Persi sure seemed embarrassed about that. She could see why; it was kind of a lame ability, especially compared to something flashy like hers. For a few seconds, she was silent, watching his face turn red.

“Hey, you have it better than a lot of other guys,” she told him. “I know a guy whose power was, anything he promised, he had to do. Like, if he didn’t, he’d get a headache and almost die. ‘Least you can use your power to tick people off. Plus, you could still get some kind of kick-ass power growth, later.”

She decided not to mention the promise guy’s power growth. She wore a sign of that around her ankle, a dark red tattoo that reminded her she had to do anything a certain cult leader said.

Okay, that... well, didn't actually make Persi feel any better about his mutation, but he could see why it should. Having to obey promises would suck. "He dies from a headache?" That would be a really bad headache.... "Almost dies?"

And that... might be a possibility. Maybe. "What's a power growth?" The words actually sort of made sense--power becomes more powerful--but he couldn't really see how getting things stuck in peoples' heads more would be that kickass, so there was probably more to it than that. "Like... when does it happen, and...? I don't know. I have no idea what that is."

Hm. That brought another thought. "Have you had a power growth? Does everyone get one?"

“Well, first you feel like you need to do whatever you promised. Then, if you try to stop yourself from doing it, you start getting a really bad headache and feeling like you’re about to die. I mean, he does. When he promises something.” She wished she’d stop thinking about the times she tried to go against Sebastian’s orders.

Kaitlyn would much rather talk about power growths. “A power growth is when you start being able to do something new. So… imagine a guy can turn into a cat. Then, one day, he can turn other people into cats, but he couldn’t do that before. Turning other people into cats is his power growth. You get a new ability, usually related to the first thing you could do. That can happen pretty much whenever.”

Now they were entering the hedge maze. There was a gazebo-type thing in the center, with some night-blooming flowers around it that Regan was helping Kaitlyn grow. While she was out there, she thought she should check up on those.

“I’m pretty sure I don’t have one yet.”

Okay, that... would really suck. A lot. It might have made Persi feel a tiny bit better about his mutation, even. Though he really had to question this guy's intelligence. "Why would he tell anyone about it, then? Especially with that kind of detail?"

"Oh." That made sense. It was fairly close to what Persi had thought of, actually. "...I can't really think of anything cool connected to mine, though."

"Hm." Persi supposed that made sense. Mutations were supposed to appear at twelve or thirteen; that wouldn't exactly leave much room for her to have a power growth. It would just have been part of the original power. "What do you think yours will be, when you get it?"

She answered that last question about the promise mutation with a shrug, eager to move on to another subject. Like power growths.

“Maybe you could get something so stuck in someone’s head they can’t think about anything else,” She suggested. “Or you could get suggestion stuck in their head, like mind control. Or…” Kaitlyn almost made a wrong turn in the maze, she was so focused on coming up with ideas. She took a few steps back, then got moving in the right direction again. “It could be a lot of things. Ooh! Or telepathy!” Telepathy is cool.

As for her own growth… “I dunno. Maybe I’ll be able to blow stuff up from a distance. Or I might never get one.”

"Telepathy would be cool." Also potentially traumatizing, considering what was actually in many peoples' minds. Persi heard enough just from what some people said; knowing what they thought would be more than he wanted. But it would be much cooler than just making thoughts sticky.

"Maybe you'll be able to throw them. Or make a chain of explosions." Okay, so Persi couldn't think of much other than 'explode in different places' for her, either. "Or suppress explosions. Absorb them and store them for later, or just delay them for a while so they can ambush people."

“Suppressing explosions could be nice.” A power that could protect people instead of hurting them: what a concept! Granted, hurting bad guys was a good way to protect people, but it would be nice to have a new power that couldn’t accidentally hurt everyone around her. DocProf would appreciate that.

They made it to the center of the hedge maze. It was a circular area with two entrances, a small gazebo in the center, and a lot of flowers. Vines with star-shaped white flowers were wrapping themselves around each of the pillars holding the gazebo’s roof up. “These are moonflowers,” Kaitlyn said, poking one. “I’m growing them. They’re called that because they only bloom in the moonlight.” There were a few other flowers she planted there which only bloomed at night, too.

Kaitlyn had chosen those flowers with a big, romantic vision in mind. She would take Victoria there at midnight, on a night when there was a full moon and all of the night-flowers she planted would be blooming. Maybe the two of them could have a picnic while they were at it.

"Or absorb them and turn them into something else. Fireworks, maybe." Those were pretty explosion related, but not exactly explosions. Except how they were, but far away... whatever. Fireworks. Fun to create.

The center of the maze was... nice. Not really what Persi had expected from a maze, but then the only ones he'd ever gone through were Halloween corn mazes, so his expectations might be a little off. Only, um.... "So... if they only bloom by night... why are they blooming?" Persi was still pretty sure he really didn't want to offend TNT Kaitlyn, but the question seemed... kind of obvious. Which probably meant he was missing something, so she could just blame the question on him being stupid instead of rude.

"They're growing really well, it looks like." That might have been a good thing to add before he questioned her intelligence. More distraction was needed. "What are the others?"

It took Kaitlyn a moment to recognize that Persi was talking, she was so absorbed in thoughts of Victoria.

“Err, what? Oh. They’re not blooming. They unfold more at night.” She could see why he would think they were, though. They still looked cool during the day. “And uh… well, those are Casablanca Lilies.” She pointed out the plants in question, leaning over the railing of the gazebo. “They smell awesome. Those red ones and those purple ones are called four o’clocks, ‘cause they’re supposed to bloom around four in the afternoon. The yellow ones are evening primroses. I planted most of ‘em.”

Regan had let Kaitlyn decide on most of the flowers in the gazebo area, after the Possessed Snowman Incident destroyed all of the last ones. If these flowers went away before Kaitlyn could have her picnic with Victoria, the ones responsible would have a very bad day.

"Oh. They turn round then?" That seemed like the most logical shape for them to open to, at least. He wondered if he could draw one open based on the closed ones and get fairly close.

The lilies did smell nice. A bit strong, and Persi carefully backed up a step after smelling one from an inch away. That... was a lot of smell. He was glad she didn't advertise more of the flowers' scents, because he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to smell them.

"That must have taken a lot of time." Persi certainly wouldn't have put the time in. He made very, very sure not to touch any of the plants. Even if Kaitlyn couldn't blow him up, ruining that much work of anyone's would just be cruel.

“Yup. But the gardener helped a lot.” Honestly, Regan did most of the work, and taught Kaitlyn what to do along the way. At least Kaitlyn felt like she was making a respectable contribution.

“And that’s a spoon.” She reached down to pick up a white plastic spoon that was sticking out of the soil next to one of her lilies. “Either we have another dirt-eater to deal with or somebody can’t pick up after themselves.” Hopefully it was the second option. She had already lost her dutchman’s pipe cactus to a kid who had to eat dirt, but decided to go after the potted plants instead of letting the Mansion provide that for her.

“Wanna go see the foresty part of campus?” Persi probably would have noticed it from a distance, once they got outside, but that was different from being in it. She pocketed the plastic spoon, waiting for a trash can to throw it in.

Persi really didn't have much to say on the gardener helping with gardening. Well, he had a moment of being surprised that the Mansion had a gardener, but on second thought it probably should have been obvious, so he kept that to himself. There also was not much to say about the existence of a spoon, except.... "dirt... eater? How does that even work?" Persi was pretty sure that the nutrients a human body needed did not exist in dirt. At least, not in the right form or quantities.

...Of course, this was a mutant. So it would be a mutant body, not a human body. That was probably it.

"Sure." Persi might have perked up a bit more at that. Forest meant shade, and trees, which potentially could be climbed. Both were definitely benefits in his mind right now. "Is anyone going to appear and yell at me for climbing the trees?"

“It’s a mutant who eats dirt. They usually have to eat more than that, but they also have to eat some dirt.” It seemed pretty self-explanatory. “It’s more common than you’d think.” She’d been led to believe dirt was finger food, though. Maybe Regan had just watered or something.

“If climbing on the ceiling’s okay, I’m pretty sure they’re cool with climbing trees here.” Kaitlyn had never tried it herself, but she saw other people doing it. Most of them were mutants who were incredibly good at climbing things.

They were halfway out of the hedge maze. As they rounded a corner, a pair of arms that seemed to be made of the hedge bush reached out from within the hedges, grabbing at Persi’s ankles. “YOU ARE TRESPASSING ON SACRED GROUNDS,” boomed a deep voice that seemed to come from all the surrounding hedges at once. “THE HEDGE GODS DEMAND A SACRIFICE.” Whoever was saying these things was coming very close to laughing.

Meanwhile, Kaitlyn was actually laughing.

"That seems... really weird. Dirt?" That part was just too much for Persi's brain to get past. "That doesn't seem like... it's dirt. What's in dirt that anyone needs to eat?" Other than bugs maybe, but you'd think if that was the goal, they could just get bugs on their own. Enough other places did, it shouldn't be that hard.

Oh. Yeah, ceilings tended to be a little more guarded than trees. Persi (rather obviously) hadn't thought of that. "That makes sense."

"WHAT THE F***!" Persi jumped what felt like a foot in the air, but was not enough to save both his ankles. One was claimed by the hedge gods. The other he held as far away as possible, in the hopes of saving it, and pulled at the ankle that had been grabbed. "Hedge gods?" Persi was significantly more shocked than scared, but the difference might have been hard to see. When escaping the hedge gods didn't work, he remembered Kaitlyn and looked at her.

...She was laughing. That was... obnoxious, really, but technically probably meant this was just bewildering and nonsensical and not actually dangerous, so he relaxed. But kept trying to pull his captured ankle free. "What is going on?"

“That’s just Scotty,” Kaitlyn managed once she stopped laughing. “He can possess plants. Surprised he still pranks people like this after I nearly killed him that one time.”

The hedge-hand released its grip on Persi’s ankle, then sank back into the bush. “HE CAN’T HURT ME THOUGH,” boomed the bush-voice. “I HEARD YOU TALKING ABOUT HIS POWER WHEN YOU WERE WALKING IN. ALSO, SORRY ABOUT THE SPOON.” The hedges shook, and seemed to spit out a six-foot-tall human made of hedges. Its face had all the contours of a human face, but no discernible eyes or mouth. It extended a hand towards Persi. “NICE TO MEET YOU.”

“You sound like Megatron,” Kaitlyn snickered.

“ISN’T IT AWESOME?” She smiled and shook her head.