Inner Demons (Open)

"Stick! Stick! Look at it. Stick!"

He was holding a small piece of old, dry branch he had found lying on the grass by an oak tree. He waved it around so both dogs could see it and tracked it with their red eyes.

The teenager was intent on starting off with simple excercises for his canines, like catching the stick and such, and then moving up to more complex commands that required coordination between the dogs and himself. Several students at Xaviers not only studied their books but also practiced with their mutations and while Miles was not fond of intentionally going into dark mode, he could easily practice ordering his dogs around and seeing how well they managed.

"Now you're both very intelligent dogs and this should be easy peasy for you. Tinaker, you will sit and you will stay still when I throw this stick. Astor, you will see me throw the stick and you will also sit and stay. When the stick hits the ground, Astor will run after it, find it and bring it back to me, all right?"

Ever since he brought them back to life, his dogs had demonstrated something that ressembled intelligence, what with being able to understand his every command without him having to teach them english. It was as if they were linked to him, just as he was linked to them. Whatever order he gave, through his voice or their mind link, they followed and tried to accomplish to the best of their abilities, sometimes surprising Miles himself with their resourcefulness. They were bright, intelligent, cunning creatures and while Miles' mutation was dark and creepy in nature, he could use his dog's extreme obedience and smarts to do good.

Miles stretched his arm back with the stick in hand. He swung forward and let loose of the stick, trying to throw it as far away as possible. Both dogs sat still, obeying his previous order to a T as they saw the stick fly and fall...

...on top of some poor guy's head far away.

Miles cringed. Astor rose from the ground and was about to trot off as commanded, when he received another mental command from his master.

"You sit your ass back down, you stupid dog!"

Miles had ducked down the moment he realized what he had done. He sat on the ground with his back towards the guy, had Astor lie down and put his head on Miles legs while he caressed Tinaker's side with his hand, effectively cleaning it of any bark and dirt from the branch, pretending he was just a random, innocent teen tending to his dogs and had nothing to do with anything.

This was so unlike him. He was usually the responsible sort and if the stick had fallen a foot away from the guy or just grazed him, he would have immediately gone "Woops! Sorry about that!" and taken responsibility for it, but no. It hit him right on the head, it sprawled the guy on the ground and that seemed like lawsuit material right there. The guy was also taller than him (pshh! Who wasn't?) and the chances of leaving the park with a well deserved black eye were high. Miles just chickened out.

The couple making out was definitely in the clear but there were other people in the park and two kids were even playing at swords with some branches farther away. Surely they were more likely suspects than him? He could hear the guy's steps approaching. Miles kept his head down, looking at his dogs and hoped the guy would just pass him over. Come on, dude. Keep on walking. Keep on...

>>"Here. You uh...lost this,"

Drat!

He didn't even look up at his eyes, keeping his gaze down, the telltale sign of the liar. Miles probably had 'GUILTY!' written in big, bold, bright neon letters all across his face, but he still tried to shy the responsibility away.

"Huh? No, that's... not mine, I think... I dunno... Ask over there..." he answered meekly, barely pointing with his thumb at the kids playing swords.

That felt terrible. Bad, bad Miles! The guy had no proof whatsoever he had thrown the stick though, so maybe he'd get out of this scot-free.

The guy said he saw Miles throw the stick and the teenager slumped his shoulders. Busted. Well, he wasn't enjoying the charade at all, he might as well just come clean and...

Wait a minute.

Miles raised his gaze this time around, squinting his eyes quizically at the stranger, who was turning into a tomato for some reason. He then explained himself, told Miles everything was cool, didn't want any trouble because he had plenty already and the teen could continue playing fetch with his dogs...

Waaaaaait a minute!

This was awkward. Was the guy somehow spying on him? Was he some kind of pervert? Did Miles provide the perfect excuse for the guy to come over? Was this why he was being so forgiving?

Creepy.

Miles tapped his dogs on their heads and they both stood up, in all their muscular glory. He mentally commanded his thralls to look at the guy and they both did, staring at him with their red, inquiring, glowing eyes.

Oh, yeah. Miles dog's could play at being creepy too.

The young mutant stood up between them, his initial shame and guilt all gone. He crossed his arms, tilted his head a little and looked at the guy's face, wondering if he needed to memorize it for a sketch artist later on. He was blunt and straight to the point.

"And how did you know I was doing all of that, sir?"

Well, he just flat out admitted it. He WAS watching Miles... somehow. Oddly enough, that's not the answer you'd expect from a pervert. Was he one of those mutant haters who... no, he was being too nice. Did he have a camera on him? None that Miles could see. The teenager was still feeling suspicious about the guy, so he pretty much came clean... without a hint of remorse.

"Fine. Guilty as charged" he said. "However, you had your back to us. You were this blurry silhouette on the grass 'minding your own business' like you're saying and all of a sudden you managed to see everything I was doing? Forgive me for the accusing tone, but that's not..."

Miles paused as a small suspicion dawned upon him.

"... humanly possible" he finished.

Could it be? Could this guy somehow know what he was not supposed to know and still not know he could know things he was not supposed to know?

You know?

He had no confirmation, but some of the signs of someone just starting to deal with their 'gift', like some mutants called it, seemed to be present. That stress of knowing you're no longer normal. That frustration and feeling of defeat and not knowing what to do...

Miles accepted the stick. His demeanor was no longer defensive or accusing, even though he had no confirmation yet.

"Thank you. And I'm sorry. Are you feeling all right?"

That clicnhed it. If there was something funny about being a mutant, it was this thing here that was happening right now.

If a normal person came up with such a discourse, his fellow peers would probably squint their eyes, look at him suspiciously and call Bellevue the minute the guy went to sleep.

But when a mutant was telling it, then anything goes. Really, mutations were that fickle. Miles had met several mutants by now and the range from one mutation to the next was quite astounding, going from a 7 foot tall clawed reptilian to a guy who could turn into a kite.

So when the guy was done, Miles gave an understanding nod. Was this the part where they exchanged power descriptions? No, no, the guy was too green, and quite frankly, he was Miles first. He had never met anyone at that very delicate stage, where they're juuust figuring things out and they still seemed weird and crazy. Should he just blurt it out? Should he just go all 'you're a wizard, Harry' and then hope he would take it calmly?

Better take it one step at a time.

"I see. That's... quite uncommon" he said. "Does it happen often?"

Asking that question surreptitiously meant 'I believe you, you're not crazy.' but now Miles was all curious about it. Did this work on everything? Dead or alive?

Hey, that gave him an idea and it was a surefire way of knowing the guy was telling the truth and a mutant to boot.

"Let's put it to the test. If you touch something I own, could you know everything about it? Something like... my dog?"

Oh yeah, he was definitely in the 'I can't control it!' stage and Miles knew all about it and empathized because he himself was right smack in that stage as well.

His test had a double purpose though. With it, the guy would immediately know Miles himself was 'uncommon' as well, and sometimes, showing was better than telling. Then again, he would have been likely to gain very personal memories from his dog and all of a sudden, it didn't sound like a good idea, so the teen was glad the guy couldn't do it.

He suffered headaches when he used it. Mutants suffering some kind of ailment from the use or abuse of their mutation was not that strange and his even made sense.

"If you're getting an influx of information that would normally take months for the brain to process and you're getting all of that in an instant... then it's no wonder it hurts. Now, I'm no expert on the matter, but you should serioulsy consider the possibility that maybe what you have is..."

Drumroll, please.

"...a mutation. It's not an easy thing to have and it's usually hard to accept and deal with it. Trust me. I know this from personal experience."

"Take your time. It's a lot to digest" he said, patting his dogs in an affectinate manner, but not getting any affection at all back from them. "At least, yours is easy to conceal. I've met some who wear theirs 24/7 and in my case, well... I can leave them home if I want."

Miles usually wasn't fond of opening up about his problems or feelings or what have you, but in this case, he wasn't being asked anything and nothing was expected from him. He felt like he was helping someone else through a rough spot and sharing his own rough spots in this circumstance came naturally.

He encouraged the guy to sit down on the grass, as he was doing so himself.

"The first time it happened to me, the very first time? That's the scariest. That's the moment where the first word that comes to your head is a cuss word. You don't know what's going on, you can't stop it from happening, it can really freak one out" he said, as he squinted his eyes, remembering the day he turned Astor into a thrall. It felt like yesterday. Hell, it felt like five minutes ago.

"Once you get used to it a little, you get to learn that mutations can be useful, like the times you said it helped you. That has happened to me too. My dogs have gotten me out of trouble. They have gotten me IN trouble as well, as your mutation will likely do at some point."

As he was saying these things, he wondered how similar or different their first time experiences must have been. He wondered if... the guy had been as scared as Miles himself had been.

"What was your first time like? And what the hell is your name anyway?"