> "Don’t sell yourself short.”

Lori looked up. And up. And up again, just to make it clear that the man she was talking to was nearly a foot taller than she was. Her eye served as checkmate cherry on top.

"You don't get it, boyscout." And at this point, there was such a depth of depravity between them that Lori didn't feel as if she could even scratch the surface. He f***ing blushed. He was sorry and sappy.

She should find her shoe first, but screw it. She still had a sock on. She wouldn't ground out.

Lori took a step forward and let the stranglehold that she kept on her power loosen just a little.

"It's more than push. Or pull. Sure. I get that. It's physics." Her tone said it's not hard without her even having to spell it out.

Another step. Another intentional relax.

"It's also these biochemical machines we're all driving around." High EMF made people feel uneasy at best. Or high EMF might make people think they saw ghosts, start vomiting, or passing out at worst.

Another step. Another slip. Her field had reached the high ceilings and her movement made the lights flare brighter.

"It's batteries, bulbs, and circuits."

More. She wanted to just. let. go.

Brighter and brighter, the room got. The closest metal panels and door started groan against their moorings and Lori had to be sure she was anchored properly lest she be the one that was pulled.

She took one last step until they were close. Touch range.

"It's power." And she didn't want it.

Pop. Pop. Kisssh. The lights burst, way high up in their sockets and the glass made little tinkling sounds as it bounced down to the ground. She didn't quite have the power reach to overload them all, but the room was considerably dimmer now.

"If I reached out and touched you right now... I don't think you'd survive." This close, he might feel the electricity running along her skin, jumping and biting.

She'd done it before. Tried to share the burden. Tried to get rid of some of this great and terrible weight. For pain, for death, for fun, for science. Everybody reacted just a little bit differently. It was physics. But even more it was these biochemical machines.

Lori folded her arms and tucked her hands away. "I need to practice because magnetic fields and magnetism... this power doesn't always react like I expect. And neither do I." She could recognize the feeling sometimes now.

Maybe he didn’t understand, not at first anyway, but very quickly he learned.

What was it with short people locking gaze with him and stepping into his personal space? Devon didn’t lose that eye contact, nor did he step back. The boy scout, a nick name he’d heard before certainly, smiled softly as he felt what she was doing. The room was filled with a great deal of metal after all.

>> "It's also these biochemical machines we're all driving around."

She came closer and her point was one she wanted made. Devon was happy to oblige. His eyes clouded over, consumed by sudden darkness. She was alive with power, an abnormal field surrounding her and lashing out at the area around him. Lights flared, metal shook, and Tempest could feel the disturbance around him. Without a surge of lightning, his machine was nothing in her wake.

The lights burst as she continued and she warned him. Tempest quirked a brow. Only lights at the extreme of the room still worked, throwing much of the room in shadow and causing faint starts to reflect back in Tempest’s eyes. It felt like the stars were pulling at his skin, tingling and dancing with energy. But she puts her hands a way. They weren’t weapons, but traps and she was trapped behind them.

>> "I need to practice because magnetic fields and magnetism... this power doesn't always react like I expect. And neither do I."

“A lot of people crave power,” Tempest stated simply. “And those with power know that’s nothing without control.” He nodded slowly and grinned, “But I do get it.”

The moisture in the room swam and churned as air masses conflicted and built, clouds forming along the ceiling. Errant gusts of wind began to blow through the room as the temperature dropped. Lightning crashed down upon Tempest but thrummed with power through him and then dispersed into the floor, causing Lori’s electromagnetic field to warble and resonate from the conflicting power spreading throughout the metal. First snowflakes began to fall but then suddenly the temperature jumped and snow became slush became rain, though it never touched Tempest or Lori.

“And that’s just from me distractedly thinking about something rather upsetting,” Tempest inhaled and as he exhaled the winds quieted. The rain stopped and the clouds at the ceiling quieted even though they remained. “I’m bipolar,” he winked a black orb. “And what’s worse? My emotions affect my abilities. Power is all around us all the time, but it’s control that comes from within. With practice and discipline, you can have it.”

'One-uppy, showboating, dense motherfu-'

Lori didn't have time to finish that thought as she was quite suddenly motivated to jump, run, hide, and avoid the floor all at once. Her feet pranced in place once or twice as she tried to avoid any arcing before she bolted behind the big guy so that he shielded her from the majority of the threat that was an indoor storm.

Frankly, she would have preferred walking over the broken glass rather than risking an uneven floor making the magical rain runoff her way.

Thunder boomed and her hands were on her ears. Her eyes closed and her raucous heartbeat threatened to close up her airway.

No. She didn't do running away. Lori balled her hands into fists and forced them down to her sides.

A single snowflake fell onto her nose, making her briefly cross her eyes to see it.

It was stupid. It didn't make logical sense to have a physical response to a sound. She knew it in her brain, but couldn't quite make her brain control her body's response.

>“I’m bipolar,”

He may as well have done the thunder show again.

He winked. Like, hey, no big deal. I'm often a selfish monster with no basis in reality, but that's really no big deal as a DIRECTOR OF A MUTANT SHELTER.

Lori grit her teeth against his attempt to Yoda her and took a moment to make entirely, completely, 100% sure she was not thinking about the person she did not think about.

"Xanax? Haldol? Sarafem?" She asked quietly. Lori had, after all, sat on the board of a pharmaceutical company for a time. It was reasonable for her to be informed and concerned. "Don't tell me you're not taking your medication."

She wanted to hurt him, surprise him— like he'd unknowingly hurt and surprised her. Luckily that was an impulse she could control.

Tempest crossed his arms over his chest as he slowly turned around to face Lori. She’d run behind him at the sound of thunder. He’d forgotten that sudden jump she’d had. A slight frown had crossed his face when she jumped. He hadn’t meant to scare her like that after all, only show that chaos erupted from those with power who didn’t practice with control.

Her posture and the way she seemed to recoil from his comments wasn’t the reaction he’d wanted to inspire at all. The fact Lori seemed to need a gentler touch yet frank conversation, devoid of affectations, spoke quite a bit about her state, her past, and how she handled things. Tempest was reminded of himself, honestly, and not for the first time this conversation.

The immediate roll into medication and then her offhand comment told Devon she had experience with the disease.

“I’m very careful to take my medication and have been for years,” Devon explained. “I’m a daily Lamictal user actually, but I have a couple other things I take if feeling particularly manic or depressed. Staying active like with class or work and being involved with people, social even helps too.” He exhaled slowly, a small sigh as he smiled warmly but not broadly.

“I’m sorry I let that go. I forgot about the thunder,” he bowed his head as his lips pulled into a reluctant smile. “And I’m not trying to make light of bipolar disorder, though I thought it amusing considering your abilities polar affects. Hopefully that alone makes it clearer I’m not down on myself.” He grinned a bit now.

“Again, my apologies. I wanted to be clear I could help and that I’d like to. Perhaps I should bow out and let you continue. You’re certainly welcome to continue to do with or without me.”

Was that... pity? Disgust warred for Lori's most dominant emotion, but she stuffed that down just as hard as she clamped down on her power. She studied him when he spoke. On his face and in his smile, he was careful. Gentle. ...Weird. It certainly wasn't something she'd earned.

Lamictal was an acceptable answer. More than acceptable, assuming it was a result of real and more up to date psychiatric care. She would have to look it up at the library and—Actually, no. She didn't have to look at anything of the sort. He was taking his medicine and Lori wasn't beholden to these people any more.

That meant that she didn't have to fight him, either. Lori eased up on her stance and forced herself to relax.

Well. She tried, anyway.

This was an opportunity. He was offering to help and oblivious enough to keep trampling her weak spots regardless. It was irritating, but enlightening. Lori could use him to make herself stronger just like everybody else.

"Actually there is something if you don't mind thinking about something mildly upsetting again."

Ugh. She had to get rid of some of this power first. Lori gauged the distance between them and checked again on the location of the water before she sat down and put her palms against the floor. Oh damn. Was that her shoe over there, sopping wet? Two things then.

"Can you do the thing? Keep the lightning away, but make it thunder? And get my shoe?" She did have to point the shoe out among the debris. Her bag and the things she'd brought to train with were replaceable, but there was no way in hell Lori was risking outside with only one shoe.

The floor was metal, but since the guy was wearing shoes it wouldn't bother him. Lori let loose and sent a huge chunk of power down to ground. She couldn't feel an amount. She couldn't actually feel it leave her body or anything helpful like that. But she did notice that she felt weaker, vulnerable. If she was going to build up emotional tolerance to a stupid sound, she was going to do it without the armor of her power.

Lori folded her arms and nodded. She was ready.

Devon was particularly aware of Lori’s body language. She’d been appraising him since the beginning, judging his words with almost a sudden shift of emotions and sometimes knee-jerk reactions. She relaxed after he explained himself – and apologized – but this wasn’t simply about him. There was a lot more than that going on.

>> "Actually there is something if you don't mind thinking about something mildly upsetting again."

“Sure,” he chuckled. “I do it often, but I keep control.”

>> "Can you do the thing? Keep the lightning away, but make it thunder? And get my shoe?"

“Yeah, that’s not a problem,” he nodded, dark eyes following her gesture to the shoe. He waited for as she knelt down and sent out her power in a grounding fashion. Energy rang out from her, flowing like a thrumming drum over a lake. He shifted on his feet as the charged particles in the air rolled out and away from the floor.

As Lori folded her arms, Tempest unfolded his and walked a few yards away. He held a hand aloft as he concentrated. A gust of wind rushed across the opposite side of the room. It struggled on the weights, splashed at the water and tossed the shoe in his direction. Of course, he’d moved away in order to prevent any water from hitting Lori.

Meanwhile, Tempest’s push in the air had used the shifting charge of the particles and those along the ceiling to collide. It was much like heat lightning, with a couple small horizontal bolts forming but still with the clap of thunder.

“Would you like me to dry the shoe before you go?” Tempest asked, looking back to Lori.

One plus of dumping all the excess power was that Lori no longer felt the need to run her tongue along his cheekbones.

She could freely admit that they were nice cheekbones now and tempered any resulting hormonal enthusiasm with logical counterpoints like 'He's too helpful, tell him that and he might just let you.' and 'Lamictal doesn't go well with alcohol.' Even though she didn't know the specifics of Lamictal, it was a pretty safe bet.

And Lori did have to admit that it was fun to watch the weatherwizard do his thing. She'd seen plenty of powers, real or temporary, but there was always a bit of excitement in the air when a mutant was flexing their know-how. Even knowing what was to come, the wind and the clouds along with the eyes... weather was classically dramatic.

She'd been self-focused before. It was really hard not to be self-focused when she felt like one slip of her attention would mean an electro-magnetic meltdown. That pressure was less now. She could do this.

The hairs on her arms stood on end, a herald to the light show. Lori tensed.

It was just sound. She needed to desensitize herself. This was a safe environment to do that.

Logic said all that.

Logic didn't really get a say when her body went full-on panic mode.

Run. Hide.

Lori didn't let herself grab her ears. She gripped her arms tighter to keep from moving at all. Her breathing hitched even if she forced it to go in and out at slow intervals. Her eyes were open by sheer force of will, but there wasn't anything to keep her in the here and now.

Every boom was like a slap. She'd done all that before. Slaps were nothing. Nobody hit her unless she asked them to and she'd asked for this.

The biggest difference being that this was scary. Stupid. And with someone onlooking.

Had he said something?

She looked up in a stiff, wooden movement. This was stupid. All of this training crap was stupid.

"No. Keep it going." He had her shoe. She tried to review her mental log and listen again to what he'd asked. The look on his face said she'd guessed wrong.

Another boom of thunder and Lori was on her feet and two steps closer to the door. She didn't quite recall moving. She was losing it. Her breathing. Control.

Tempest lifted a brow in question.

>> "No. Keep it going."

“I can then,” he replied, though the brow lifted higher. She clearly wasn’t hearing him, wasn’t quite listening. She was lost trapped in her focus, fighting against her body and mind’s reaction to the thunder. This was a serious problem for her.

“Torture therapy doesn’t usually work long term, or at least not completely. Things manifest themselves differently. You need to come to terms with why the thunder bothers you too. What happened in the past that made you feel this way and the events surrounding it are behind you. Good, focus on your breathing,” Tempest suggested.

“You are safe here,” he said. “The thunder will not hurt you. You are stronger than it,” he said gently. “Remember how strong you are. You are more than it, far more,” his voice had grown far louder, confident as his eyes remained dark. Thunder rumbled but did not crack as minor echoes of it reverberated through the room. He wasn’t going to let it clap violently yet.

“I’m not sure what happened to you, Lori. It may merely be from a bad childhood storm, but I will discuss it with you should you wish. Else, remember you are safe, the thunder will not harm you, and I will try not to for I am sorry to do so inadvertently,” Tempest continued as the thunder continued from the small flashes above.

Idle winds warmed and churned around the weather warlock as Tempest sought to dry her shoe; he held it closely but not tightly.

“We can stop at any time.”

It was hard to focus on what he was saying with that noise. She was trembling from the effort of not moving. Torture therapy?

"This is not torture. Nor is it th-eee-rapy." Sh*t! She had ducked without meaning to. Were they getting closer? It sounded like it was getting closer.

What happened in the past that made her feel this way? More like what hadn't happened in the past during a storm? They were everywhere. And lightning. Lightning had always hit.

He reminded her to breathe and she'd needed it. Lori put her eyes on the boyscout. So earnest. Maybe a bit of that shine felt tarnished now, but he was here. And he was asking.

"That thing about lightning is bullsh*t, you know." Her voice sounded watery even in her own ears. Weak. She hated it.

"It used to hit my—" Lori stopped and let a long peal of thunder roll between her words. Stubbornly, she started again. "Where I lived got hit lots of times. Before I was ever presenting signs." Because those had probably been the signs. And as faithful members of the Church of Humanity, they'd all been willfully denying it.

> "You are stronger than it. Remember how strong you are. You are more than it, far more."

She grit her teeth. He was wrong, but it was hard to tell it to those inhuman eyes. There wasn't anything to fight here. There wasn't anything to keep her from being exposed. If he'd only walked closer, Lori gladly would have lashed out physically if only for something to do that wasn't standing there like a frightened rabbit.

He was making the storm softer even as the wind kicked up. He knew she was losing this battle. He could see that she was no good at this. She could tell because the thunder wasn't a visceral punch to the gut now. He'd made it softer. Less of a slap.

But it was the slap that she deserved. It was a slap she wanted to dole out. She couldn't even guess what look she had on her face. It felt ugly and she couldn't stand to show it to anybody right now.

Lori sank down to a squat. She put her nose between her knees and layered her arms over her head.

Yeah. The thunder wouldn't hurt her. In her head she knew that.

>> "This is not torture. Nor is it th-eee-rapy."

The half-mouthed grimace, canted head, and quirked eyebrow clearly communicated Tempest’s dubious feelings about that. She was ducking and straining to tolerate it warring above her, but she was receptive to what he said at least. Remembering to breathe was pretty important when you were scared to the point of losing involuntary body actions.

>> "Where I lived got hit lots of times. Before I was ever presenting signs."

“Yeah, that myth has been proven wrong many times long before either of us…” Tempest bobbed his head from side to side. “Presented signs.”

His blow drying act continued while Lori sank down, enclosing in on herself in seemingly sheltered safety. Tempest, meanwhile, continued to let the thunder roll and rumble. Any violent lightning spark or thunder clap was prevented. He didn’t want to fry her nerves, but he also didn’t want things escalating inside the training room.

“Remember to breathe,” he said confidently in a clear tone. “I’m not sure to what extent you can feel other fields, but you may be able to anticipate the thunder if so. The particles create a fluctuation and localized magnetic field. Enough charge and lightning. After continued observation you would know when thunder is coming. Of course, lightning can also be the cause of magnetic fields after striking.”

“With manipulation you could limit the particle reaction as well, though I expect that would cause you some stress?” he asked, uncertain. “Maybe that depends on how much energy you have,” Tempest said with a slower, casual tone to his last statement if only to suggest the end of his words. The temperature around him slowly cooled back to normal.

“Your shoe is dry when you’re ready,” Tempest stated simply. “We can do some louder claps of thunder if you want as well.” He paused as his voice grew a bit jovial, “I’m getting a little hungry though so if you’d rather take a break, we can do that too.”

She hadn't meant to show this weakness to anyone— this vulnerability. Lori'd thought that it'd be like the exercise earlier. No big deal. She'd just take it in stride and go about her day. She'd clearly been riding the high of a hefty amount of charge and how well everything had gone up until this point.

The thunder scratched at her insides. She was raw. Rendered completely useless. It was always like this. Why had she thought that the manufactured kind would be any easier to bear?

At least she wasn't crying. There was no coming back from crying.

This weakness wasn't something she could afford, she held too many others already. Lori pressed her face harder against her knees. She had to steer this back toward something she could handle, but she couldn't seem to think let alone scheme her way back into some kind of control.

> “Remember to breathe,”

She did after he reminded her again. That helped her head not swim as much.

The low grumbles of thunder just felt like a prelude or an ominous warning. She wanted it to stop... which meant that he had to keep it going, right? Boy scout was talking mechanics that might help her avoid thunder even though earlier he'd insisted that dealing with whatever started this was the way to go.

Even he knew Lori was worthless in this.

Lori cursed against her thighs, the sound muffled but still distinguishable for what it was.

They could stop at any time. But she hadn't really tried anything yet. If she stopped now it would be too much like running away.

She didn't have a better idea besides trying to use her power like he'd suggested.

"Let me just try one thing. Then we can stop." One thing and then she could get the heck out of dodge. She promised herself that.

Lori tried to feel it, which in some way made it worse for her and in some ways made it better. Having some forewarning was better than nothing, but it meant that she was open to the mechanics of it, listening instead of trying to block the whole thing out. In opening herself up to it, the storm began polarizing in response to the touch of her power.

Lightning struck Lori several times in quick succession, each bolt lingering longer than was natural.

It wasn’t the first time Tempest considered the ramifications of multiple mutants working together in one place. There was so much they could achieve, do, cause alone but as a group even more amazing things were possible. They defied natural law, worked miracles, made magic… No wonder people were scared. People were afraid of what they didn’t understand, mutants even more so. A new mutant suffered fear and wonder alike at their power, struggling to learn of it while also struggling with the mundane concerns of the world.

People needed more help; mutants deserved even more.

Brilliance flashed across Tempest’s black eyes. He didn’t tame the rumbling or strengthen it. He maintained the shifting currents and colliding charges in the air above, allowing for a stabilized pattern that Lori could try her thing against. That things appeared to be manipulating a magnetic field around herself that provoked the travel of oppositely charged particles to stream down into a sudden explosion of electricity.

She was far more than a lightning rod. She was an elicitor component. As Devon had learned, she was stronger the more charge she got. Considerably higher voltage would likely elicit a stronger charge, especially with more practice.

Tempest smiled softly, still ready to interfere should it appear necessary or she asked. He did offer, “Make sure you’re breathing,” once or twice between the thunder claps of the lightning bolts. She might have been straining her comfort with this purposely, but one could still forget the simple things. Rather in their discomfort – perhaps fear – they struggled to go still, their bodies overwhelmed.

Devon was still hungry, but he was suddenly rather inspired. His ideas were growing into something more, something more for everyone. The mind raced as thoughts flashed through it, every bolt a new plan. Lori had come here like many others. In this case she sought a place to train and better one self, but more broadly they needed a place of safety and refuge.

A haven.

It didn't hurt. In fact, each hit was like a fresh infusion of fortitude mixed with a kick in the chest. It was shock. It was force. The sheer volume of power this storm had to give took her breath away. And she could time them. She could time the strikes of lightning because for the here and now she knew that she was the one causing them.

It wasn't like this out there in the wild weather. But practice started with baby steps.

After the first round of lightning resolved in a roll of loud thunder, Lori uncovered her head and steadied herself against the ground with shaking finger tips. The power grounding was subtle, but she didn't like to hold too much charge. It felt good— really, really good, but it made it harder to keep control or to pay attention.

She was paying attention this time as the polarization built in the clouds and her own power turned and reached up to coax it down to her.

Strike.

She looked up before the thunder fully resolved and hardly cringed when it hit. She couldn't seem to change herself to make her power less of a juicy target.

Strike. Strike.

Her expression didn't change away from one of fear, but she added a streak of grim determination. She was like a woman marching to her death.

When the next bolt came down, her hand snapped out before the electricity hit her.

And she... caught it.

Everything hung still and illuminated for half a breath while the electricity arced and writhed like a snake caught by its tail. She tried to throw it away, but the pop sizzle and crackle sunk into her skin each place that they touched.

The resulting thunder had her on her feet and ready to run again. She wanted to throw up. She also wanted more.

The next lightning strike, she deflected with a swipe of her fist before it even came close. She'd changed her field to echo her movement and that led the lightning to seek ground instead of filling into that internal well of hers.

"Turn it off." She choked on the words. Where was the water and the glass on the ground? Neither was close, right?

How interesting to see the lightning roll through her like nothing, yet the thunder echoed and she recoiled. Lori wouldn’t suffer electrocution but she had fear, and mastering that would give her even more opportunity. He watched her stabilize from that and then the field in the air shifted and there was another strike.

And another. And Another. And another. The fourth one she timed perfectly and caught it.

Tempest nodded with a faint grin. Lori was impressive to behold. It was quite interesting to watch her, let alone what parts of nature she could turn to her will.

The loud echo that followed was powerful, strong enough to get her to rise onto the tips of her toes. Then she deflected a lightning strike and words struggled from her mouth.

>> "Turn it off."

“Yes,” Tempest said immediately. He set the storm to settle, the clouds to part. A bolt was already forming but he pushed the possibility away with a conscious thought. The winds started to quiet and he let the moisture in the air thin. He didn’t often prevent storms and usually when he let them fade, they did so naturally, but training scenarios called for more precise control

He’d already dried much of the rainwater from his early work on the shoe. He inhaled sharply as he focused on preventing any further lightning strikes. Lori certainly did well to charge the air and herself.

“Remember to breathe. You did really well. And thanks, that was awesome to witness.”

Water? Suspiciously gone. Glass? Mostly pushed to the sides of the room by all that wind.

Thank goodness. Her knees just didn't want to knee any more.

Lori sank down to the ground until she lay on her back looking up at all the metal ceiling panels hidden by the mutant storm. Even if the Order was gone, he should put this room back into operation ASAP. Not just for her sake. "It was never restricted to just Orderlings, you know. Anyone off the street with a mutation could have triggered this place." This mysterious, wonderful, awful place. "People should be allowed to practice."

She took a moment to zone out and breathe. Everything felt raw. Like her insides were showing. She didn't like that. She didn't like that at all.

Even so, Lori was... okay.

The bile that had been trying to claw its way up her throat was somewhat mollified by the dispersion of the clouds. Cumulonimbus? It'd been a long time since she'd looked any any sciences outside the body and its mechanics. She should have been looking into physics instead of chemistry. She'd been obsessed with that damn cure, though.

Most of all, she should punch his face in if for no other reason than to stop the steady stream of helpfulness.

"You run along. Go get your lunch. I'll be out of here eventually." It wasn't like the floor was comfortable.