Lex and Jean-Paul | Backdated to Monday Afternoon

[x-lexington.livejournal.com]

After several attempts to regain control over his powers, Lex tries them on something larger.



Walking around the mansion had gotten pretty dull and Lex needed something to take his mind off the days wasted recovering. To relieve some of the tension he decided to work on urging his powers into coming back by training with them. The first few times he'd tried it he'd fried the circuit boards of the respective appliances. Now, he thought he had enough control to actually do something with it. "Here we go," he whispered, placing his hand gently on the radio. He couldn't sense empty systems anymore, and so he had to have it plugged into the wall in order to see the different currents operating.

"And, presto." He pushed a small current down the proper pathway and the radio crackled into life. It started spouting Lady Gaga, at 90 decibels before it sparked, and tripped the breaker for the room. The lights went out and Lex sighed in disappointment. "Damnit, and I thought I had gotten past that."

Jean-Paul paused when the lights in the hallway flickered. They didn't go out, but that was still fairly odd. Tipping his head to the side, he considered going on about his business, but thought better of it for no particular reason.

He remembered that Vanessa's boyfriend with the electric powers lived on this floor, so he walked toward the other man's door and knocked. Vanessa probably wouldn't be very happy with him if Lex fried himself and Jean-Paul didn't even check on him.

"Who is it," Lex coughed, trying to find the extinguisher before the smoke detector went off. When he couldn't find it he ran to the window and opened it.

"Jean-Paul Beaubier," Jean-Paul answered, frowning at the noises he could hear coming from behind the door. He couldn't be sure, not entirely, but he thought he smelled smoke. Perhaps he was imagining that. Burning was a scent that he was far more familiar with now than he suspected he'd ever been before. Burning food, burning skin - either way. Maybe his nose was just predisposed to smelling burnt things now.

"Oh, um, come in if it's open." Lex wasn't sure if it was open, but he wasn't about to try and disengage the lock with his powers. He had the smoldering remnants of a radio to tell him that was a bad idea. "If it's not you'll have to give me a moment." He really needed to get rid of the smoke so it wouldn't set off any of the sensors in the house. He didn't want the kids to have to evacuate because he was trying to get back on the horse, so to speak.

Brows rising, Jean-Paul tried the handle. It turned, so he opened it and walked into... a room hazy with smoke and what smelled, upon closer contemplation, like burning electronics. Closing the door behind himself, he moved to the kitchenette and turned on the fan over the oven, then started helping Lex with the windows. "Is..." Everything alright? That was a stupid question. Obviously, everything wasn't alright. "... there anything burning, still?"

Lex ran back and forth, examining the radio in a glance. "No, I think it's out now." He ran to his room and grabbed a small room fan from it. Setting it up at one of the other outlets he aimed it towards the windows. It would help to clear out the room in short order. His face was a brilliant red as he tried to hide his embarrassment and failed miserably. "So, uh, everything's alright, more or less."

"Hm..." Jean-Paul looked from the younger man to the fan to the window, then toward the radio, and said, "I recently set a pan of chicken aflame. The stench was as strong. It took a day or two for it to all go away." He delivered that bit of information as though he'd asked about the weather. "But staying with it made it disappear no faster." Tipping his head toward the door, he asked, "Would you like to go for a run? I promise, I will not even run so fast that you cannot keep up.

Lex looked over at the other man with a faint smirk. He hadn't been on a run in quite a long time. "Uh, sure, let me get changed and we can clear out of here." He needed to keep his mind off the constant failings of his powers or he was going to drive himself insane. It had already taken him several days to get out of bed and start experimenting with them. He would have to go to see Hank later in order to get it checked out. Things were not improving.

"Très bien," Jean-Paul said, nodding. "I will change as well and meet you downstairs." He hadn't run at a 'normal' person's pace in... decades. This was going to be interesting.

"Outside the kitchen in ten?" Lex laughed, he remembered how fast Jean-Paul could be. "Just don't run me over if you feel compelled to go supersonic."

"Oui, I will see you there." Grinning, Jean-Paul headed for the door.