhere ever ever again." She sighs. She looks over. "They want me to take self defense classes. That's great and fine and all, but like.. Talk about giving Superman a gun. Jesus. I'm fine with taking them because they would help, just, you know. I need to get these socks back to Laura too."
Tyler Grant	"I hope you get your feeling of safety back. It's not easy knowing that violence like that is only moments away at any given time," Tyler frowns. "Still, here at the school we've got the faculty to make sure nothing like that happens." "Self defense classes are probably worth taking in case you don't have something on your person to use for fighting skills. Still, there's no sense in you going out without some way to defend yourself. Maybe you can ask the self defense instructor to wear a wristband when they teach so you have something to use that probably won't bust your hands up."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir nods. "Yeah, I guess. Who even teaches that class? I said I would go to it, but I haven't actually been there yet. Is it Logan? Isn't he basically Laura with facial hair? Or what?"
Tyler Grant	"Yeah... it might be Mr. Logan, now that I think about it," Tyler says after a moment of consideration. "He probably wouldn't be very good to borrow skills from, either. Do you want me to wear one when I can while training? I could probably wear one under my wraps when I'm kickboxing, but I might not be able to get away with it while doing BJJ, though. At least at school, if I train with Laura or something I could probably wear a couple. If her finger or toe gets caught in it she's more likely to break it than to get injured."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir hmms and nods. "Yeah, or just give me some socks. The laundry doesn't take the memories out." She hrms. "I just feel like there has to be better than just kung fooing everything, is all. Half of what I get out of Laura's stuff is mindset, I feel like, and it's kind of double edged. "
Tyler Grant	Tyler shakes his head, "I don't wear socks when I do combat sports. They're done barefoot." Then the youth presses his lips together thoughtfully, "We could look at Eskrima. If we knew someone who practiced we could get him to cycle out weapons with you so you could do stick or knife fighting. That's one of the martial arts I'd like to study the most since sometimes punching stuff doesn't cut it." Lifting his chin he asks curiously, "What do you mean? You get too much of her killer instinct or something like that?"
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir mmms... "A little bit, yeah. And she was traumatized into being really obedient, and... Yeah, that's just as conflicty as it sounds. At the one house, it was like, two sets of ideas at once. And I couldn't smell everything, and it was really dark, stuff like that." She frowns a bit. "I mean I really appreciate having her experience, but she's super intense too. I feel like it kinda colors things, you know?"
Tyler Grant	"I guess she would have had to be really obedient," Tyler presses his lips tightly together and furrows his brow. "It sucks that you get that much from her when you use her skills. How much of you is still in there? Are you in full control or does Laura kind of take over?" The boy nods his head at his friend, "Yeah. I can understand that, I guess. Super focused, stuff like that. Makes you focus on things that you normally wouldn't, different priorities and all that."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir says, "So far mostly me, but like.. It depends. I lean more on her when things get really scary, and then I get more Laura reactions. She puts her hands under her head and sprawls out a bit, thinking. "It's just.. task stuff, but if I need her mental training, it runs deeper. That's why I took notes, then cried. Laura doesn't cry. Well, not much.. She did the one time."
Tyler Grant	"Okay, so you've got options when it comes that sort of thing. It's good that you can kind of fall back on that if you have to," Tyler stops for a moment after speaking to let the other stuff Erika says digest. "It might be better to try to borrow skills from people who aren't as mentally conditioned, maybe. It's got to be weird getting a totally different mindset all of the sudden. I mean, you go from being you, who demonstrates emotion, to Laura, who usually doesn't, that's got to be a big shift."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir nods, "Yea, that's the thinking I had too. She's really good, but she's really got a lot of other stuff going on. Sometimes that's good, sometimes..." She shrugs a little and stares at the sky. "And I just feel worried when I don't have, you know. Souvenirs to help me when I am afraid."
Tyler Grant	"It sucks that she's got that baggage," Tyler frowns a little bit. "Nobody should have had the life she's had. She makes me want to do stuff to help her, I just don't know what." Tyler watches Erika look away and his gaze follows hers upwards. He adjusts his back against the tree trunk and says, "I can understand that. You can use someone else's thought processes kinda as well as their fighting skills."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir mmms. "Yeah, and right now it seems like all I have is how to fight. And don't get me wrong, that's super super useful when a vampire wants to eat me, but you know. There's more to it. And I just don't know how to explain that." She hrms. "It's like... They think I just want to cheat and get the skills without working for them? And kind of in a way I do, but like, not having them might kill me... But I want my teachers to be there with me, too. I don't know how else to say it."
Tyler Grant	"I get where you're coming from, I think," Tyler tells his friend, looking back at her with a serious expression. "You can do a lot more than fight with your powers if people would only help you. I feel like if it's not physical then I shouldn't even bother sometimes. The only reason I'm doing so well in my classes is because Ms Frost wants me to." Leaning forward for a second Tyler scoots back so that he can sit up a little straighter. "The faculty here should be helping you find out what you can and can't do. It seems silly to think that I might be hanging out with someone who can play the piano as well as a concert pianist if only one stopped playing the instrument and you kept being told to just learn it yourself. Yeah, it'd be awesome to learn, but isn't it also cool that can already do it?" His shoulders shrug, "And one of my BJJ instructors taught me that in a street fight if 'you ain't cheating, you ain't trying'. Let's figure out how you can cheat to make yourself more successful as long as you don't hurt anybody."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir nods. "Yeah. I'm totally open to ideas here. Is there anybody you can think of that might want to trade skills or something? I don't know, I mean, the first person I can think of is Tony Stark, but like.. I don't need to know how to invent stuff I don't think, because I don't know how long it takes to, and he would probably have me flirting with girls or something ridiculous like that." She hmms, tapping her nose with a finger. "That or like, better ways to steal stuff. And yeah! What's YOUR stuff like? I mean, it's all like.. A thing you do alone, so jealous. But like, I need to learn how other people do things, right?"
Tyler Grant	"I met him once, you know," Tyler chuckles a little bit. "For like two seconds. It was after my first space mushroom encounter." Then he grows more serious, "A medical doctor, definitely. I've seen too many people get hurt to not want to do something about it." Then he laughs again, "What's so ridiculous about flirting with girls? It's something I keep meaning to do." "My stuff? For the most part I don't even think about it, it's just part of me, part of how I move, how I fight, how I throw stuff. If you want I can really show off for you, do a bunch of flips and stuff. Throw some stuff really well, too."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir nods, "Oh, totally, I ~"... Then you hit the comment about flirting with girls and she goes bright red. "Yea, well, you're /supposed/ to be flirting with girls, you're a guy! And what do you mean you just mean to? Isn't there anybody else you are in to?" She hmms, thinking some and watching you, mind on who she can be useful for.
Tyler Grant	When Erika starts to blush Tyler grins at her and reaches over in an attempt to gently punch her in the shoulder in a display of affection. "Not all guys are into girls. Sometimes guys want to flirt with each other, too." He has to think for a second before he answers, "I'm not really sure if I like anybody else. There are plenty of girls, though, I guess."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir smiles some at the shoulder hit, comforted. She tries to tame the blush. Tries. She's not great at it. "Yeah, so I have heard, but I wouldn't know anything about that... And you totally should. Any girl would be super lucky to be with you." Tiny frown, looking down. B-6, battleship hit.
Tyler Grant	Still wearing a smile, Tyler nods and asks, "What, you don't know any gay people?" He's definitely ribbing her. When she says the thing about any girl being lucky to have him and then looks away the young man pauses, watching her quietly for a few seconds. He speaks eventually, "What is it?"
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir frowns. "No! I date guys." She sighs, suddenly bristling defensively. "God." She hmphs! "I don't do anything like, you know. /That/." She rolls on her side to look away and fume a bit, unhappy. Just because she's half-way to Narnia doesn't mean she's very good at hiding it.
Tyler Grant	Well. Things are going strangely. Tyler watches Erika closely, looking at her as she turns away. He's clearly concerned about her as he speaks, "Hey, you can date whoever you want to. If you want to date guys, date guys. If you don't want to date guys, don't do it. You need to do what makes you happy." He sits up straight and rolls over a bit to get to his knees, "No matter what you want to do, I'll be your friend."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir sighs. Mope mope. The world is terrible. Terrible, I say. She brushes her bangs down over her eyes a bit and ponders horrible poetry. Several snarky retorts visibly drift across her lips, but she holds back from actually saying any of them. She eventually settles on "I'm sorry for being so much of a mess right now. I don't mean to be." with a sigh and a slump.
Tyler Grant	"You're okay, you're allowed to get emotional," Tyler tells his friend with a smile, demonstrating his patience. "It can't be easy for you." With a little chuckle he says, "You going to be okay? Still want me to keep hanging out?"
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir thinks a bit, then bites her lip a bit. WHAT can't be easy?.... Oh, right, the vampire and the wristbands count still. Right? She thinks a little. "Yeah, I really like you, you're super sweet. You're good people. I don't know who else I would talk to.. I mean, I could try hanging out with Mason, but Andrea would probably try to eat me." Wait, no, weird mental image, ack.
Tyler Grant	"Well, I'm glad you can talk to me. It feels really good having a friend like you," Tyler reaches to give his friend a gentle pat on the arm. "Mason's a good guy, but Andrea..." The kid goes quiet for a moment then and looks down at the ground, letting out a sigh before closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Well, life is what it is. Sometimes you just need to adjust and move on, you know?"
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir frowns and sighs a little. "I don't really know her very well. Just.. Kinda how those two get. I'm kind of nervous when they get in the same room together at this point." She hmms. "Andrea is really sweet, but I don't know how much of that is, you know." In a dramatic stage announcer voice, "Andrea-aa... Jackson!", and back to normal, ".. And how much is.. You know. 'Drea."
Tyler Grant	"Yeah, I know what you mean," says Tyler, sighing again and sounding a little bit distracted as he shifts how he sits so that he can lean against the tree again. He nods, wearing a slight frown on his face, "I worried about that when I first met her, but once I got to know her I learned that she is that sweet. She's a genuinely good person, wants to help people and all that. She's got herself pretty together, too. Way more than I do." "Ugh." There's a big sigh. "I really don't like myself sometimes."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir blinks and rolls to face you. That was unexpected. "What? Why?" She looks kind of shocked. "Is something going on? I thought I was the whiny self hating one here." She scoots over to put a hand on your shoulder, worried.
Tyler Grant	"I thought I had something good going, but I screwed it up," Tyler says with a frown, looking at his friend as he speaks. "All because I didn't ask about it first, I just acted. I worry that I do that too much. I shoot a text to the staff phone at school now when I'm about to do something heroic, but then I go and do the thing. It's almost like I can't help it, I just don't want people to get hurt if there's anything I can do to stop it, you know?" His head shakes, "I don't even know what I'm saying. I just do things even though I know they can get me into trouble."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir ohs. "... Kind of like how you do when you are moving? You always start doing something and stop when you see it's just me. Like when I slammed the door to practice on accident. I thought you were going to like.. Throw something at me." She frowns a bit. "I don't know if those would be connected or anything."
Tyler Grant	"Maybe. I don't think it's related to my powers, though," Tyler says after a moment to consider Erika's words. "I know what I'm doing, it's not like how I act when I get surprised. I feel apprehension before I do this stuff. Fear, too. Then I do the dangerous thing, go fight the monsters or whatever. Running away never seems like the right choice when I'm facing something like that, even if it's not an immediate threat." Tyler lets the back of his head thud lightly into the tree behind him, "I don't know what I'm saying. I wouldn't take back the stuff I've done, except one thing. I don't even know what I want."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir umms, thinking a bit. "... Not to worry that you are going to have to say 'Except for the two things', maybe..? I mean, how bad was the one thing?" She watches you, concerned, and rubs your shoulder in worry. Not totally sure what to do here. Other than listening and hoping it will help.
Tyler Grant	"That's true. I don't want to worry about doing more bad things in the future," Tyler nods. "I broke into a guy's laboratory, beat up his guards and fought him until he agreed to give up blackmail he had on someone. Turns out he wasn't actually blackmailing them and not only that but there was already a plan in place to handle the situation." The teenager reaches up to pat the hand rubbing his shoulder in an affectionate manner. "I mean, I just wanted to help, but I could have screwed things up worse. I just did it because it seemed like the right thing to do."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir sighs and moves over to lean on you a little bit in concern. "... Oh. Well, maybe if you learned a lot more about how people sorted things like that out, you would at least have better reflexes on that that wouldn't mess things up as much?" She hmms. "Police procedure.. Detective stuff.. We can totally go ask about stuff like that. There's gotta be someone who knows that kind of thing around here, right? Then even if you go off and just start doing stuff, you'll be doing stuff that is super useful."
Tyler Grant	As Erika leans on him, Tyler starts to smile a little bit, clearly appreciating the gesture. "That's a good idea. I think someday I might want to become a cop or something, but I've got to wait until I'm twenty one. It still can't hurt for me to start trying to learn things about it from people, though." He nods, "I just want to help people the best that I can. I feel like using my powers and skills is the best way to do that."
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir mmhmms, listening. "Yeah, I mean, they have junior programs for~" She gasps suddenly in your ear, with a bit of a whimper, and throws herself back, hitting the grass hard with a thump and twitching a bit. She sort of lets out a half sob. ".... Sorry..." and stares at the sky again.
Tyler Grant	When his friend suddenly flops over Tyler is almost instantly on his feet, watching Erika closely to see if she's okay. "Are you alright?" he asks, worry on his face and in his voice. Once he's sure the twitching has stopped he says, "You don't have anything to be sorry about. Did I trigger your power somehow?"
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir blushes a little, then gestures at the side of her face, then taps her shoulder and gestures at you. "Yeah, I'm a stupid head. I'm starting to see the appeal of nudism, here.." She heaves a huge sigh. "I wasn't thinking." She frowns. "I'm making a mess out of everything. I just wanted to give you a hug and zzzzzap. I suck."
Tyler Grant	Tyler smiles at Erika's little joke and replies, "We can try naked hugs if you want, just don't get fresh with me." His smile is soft, though it's clear that he is being playful. "It's okay. It'll happen sometimes. And you were doing the right thing, I really needed a hug and you were here for me, which means a whole lot. Even if we can't sustain a hug or whatever I really appreciate it." The young man takes a seat on the ground again, sitting close to Erika without touching her.
Erika Kristasdottir	Erika Kristasdottir sighs and leans on you lightly. She blushes and looks around at the comments about naked hugs, because really.. How should she react to that, anyways? It's a trap! She hmms, "Yeah, I don't know, I mean, no promises, right?" She hehs. "I dunno, I think I can manage." She sighs a bit and frowns. "I might need the hug sometimes. It just sucks."