Was it ever going to get easier?

Was he ever going to get smarter?

Were his powers ever going to get stronger?

Andy furrowed his brows in a mixture of frustration and anger as he glanced down, watching a constant stream of water fall onto his feet.

Ugh. Showers were supposed to wash all your worries away; yet, Andy didn’t feel any more calm, no matter how much time passed or how far left he turned the knob. He could feel his skin being scalded, and it hurt so badly that a moan of pain escaped from his lips, but he didn’t care.

It wasn’t fair. None of it was fair. All the other students seemed to be getting along fine. Even the hideous-looking ones with removable coral-like fingers and tentacles. So what was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he be happy?

“Argh!” Andy shut his eyes tightly and balled his hands into fists as he yelled out in pain… and then something happened. He felt… relief. Slowly, he opened his eyes and realized his powers had kicked in to protect him, repelling any and all water that threatened to touch his skin. The problem was that he was making a total mess. Water was flying in every which direction with so much force that the shower curtain came undone, and if he didn’t stop soon he’d flood the entire bathroom.

But he didn’t want to stop. Why? Because it was the only thing in the world that actually managed to make him feel better, even only slightly. He squeezed his fists even more tightly, amping the power of the psionic repulsion field that encompassed his entire body and expanding it outwards until water started seeping under the door and into his dorm-room, maybe even into the hallway.

And then, all of a sudden, a wave of exhaustion hit him, forcing him to unclench his fists and relinquish his influence on the water around him. Immediately, he felt his already reddened skin being burned again and almost desperately scrambled to turn off the hot water.

“Oops,” he muttered as soon as he realized what he had done. I'm so going to get detention for this...

Tag: Ghost

Maya hated shoes. They were the antithesis to her power's nature so it was rare that she wore them around the Mansion.

When she'd been fading away, eaten in slow bites by her own power, no one had the heart to tell her it might be gross. Now it was ten years later, they'd found a way to manage her mutational shortcomings and it was just too late. There was no going back to wearing shoes as far as Maya was concerned.

She hefted a laundry basket of sheets that were ready to be put back on the younger boy's beds. All students were expected to be in charge of maintaining their own laundry, but it was a sort-of unspoken thing that they all helped the littlest ones. Their mothers should have been there to help. Instead, they had to settle for team Mansion.

With such a bulky and heavy basket to manage, Maya most definitely was not paying attention to the ground directly beneath her feet... until she felt a squish. A slightly warm squish.

Having potty trained one of her own and being on the boy's hall, Maya's mind jumped to really unpleasant conclusions.

She set the basket down and, yeah, the carpet was dark with moisture. Not blood. It wasn't thick enough and it left no color on her bare foot.

"Hello?" She knocked her fist against the door, glad that she could now. "Is anyone home?" She tried the door handle. Either there was a leak... or maybe someone was hurt? Maya put her hand against the door and sent an exploratory breeze through the room.

Andy pulled back the shower curtain and stepped out of the shower. His eyes wide, he bit his lower lip nervously as he looked at the huge, watery mess he had made. What was he going to do? How was he going to clean this all up with one towel? He guessed he could steal his roommate’s, but two towels wouldn’t be enough, either. He needed a million, maybe more.

Shit, shit, shit!

I might even get expelled for this, Andy thought, unless I say it was an accident? Yeah, it kind of was. Kind of.

Whether they bought his story or not, he’d still have to clean the mess. But how? Andy wrinkled his brow as he racked his brains for a solution. “Oh!” Andy spat out as soon as an idea came to him, then knelt down and pointed his hand at the soaked floor. With a twinge of concentration, he generated a psionic repulsion field around hand and instantly the water started to move swiftly across the floor… and right under the door!

“Shit!” he cursed under his breath. He made an attempt to call the water back to him, but he could not. That was not his power. He could only repel water, not control it. Unlike Mr. Cervantes… The X-Man/swim instructor could do whatever he wanted with water. Lucky.

Then, he heard a knock at the door, followed by an unexpected breeze flowed into the bathroom, colliding with him in a way that made his entire body shiver.

SHIT! Without giving it a second thought, Andy jumped up and scrambled to retrieve his towel. Or at least he tried to. The floor was so wet that he, of course, slipped and fell right on his ass. A sharp pain shot through his tailbone as a result, forcing him to let out a loud groan. He rolled over onto his side and held his lower back, almost forgetting for a brief moment that someone was about to walk in.

Shit, shit, shit, Andy thought, his heart racing, as he frantically dragged himself across the wet floor and reached for his towel in a desperate attempt to cover his man-bits before it was too late.

More water flowed out from under the door while Maya was standing there. This was ridiculous! She grabbed some of the clean sheets,
sad to have to wash them again later, and made a barrier of absorbent cloth so that hopefully the water would go into the sheets and not spread further down the hallway.

"Be careful around here, okay? It's wet." She helped a kid walk around her barrier with a little shove of wind. Okay. Maybe 'help' was a little on the generous side, but the kid got the message and went around.

"Are you okay!?" The X-man knocked again as forcefully as she dared. She knew how the police did it, but she didn't want to draw more attention to the scene. She could tell there was a person in there. Why weren't they answering?

The answer to Maya's question revealed itself to her as the body inside slipped and fell. Maybe they'd been hurt the whole time and her squeamishness meant she was letting some poor kid go without the aid he so clearly needed. Okay! Enough was enough!

"I am coming in now." Whether the boy liked it or not. With a quick intake of breath, Maya changed forms. Her smoky white body slipped under the door pushing the water back from the gap under the door momentarily.

Smoke filtered in as if there was a fire outside and someone was trying to send a signal. Only the signal smoke condensed and reformed into the shape of a lanky, see-through woman in a skirt. She was careful and took her time to put herself back together and the more she did, the more opaque she appeared and the more mass she packed on. So she came into her weight slowly, first touching down on her toes and sinking down into the puddle with both feet.

Because that's what this was. One. Big. Puddle.

"Goodness. Are you okay?"

The first thing she did was unlock the door behind her. If they needed more help, they would have to go through the door most likely. The second thing she did was blatantly ignore the fact that the man child was naked. Seriously. There were just so many other places to look in the room!

"Please tell me you're dying from something other than embarrassment."

Andy continued to reach desperately for his towel, straining his arm as far as it could go, but still only managed to graze it with his fingertips. “Ugh.” If only he had a different mutant power. Telekinesis. Flight. Invisibility. Any one of those would have made his life so much easier right now. But no, all he could do was repel water... which was only making the situation worse!

>> “Are you okay!?”

The thought of yelling ‘I’m fine!’ crossed Andy’s mind, but he was too embarrassed and too afraid of being blamed for the mess to spit two words out. Besides, the door was locked, he remembered. How was she going to—

>> “I’m coming in now.”

What!? How!? Heart jumping, Andy whipped his head in the direction of the door and couldn’t help but stare with wide eyes at the mysterious smoke that suddenly seeped in from under the door. For a moment, Andy was unsure of what was happening until the smoke started to condense and take the shape of a—SHIT!

Realizing the smoke was a person, Andy scrambled to his feet, grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his waist as quickly as possible, all the while trying really hard not to slip and fall on his ass again.

>> "Goodness. Are you okay?"

Like a deer in headlights, Andy was at a loss for words as he looked at the see-through woman floating before him like a ghost, his cheeks reddening with embarrassment. A part of him couldn’t even believe this was happening. If he went to any other boarding school, this wouldn’t be happening. The locked door would have at least bought him enough time to get dressed. And now, thanks to the ghost-like woman, it was unlocked, which meant more people could come barging in any second now to see the colossal mess he made. Ugh.

>> "Please tell me you're dying from something other than embarrassment."

I wish, Andy thought, then shook his head and said, “I’m fine. I just slipped and fell, that’s all…” Avoiding eye contact, Andy rubbed his sore lower back with one hand while keeping his towel firmly in place with the other. There was no way he was going to let the woman see any more of him than she probably already had. “I’m more worried about the bathroom,” he admitted as he glanced down at the flooded floor, a look of regret covering his face. 

How much trouble am I going to get in for this?

Well. It was pretty bad. Maya schlorped through the soggy carpet to the bathroom in order to double check that the water was actually off and they weren't just dumping more. "Well, it's not the first bathroom that's flooded this year, and I'm guessing it won't be the last." She smiled at him by way of reassurance, but that reassurance was sapped by the awkwardness.

Now was not the time to mention that she had some amount of spatial-based vision. Nope. He wouldn't want to know that his towel was neither air-tight, nor was it actually shielding anything from her at this distance.

Maya made the effort to look only at his face.

"Right! I've made a dam outside your door so you have time to- uh- I'm really sorry. I thought you were—" No, this actually was not the time to explain. Maya shut up in a hurry. "I'll be outside. Once you're clothed, we can chat."

Maya marched herself back to the door. That could have been worse... or maybe it couldn't. Ugh. The elemental tried not to splash as she went to inspect her makeshift sheet barrier. It was holding for now, but the sheets were done wicking and had soaked through. Maya went to grab more out of her laundry basket to reinforce the wall.

Andy lifted his gaze when the woman said it wasn’t the first bathroom that flooded this year. Really? That made him feel a little better. A lot better, actually. A small smile rose to his lips as a wave of relief and hope washed over him. Maybe he could blame the flood on a faulty toilet or another student or something? But then he’d be lying…

Andy tightened his grip around his towel and averted his gaze once more, unsure of how to explain what happened. Maybe he didn’t have to? It wasn’t like she asked. Maybe she just assumed it wasn’t his fault?

>> "Right! I've made a dam outside your door so you have time to- uh- I'm really sorry. I thought you were— I'll be outside. Once you're clothed, we can chat."

The woman apologized for her intrusion and Andy couldn't help but smile. Maybe he really was going to get away with this? “It’s okay. You were only trying to help,” he said before she floated out of the bathroom, giving him the privacy he needed to change.

Once she disappeared from sight, Andy let out a sigh of relief and walked over - carefully - to the shelf where he had placed his clean clothes. He could have used his powers to repel the water from his feet and make walking easier, but not without the risk of causing more water to flow under the door and into the hallway.

Before dropping his towel, he glanced back at the door and turned away just in case the ghost-like woman was still there. Without taking the time to dry himself off first, he quickly slipped on his boxers, his beach tank and his shorts. 

“I’m decent now!”

With that, he turned back around and commenced biting his lower lip nervously as though he was about to go on trial.

Hmmm. The damming project was going pretty poorly. Perhaps it had been the fact that Maya was walked through the pooled water. Perhaps it was the fact that students kept trying to dance through or over the puddle in the hall. Maya dropped the last and final sheet into place and pushed the sloppy mound of fabric toward the boy's door. That was when she heard him call from inside that he was decent.

Ah. Right. She'd said they could chat, but things in the hall were a bit dire. Maya popped to her feet and got a slap of wet skirt against her legs. Oh no. The barrier had sprung a leak and she'd practically been rolling around in it.

Fully solid, Maya had to shoo yet another student around as she stepped into the puddle to grab the doorknob.

"Could you come out to the hallway and help? Be careful. It's—" There was an audible slipping and splatting sound behind Maya and the woman cringed. "Slippery. Are you okay?" Maya abandoned the door and left it ajar in order to help the student up from his spill which in turn took both student and Maya down for a splash. The hallway carpet was no longer pooling with water, but had turned dark in saturation. Freckles of water splattered the area around the dam Maya had built, but fingers of darkness were fast seeping through.

"Anybody know a watermanipulator? Jorge isn't on duty today." She helped the student up to his feet and out before she bothered standing. The hallway denizens had no satisfactory answer. "Heat? No? Nobody has a beneficial mutation for cleaning up spills?" Somehow, they all seemed to find themselves quite busy.

Andy could feel the water on his skin bleed through his clothes. He could also feel his heart racing, his eyes glued to the door as he waited intently for the woman to reappear out of thin air. Instead, she called out to him from the hallway, asking for him to help. Maybe if he did she’d be more forgiving and not give him a detention for flooding the bathroom?

Without giving it a second thought, he made a beeline for the door and grabbed the doorknob. He was about to yank the door open when he realized he might cause more water to flow out and ruin the dam the woman made. “Uhh…” There was no other way out, though. Unlike her, he couldn’t turn himself into a ghost.

“I’m coming out now,” he warned before taking a breath and turning the doorknob. As he predicted, water flowed out into the hallway as he pushed the door open all the way, but hey, he was just following orders…

“Oops,” he muttered as he stepped over the soaked towels by the door and onto the also soaked carpet, where he saw two people lying on the floor. One looked like a cute guystudent he had seen around the mansion before but never talked to, and the other looked like... Oh no, Andy thought, his eyes widening in surprise and shock at the realization that she was the ghost-like woman, but now fully solid. There went any chance he had at not getting in trouble…

>> "Anybody know a water manipulator? Jorge isn't on duty today. Heat? No? Nobody has a beneficial mutation for cleaning up spills?"

For a brief moment, all Andy could do was stare as the woman helped the attractive male student up to his feet. When she didn't immediately stand up, he realized this was his chance to get back on her good side and quickly rushed over to offer her a hand. “I’m so sorry, are you okay?” he asked with a concerned (and slightly scared) look on his face, his hand outstretched.

“I can’t manipulate water like Mr. Cervantes, but I can repel it. Maybe I can try pushing it all back into the bathroom?” Or would that only make it worse? Ugh. It was times like this when he thought his powers sucked. "Or I can go get more towels? Just tell me what to do and I'll do it."

He was very sorry. Maya took the offered hand despite the fact that she did not need it. The kid looked like he needed to give it, and Maya didn't have so much pride that she'd cast his helpfulness aside.

"How did all this get out here anyway? The tap was turned off and the bathtub was not over full." It just didn't add up... until the kid fessed up about his power set.

> “I can’t manipulate water like Mr. Cervantes, but I can repel it."

Understanding broke clearly over Maya's features like the sun cresting the horizon at dawn.

"You were in the shower... Your power repels water..." She spread her hands to indicate the floor as if to say 'and now, we have this.'

"What's your name, Mr. Water repeller?"

Maya tapped her foot with a squish, squish, squish while the elemental processed their needs and the situation. "There is no drain in the suite's bathroom floor, unless thay've remodeled since my teenage ward left the Mansion." Totally possible, but Jude was only just 18. He wasn't that long removed— in her opinion should have been here still, but that was a whole other can of worms. "How's your control? Can we aim this in any meaningful way?"

And, of course, this was a school. Maya could come up with a solution and she had a plan in mind, but it was important to give the opportunity for a student to learn, even if she was not a teacher. She was an X-man through and through. While Maya was never reproachful, she was decided in their course of action. This was a great moment to test the kid's nature, and resourcefulness.

"You've made this mess and I think it's important that you use the resources at your disposal to find a solution. Why don't you think it through for a bit and you can tell me how we'll tackle this together?" As far as a tentative test for X-potential, this was a really tame one. Hopefully the kid would pick up the baton and run with it. "My name is Maya, but most of the kids call me by my team name, Ghost. I can control the element of air and I'm at your disposal." If he wanted an introductory handshake, now was the time.

>> "You were in the shower... Your power repels water..."

Biting his lower lip, Andy nodded. As far as she knew, his powers were to blame for the mess, not him, and he was okay with that. Mentally, he crossed his fingers, hoping she wouldn’t ask him to expand on his answer, to tell her the whole truth about what happened. If she knew he used his powers on purpose, he’d get in trouble for sure...

>> "What's your name, Mr. Water repeller?"

Phew. Andy gave an inward sigh of relief. That question he had no problem answering. “Andy. Andy Sanchez-Soto. You can also call me Bubblehead.” Sure, no one ever called him Bubblehead, but they would one day. As soon as he became an X-Trainee. Hopefully soon.

>> "There is no drain in the suite's bathroom floor, unless thay've remodeled since my teenage ward left the Mansion. How's your control? Can we aim this in any meaningful way?"
The woman started pacing back and forth as though in deep thought. Good. She was trying to figure out what to do, because Andy hadn’t the slightest clue. She better hurry up, though, Andy thought as he cast a quick glance down at the wet, wooden flooring. Then she asked him to come up with a solution. Shit.

“Uhh…” Eyebrows raised, Andy stammered as he racked his brain for an appropriate, not-stupid response. “I’m afraid the water is going to ruin the wood.” Terrified, really. Then he’d really get in trouble. “I know pushing the water back into the bathroom won’t solve the problem, but it’d at least buy us some time… and prevent another.”

Ding, ding, ding. Correct answer? Andy mused, sparkling brown eyes seeking her approval.

>> "You've made this mess and I think it's important that you use the resources at your disposal to find a solution. Why don't you think it through for a bit and you can tell me how we'll tackle this together? My name is Maya, but most of the kids call me by my team name, Ghost. I can control the element of air and I'm at your disposal."

Ugh. Andy rest both hands atop his head and shrugged his shoulders. He knew it was his mess and that it was up to him to clean it up, but how? All he could think of was using lots and lots and lots of towels. That was until Maya, or Ghost, revealed she couldn’t just turn into air; she could control it. “I got it!”

Without wasting another second, Andy created psionic repulsion fields around both feet to avoid slipping and ran into the bathroom to open the window. Then he ran back, knelt down before the largest puddle in sight, and extended his arms, his palms facing the bathroom. “There’s a window in the bathroom. If we can get all the water back inside, you can use your air powers to lift it all up and out the window.”

He seemed like the kind of kid who had yet to stretch mentally as far as powers went. That coupled with the fact that she hadn't already known his name despite being around the Mansion almost all the time and Maya was pretty sure this kid, Andy, was new.

There was no easy answer, she could admit that, but at some point he would have to act. Inaction for too long was often as bad or worse than taking a less than optimal action. Maya waited patiently with the most encouraging look she could manage while he tore his hair out thinking.

> "I got it!"

She nodded along.

"Alright. Let's try it. Though I'll warn you now that there's a few things that might not work like you think they do, that's okay. At this point we just need to get going on a plan." Maya tried to get out of his way as best she could and watched him spread his arms. Was he going to work like a giant squeegee? Maya got ready to observe through both the visuals she could now see again and the aerial sense she'd honed while she was essentially blind. Time to scope out a new potential.

Furrowing his brows in concentration, Andy took a deep breath and pushed... out through his hands. As he spread his fingers, he could feel the energy flow out of him and onto the floor, propelling the water in front of him forward like a wave. He couldn’t extend his energy very far, though--not without giving himself a massive headache or passing out--and so he shuffled forward on his knees, using both hands to guide the water in the direction of the bathroom as best as he could.

He couldn’t control water with his mind like Mr. Cervantes, though, only repel it, and so it wasn’t the easiest task. Some would even say he was making the puddles in the hallway worse by causing any water that wasn’t directly in front of his hands to ripple outwards. Shit. Grimacing, he glanced upward at the woman who called herself Ghost. She was just standing there, watching him fail. “Wind can push water,” he stated in the hopes she would catch on and help him, before realizing he had no way to keep all the water in the bathroom. The woman had created a damn before, with towels, but that didn’t work too well.

“Ugh, this isn’t working.”

Andy didn’t know what else to do, but he couldn’t ask Ghost for help. She said he had to figure it out himself, as though it was a test. Is it? Given her older age and codename, she was probably an X-Man, which meant she would be one of the judges to determine whether he had what it took to be an X-Trainee... Shit!

Fear and worry flooded his being, causing his heart to race. He had to do something, and fast. Not a single second could be wasted, just like in swimming. “Umm…” he muttered, biting his lower lip nervously as he looked around the flooded hallway for ideas. “I got it!” Andy grabbed two of the soaked towels off the floor. They were dripping wet, but they wouldn’t be for long, he thought as he created psionic repulsion fields around his feet once more and ran into the bathroom.

Climbing into the shower, Andy dangled both towels in front of him with one hand and pushed with the other. As though his hand was a blow drier, he started at the top and made his way down until every last drop of moisture trapped within the cotton was forced out. Andy grinned pridefully as he watched the water splash against the wall and trickle down the drain, then ran back outside with two perfectly dry, seemingly new towels, one in each hand. Throwing both towels on top of the first puddle he saw, he got back down on his knees and started scrubbing.

“Can you make hot air? Maybe you can help dry the floor?”

"Wind can push water." She affirmed. "But I'd just be making more of a mess, in this case or possibly hurting you." Maya could help him keep what he pushed forward in front of Andy instead of spilling further out, but to get the moisture out of the carpets would take her hours of sustained power usage. She was capable of that, but it seemed like there were a few quicker and more complete answers without reach if Andy was willing to stop beating himself up and think.

If he couldn't stand one X-man watching him try and fail, how was he going to make decisions, good or bad, in the field where the whole world watched them? Maya had gotten more used to the public angle than most considering who her honeybun was. Her mistakes were more visible than even most other X-men's. Andy would either sink... or swim.

"There's nothing wrong with trying something that doesn't work. So long as you learn and move on." She tried to be encouraging. It was hard to stand there and do nothing while the kid warred with himself, but unless he was willing to talk through what he was thinking, she couldn't even help him with ideas.

> “Umm… I got it!”

She smiled, noting that's what he'd said last time, but equally hopeful. She watched him grab up the two towels out of the piles of bed sheets and carefully she picked her way into his room a few steps so that she could see the water get ejected down the drain of the bathtub.

"Very good. You can try the squeegee tactic at the end as final clean up, I think, but this is definitely better." She helped press the towels down so that they could wick up moisture. There was still a lot, though. This could take some time.

> “Can you make hot air? Maybe you can help dry the floor?”

"I cannot. Temperature is out of my purview." She shrugged and decided to take mercy on him considering that he did not know what she could and could not do. "Water's probably the hardest thing for me to pick up without the potential to wreck things further, but I'll do my best to help you with some of the bulk. I can't make the carpet not wet without a few hour's work."

Maya spread her hands wide and as she brought them closer together extreme winds began to blow at ankle level and below. The water rippled together out from the edges of the little hallway pond and grew in height and turbulence as she ushered it together, forward and together, forward and together until it was a little like sweeping. She made a little spiral and the water formed up into the smallest little twister that spit a few stray droplets as it carried at least a gallon of liquid to the bathroom. Ghost moved her hands up and it hooped into the tub and unraveled.

Most of what had spilled into the hallway went from sopping to just plain damp. That was where Maya's power fell short. That and the fact that the little waterspout didn't fully contain the liquid.

"I can do that again if you like with the water inside your room."

In hindsight, it wasn’t the best idea of all time. It’d take him a few trips just to dry the hallway floor… and who knows how long it’d take to dry the bathroom. Giving an inward sigh, Andy racked his brains for alternative, quicker solutions as he continued to scrub the floor. The one idea that sounded worthy of verbalizing was quickly shot down by Ghost, who revealed she could not manipulate the temperature of air, only its movement.

“Okay…” he said, trying to stifle the fire of frustration he felt growing within him. The last thing he wanted was for the X-Men to think he worked poorly under pressure… or needed help.

At first, Andy watched in amazement, wide-eyed, as the X-Woman used her wind powers to scoop up a great sum of water from the floor and transfer it into a bathtub. Then a feeling of worthlessness crept into his being, making him think neither him or his powers were needed or would ever be needed. All he was good for was creating messes… and swimming.

I’ll only hold the X-Men back, Andy thought, sighing in a mixture of defeat and sadness. A part of him just wanted to crawl up in a corner or retreat to the nearest swimming pool and give up.

>> "I can do that again if you like with the water inside your room."

Slowly, Andy picked himself back up to his feet, a soaked towel in each hand, and nodded. “Go ahead.” Do it all, he mentally added. I’m clearly not needed here.