xp_logs | Callie & Kevin | Thursday afternoon

In an attempt to work off her lethargy from hiding away, Callie comes across Kevin while on a run and gets some advice from King Untouchable about coping with being Princess Untouchable.

As big as the mansion was, spending too much time in it was making Callie crazy. She felt holed up, trapped, in both a metaphorical and literal sense. She rarely left her room, and even watching movie after movie and doing homework for the classes she was missing wasn't enough to distract her from her thoughts. She needed an escape, somewhere where she wouldn't be afraid of hurting anyone as well as being able to get away from her thoughts.

So she laced up her running shoes and headed out for the woods. She wasn't much of a runner, but it helped her work off some of the lethargy she had succumbed to the past week. She jogged through the woods, careful to avoid any roots or rocks that could trip her up, thankful to be alone. The rustling of the leaves and chirping of the birds were the only sounds that reached her ears. Who needed an iPod when one had nature's own symphony?

Her jog lead her through the woods, and past the lake when she her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of someone hammering and sawing metal. Who was working out there, she wondered, jogging toward the sound. She was curious, and if someone was working with large tools she would have to stay back anyways, so that helped remove some of the danger. As she grew closer and the noise grew louder, she caught sight of a somewhat familiar figure. She stood at the edge of the woods watching him work for a few moments, waiting for a time when her announcing her presence wouldn't cause him to hit his hand or cut off a finger.

"Hey," she yelled, when there were no large tools in his hand. "What are you working on?"

The voice carried on the wind but Kevin was a little distracted as he bent down to inspect the cut. He'd heard her just fine, but his brain was choosing to hold off on relaying the sound until he stood back up properly. The first word out of his mouth was, of course, a rather inarticulate, "Huh?" Spinning around, he caught sight of the pink girl and wiped some sweat off his forehead with a bare forearm. Kevin had come out here because no one else usually did. The layers he normally wore were in a pile near the pile of untouched scrap metal and he'd been left in nothing more than shorts and sneakers.

"Oh, hey Callie. Ah'm, um." He looked over at the sheet of metal. What he wouldn't have given for an anvil right now. "Well, Ah dunno what Ah'm workin' on yet. It's sorta to be determined still. Ah'll figure it out when it makes up its mind." There were bits of cut off metal littering the ground where he stood and a few feet off was what would eventually become the base of his sculpture. It needed work, though. Kevin didn't like the jagged lines it had currently.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Callie said as she jogged closer to him. She was mindful to keep her distance, but was curious as to what he was doing. "I was just out for a run and I heard you working." She wiped her hands on her running skirt and reached out to pick up a piece of discarded metal turning it around in her hands. "I hope I'm not bothering you. I can go if you want."

"Nah, it's alright. Ah don't mind company so much as groups." Groups still made Kevin twitchy. He had better control of his powers than he'd ever had before, and he was a lot more confident and happy than he'd been since before he'd manifested. That didn't erase the mindnumbing fear of hurting people, though. Groups were both unpredictable and sprawling. It was hard to keep an eye on everyone to make sure no one bumped into him or decided to ruffle his hair or something else someone would do without thinking about it twice. People were okay in ones and twos and even threes usually.

He nodded to the metal in her hands and then gestured to the pile that was still untouched. "All rescued from the local junkyard. Ah get the feeling they've missed havin' me take it all away the past couple months."

Callie nodded. She was still getting used to the fact that she had to be constantly alert to keep someone from touching her and getting hurt. She supposed she would never be completely adjusted to her new powers, but knew if Yvette and Kevin could manage there may be hope for her. "Yeah. I can see that," she commented finally as she put the metal back with the rest. "Both comments. Actually." She shrugged.

"The sculpture you made for Yvette is really cool," she said as she continued to watch him.

"The tree?" It felt like ages ago when he'd made that tree sculpture and water fall for Yvette. "Jennie's got one Ah made for her birthday, too. Kinda more, erm, twisted? It's Jennie though and she loved it. Named it, too, don't remember what. Her parasitic friend." He actually laughed then, the sound quiet but quite genuine. It left a faint smile on his face that remained even as he asked, "How come you don't like groups?" He didn't think her mutation did anything weird in groups, it was plant-based, right? Maybe it was simpler than that. Maybe she just wasn't quite as extroverted as he'd assumed she was.

Callie blinked and looked at him, wondering what to say. She would have thought that even he knew about how she put Julian into a coma and was now a member of the "Don't Touch Me" club. But it was obvious that she was wrong in assuming so. "I, um, somehow got Miss Marie's powers and sooo..." she explained with a wave of her hand. "Yeah. This is the first time I've been outside really since... yeah."

"Oh." His mouth closed down into a small O with the word and remained like that as he tried to figure out what to say. Kevin actually put Marie on the more harmless end of the Marie-Yvette-Kevin triumvirate of untouchables, but he certainly wasn't going to say that to Callie who had, up until now, been perfectly and safely touchable. "You doin' alright? Hard enough manifestin' that sorta thing Can't be easy to sorta, Ah dunno, acquire someone else's mutation that's destructive like that after you've gotten used to your own mutation." How did she end up with Marie's mutation though? It didn't sound like Callie knew so Kevin didn't ask.

"I put Julian in a coma." It was a fact, there was no use covering it up or sugar coating it. "But he's up and about now. Blew up his laptop." Callie shrugged. "I mean it's hard but I have to get used to it?"

"Gloves and hoodies help," he offered, though Kevin was sure she'd already figured that out. "Ah don't think you actually ever get used to it. You accept it, but there's no gettin' used to it. Sorry. That's probably not reassurin' at all." But it was the truth.

Callie took in everything that he was saying. She knew he was right. Going from being harmless to destructive was something she was fairly certain she would never get used to. But that was the way it was, and nothing could change it. "Yeah. I have those. And I've been spending tons of time in my room," she sighed, "but no one seems to think I should be doing that. I mean they're all like 'Oh hey you put Julian in a coma? That's cool, wanna come watch movies?' You know?"

"If ya want the truth," he started, knowing she likely didn't want lies but would maybe not like the truth either, "they're sorta right. Not totally. You shouldn't hide 'cause it'll just make you miserable and lonely. It's different if you're not really the social sort, but you're definitely more social than Ah am." Granted, how social he was before manifesting was a bit of a different story and Kevin felt slightly like a hypocrite. Then again, helping someone to avoid mistakes you'd made in the past was good, right? "But groups are just gonna send your anxiety through the roof. And if they don't then you're not payin' enough attention and then someone'll get hurt and that will make ya think you had the right idea with the hidin' thing. But you don't.

"So pick some people who you can trust. People who aren't real physically affectionate. Start there. People who're the type to hug you a lot or have an arm around you will fall back into the anxiety or hurt template. Maybe people who're more like acquaintances so they won't be full of contact. 'Cause you need people around. Keep separate from people long enough and," Kevin shrugged, "eventually you don't feel like you're one of them anymore. The powers suck, but ya can't let it dictate everything." That he'd learned from Jay once upon a time.

He was right, and Callie knew that. Retreating into her room had seemed like a good idea, and in some ways it had helped to relieve some of her anxiety. On the other hand, she felt lonely, isolated, sad. She was so afraid of hurting someone, that she had failed to realize that she was hurting herself. "I get what you're saying," she said. "I just... I'm the one who is affectionate. I hug and touch and everything. So I have to change and adapt, and that'll take time. I mean, I know I can do it..." She stopped and sighed. "Thanks Kevin."

Kevin gave her another smile. "No problem, Callie. But ya learn limits real quick. Gloves, long sleeves, long pants, hoodies. And you'll figure out how to hug someone pretty quickly so that your nose doesn't touch their neck or somethin' like that." Noses were dangerous. They always snuck in where you didn't want them to go. "If Ah can figure out how to kiss someone then you can figure out how to hug someone. And look on the bright side, 'Vette and Ah gotta worry about what kinda cloth we wear. Yours just has to cover you. Any shirt, any gloves and you're safe. And they're safe. Break it down into little steps. It's not that hard, just gotta be aware. But you're smart, you'll get it down."

"Yeah. I hope so. Just trying to take it one day at a time."

"S'all ya can do, really."