It was like some kind of a trance. Sveta meant to take her finger away after one slight touch; but there was something about her powers, maybe the unexplainable feeling that she had it, really had it this time, that made her just look, look at her finder touching her skin, and did not pull away. By the time she realized this might go serious wrong, at least ten seconds have trickled by.

What the hell am I doing?...

Pulling her hand back as if it was burnt, Sveta looked at Agnes, slightly scared, and with worry in her eyes. What was that?! Did she just space out? the imaginary handle that she had her powers, with the bubble wrpaped up inside her, suddenly burst, and she could practically feel her bubble expanding around her once again.

This was going to be bad... Ten minutes of bad.

Agnes had closed her eyes the second that she felt Sveta touch her. As she did, her mind was a whirlwind of activity: should she have really done this? Could she handle the yet another boost from Sveta? Already her body wanted to keel over with exhaustion because a touch from Sveta was like having an electric shock paddle constantly on underneath her skin. But as she tried to prepare herself for this, she didn’t notice that there was still a finger touching her skin.

That was ten seconds, wasn’t it?

Wait? That shouldn’t be there that long! Sveta said she’d take it slow!

The Russian pulled away and Agnes blinked in shock, surprise, and terror as she looked up at her best friend. Sveta looked too worried to say anything and Agnes gasped as that violent sensation began to whip throughout her body. Her skin literally felt on fire as that vibrating feeling seemed to shiver throughout her entirety. She staggered away from Sveta, bugs clawing at the insides of her chest, her mind connecting with the plethora of insects that skittered outside of the Danger Room.

It was simply all becoming too much for the young runaway.

Gasping, she stumbled back and away from Sveta, unintentionally, as she clutched at her chest, trying to force the insects back. But her mind began to slip away as one…slowly began to turn into the collective…

This was... Sveta blinked, and blinked again. Did she just space out? Why the hell did she space out?! In the worst possible moment too... she knew the Danger Room was a safe place, but that did not mean this wouldn't take a toll on Agnes herself. Even if she did not struggle to hold back, boosted powers always drew a lot of energy...

Sveta gasped as she watched Agnes struggle and back away. Now she had a lot to apolize for... also, if Agnes failed to control her insects, the Danger Room would be full of an angry swarm in seconds, opening the door was not an option, and she did not have control over the DR systems.

Stupid stupid stupid...

Sveta backed away as far as she could, and leaned her back against the wall of the Danger Room...

Agnes felt as if everything was absolutely on fire inside and outside of her body. She couldn’t comprehend up from down nor really anything cohesive. Instead all she could do was stagger away, gasping as she struggling to gain some kind of control over her body. But it was getting harder and harder for her to do so. The caffeinated buzz that coursed throughout her system was affecting her limbs, causing them to twitch and rattle between her teeth. She still could not believe that her body was going through this much punishment.

But she couldn’t blame Sveta. She couldn’t find the power to do so. Instead all she could do was stumble away, gasping and struggling to keep the insects inside her, as well as struggling to keep the her mind in one place. The most terrible part about having her powers boosted was the fact that her mind wanted to connect with so many of the insects. It was as if her mind was a stick of soft butter with squares being cut out and spread out amongst too many pieces of toast.

She cried, she gasped as she felt like her whole very body wanted to vibrate apart. But as she stumbled away, further and further from Sveta, not wanting the swarm within her to attack her, she suddenly feel the cool sensation of the Danger Room wall…

…and then peace.

Agnes gasped as the sensations, the coffee buzz, the connection with the multitude of insects, everything was just suddenly gone. Exhausted, she felt to her knees and looked across the room to see Sveta cringing away.

This…wasn’t right. Not…right at all…

“Sveta?” she asked…

>>“Sveta?”

Sveta looked up. They had backed up against the two opposite walls of the Danger Room; she looked across the vast empty space to see how Agnes was doing.

She seemed to be doing pretty well.

Even though only a few seconds had passed, not more than a minute tops, Agnes did not seem to be struggling. Even if she was controlling the boost, she shouldn't have looked so... calm?

Sveta caught her breath, and stared, too afraid to walk closer.

"Agnes?..." she blinked "...are you okay?"

Something worked. She was just not sure what it was...

Agnes gulped as she looked down at her hands and began to roam her fingers around her stomach and her chest. The buzzing had completely stopped. Her mental connection with the variety of bugs that were outside had utterly stopped as well! She could not put her finger on it but for whatever reason, when she was feeling like she was going to explode due to the strain of Sveta’s powers, for some reason it all just completely and utterly stopped. She couldn’t explain it, but she was thankful for it.

Then her mind began to race. Sveta had touched her for a long time. Way more than just three seconds and yet the power’s effect was no long racing through her body. For some reason, it was as if Sveta’s power was completely gone, instead of making her go through 10 minutes of hell.

She paused, blinked and looked across the room. Sveta was standing there, watching her with just as much shock and confusion on her face.

>> "Agnes?...are you okay?"

Gently Agnes moistened her lips as she pushed herself off the wall and began stagger forward. Her legs were still exhausted, the muscles throughout her body utterly sore, but other than that, there was not a single bit of evidence that her insects were riled up.

Slowly she nodded as she looked across the room.

“Y-Yeah,” she stammered as she still stood a good distance again. “Sveta…did…did it work? A-Are you okay?”

>>“Y-Yeah. Sveta…did…did it work? A-Are you okay?”

Sveta nodded, still staring across the room at Agnes.

"I... am not sure what happened. Did you do it, or did I...?"

It was confusing. Either Agnes maganed to subdue the boost on her own, and regain control over her powers in a surprisingly short time. Or Sveta managed to... turn them off?
Closing her eyes, she took a few deep breaths. Nope, the coffee buzz was still there. Looking up, she took a few steps towards Agnes. Carefully.

"Do you still feel it?" she asked "My aura? You know, with de buzz?..."

If it was still there... then why was Agnes feeling better all of a sudden?

>> "I... am not sure what happened. Did you do it, or did I...?"

Agnes, still stunned, simply did not know how to respond to that. She definitely did not think it stopped because of her own doing though. She felt as if she was going to completely lose it a second there and then suddenly it stopped. Her resolved had melted away to a point that she knew, without a shadow of a doubt that she was going to lose control. But for that feeling to suddenly pass, as if it were nothing, it simply did not make sense.

She was adamant that she had not stopped it herself. Therefore it had to have been Sveta…but…how…?

Her mind whirled as she tried to think about how this sudden change had come about. She simply had no answers. She looked across to Sveta inquiringly…

>> "Do you still feel it? My aura? You know, with de buzz?..."

Agnes stopped and held her breath. She waited a couple seconds but as they ticked away she realized that she could still feel the coffee buzz that she usually felt when she was around Sveta. But for whatever reason her powers were will not going haywire as they were a second ago. She had touched Agnes for quite a long time, the boost should not have just stopped that quickly. There was simply no way. But for whatever reason, right now, it had stopped. She felt as if Sveta had never touched her to begin with.

She shook her head, still keeping across the room from her blonde friend.

“Y-Yeah...buzz is still there, but...but my powers. T-They're under control. I...I don't feel the insects outside...” she said in awe.

>>“Y-Yeah...buzz is still there, but...but my powers. T-They're under control. I...I don't feel the insects outside...”

"That's... good."

Sveta didn't even dare to believe it at first. What did just happen?

"The buzz is okay" she nodded, tilting her head at Agnes. Something was still off. "But... wait, you can feel my aura?"

She was definitely farther away than she should have been. Sveta had a pretty good sense of how far her coffee buzz usually extended. And Agnes was... should have been outside of it.

"Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly, backing away a few steps slowly.

"How about... now?"

>> "That's... good."

Agnes seemed just as confused as Sveta as they stood there, staring at each other. Agnes simply did not know what else to say. Suddenly the boost to her powers were gone, she was disconnected from the rest of the insects that, moments ago, had wanted to take over her mind, and she was fine. Somehow, it just stopped, and Agnes held fast to the belief that it was not her doing that stopped the boost.

Something else did it. Or rather…someone else.

She raised her eyes to Sveta again.

>> "The buzz is okay…But... wait, you can feel my aura? Are you sure?"

Agnes stopped for a second. She was definitely much farther away from Sveta than she normally was when she felt that buzz, but then why did she still feel that aura? She didn’t dare try to wrap her mind around it because there was simply no use in it. She couldn’t figure it out.

She watched in bewilderment as Sveta took a few steps away from her. She did not comprehend why at first. But as she did she suddenly felt that coffee buzz lessening and lessening until it was gone. A shaky breath and suddenly Agnes felt like her normal self again. Curiously she looked at Sveta and tilted her head.

>> "How about... now?"

“N-Nothing,” she said with a shake of her head. “Sveta…h-how…?”

>>“N-Nothing. Sveta…h-how…?”

Sveta ran one hand through her hair.

"I... I think my aura just got bigger. From here, to... there" she pointed at where Agnes was standing "It used to be... smaller."

Not to mention with different effects.

"And when you walked out of it... the boost was gone." she summarized. That was all she could say right now. And she was just starting to realize how that sounded.

"The boost... was over outside the aura." she repeated, almost in awe. She looked at Agnes, half waiting for her to tell her she was wrong. Maybe it was Agnes' power after all.

"But... that would mean..."

>> "I... I think my aura just got bigger. From here, to... there…It used to be... smaller. And when you walked out of it... the boost was gone."

Agnes nodded as she remained standing back, unsure if Sveta wanted her to step forward, back into the aura or not. She did not want her friend to feel self-conscious because she was staying away from the coffee buzz aura, but Agnes was not really sure what to do right now. Should she get closer to her friend to make sure she was okay? Should she stay away, where she was, so that Sveta could figure this out first? There were too many variables and they were all confusing so she really did not know what to do.

Instead she simply stood there and nodded as she listened to Sveta talk. Sveta was still in shock, trying to figure out exactly what had happened, why things suddenly felt different. Agnes really wished she could offer her an answer or two but it was quickly becoming apparent that she really had no idea what happened either.

>> "The boost... was over outside the aura…But... that would mean..."

A very, very small smile came across Agnes face, but it was still just as shocked.

“Sveta, I…really think…that you did it,” she said as she took a step forward. She could feel that coffee buzz immediately hit her, even though she was much farther away. But the fact was still exciting, Sveta’s powers finally had a limit…

>>“Sveta, I…really think…that you did it,”

She looked at Agnes, and slowly, she returned the smile. It was unsure, and there were a lot of questions left to ask... but there it was. The possibility that things were going to work out in the end.

"I can't believe it" she chuckled, leaning back against the wall "Wow... I didn't think it was going to work... not dis fast anyway."

She looked up at Agnes who seemed to be sharing her joy. Maybe she was just a good friend happy for her success; or maybe she was also thinking about how she could control her own powers if Sveta managed to pull it off.
She chuckled again.

"Jude is going be so surprised..."

>> "I can't believe it…Wow... I didn't think it was going to work... not dis fast anyway."

Agnes smiled. She was genuinely happy for Sveta. It really, really seemed like she had pulled this off, that she had managed to get some portion of her powers under control. Yes, the field with the buzzing effect was much larger now, but at least it meant that there was a limit to her powers now. When Agnes had touched Sveta for so long, she had expected a good 10 minutes or so of hell with her powers boosted. But instead, she managed to get away to a point where the boost just…stopped.

To know that there was border of some kind to Sveta’s had to be a real win for her best friend.

Unable to help herself, Agnes stepped into the coffee buzz field again and began to make her way towards Sveta. She felt her heart race a little due to Sveta’s powers, but it was something that she was more than used to by now.

>> "Jude is going be so surprised..."

Agnes beamed happily. She was proud of Sveta and extremely happy for her. She nodded because at least know it meant, to both of them, that powers were not set in stone. They could change and definitely for the better.

“That’s sooo good Sveta. Congratulations!” Agnes said with a grin. “I think we both deserve a break now.”

>>“That’s sooo good Sveta. Congratulations! I think we both deserve a break now.”

"I think we do" Sveta smiled and stood. She really wanted to hug Agnes right now, but after all the focusing and training it would have been difficult to deal with, even with her new and improved aura... so she just smiled, and walked to the door.

"So. We raid the kitchen for sweets and drinks, yes?" she grinned, leading the way from the Danger Room upstairs "I think we deserve girl time. And chocolate."

They had one of those before. And Agnes was always fun to talk to. And boy did Sveta need to talk to someone...