Sooraya and Angel; Help with powers

[xp_dust]

Sooraya brings Angel to see a young man who can use a hand with his powers. 

"Tyler can be a little prickly." Sooraya commented as she parked the car. "Remember how we always used to say that fireflies were temperament full... I think Tyler got a double dose. Though with what happened to him..."

"S'all good," Angel said easily. She was pretty used to dealing with kids who had a huge chips on their shoulder (especially ones that were there for a good reason). "How long has been here?"

"About six weeks." Sooraya replied as she hopped out of the car. "We were lucky that we were able to place him with a family legally. Don't ask me how they did it... but they did. His main issue that he has a lot of trouble with his control."

"Are you sure he's okay here?" Angel asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't like implying that he might be dangerous but I do also know that I nearly killed my mother when I manifested, so..." Playing with fire was tricky sometimes.

"Patsy and John have fostered mutant kids before. Though that was mostly before M-Day. And we supplied them with the same kind of stuff you used to use." Sooraya explained, heading for the door. "It was felt that a stable family was a better option for him to gain control then in a shelter or hidden away somewhere."

"Lead the way, then," Angel said with a grin, gesturing to the door.

The door was already opening when they were about to ring the bell and a petite woman with bright red hair smiled when she saw them approaching. "Sooraya, it's good to see you again." She stepped forward to give Sooraya a quick hug.

"Hi Patsy, how are things here?" Sooraya returned the hug. "This is Angel, the friend I mentioned to you before."

"Hello!" Angel said with a grin. She was well aware that welcoming a stranger into one's home could be an odd experience, and she was all for making it as simple as possible for Patsy. "Nice to meet you."

"It's good to meet you too. Sooraya mentioned that you had... very similar experiences to Tyler. He's hard to read, but I think he might even be a little bit excited about meeting you." Patsy commented.

Angel was about to ask where Tyler was - until she remembered it was a teenage boy they were talking about. "Can't wait to meet him too," she said instead, looking around. There was a door that looked like it led into the kitchen - and a head just barely not poking out of it.

"I'll introduce you to him." Patsy mentioned before heading towards the kitchen.

"Go ahead. I'll be there in a moment. I want to give these..." Sooraya hefted a small bag. "...to John. He mentioned he had been looking for this book a long time."

Angel followed Patsy, hands in her pockets. Tyler was a lanky teenager with sand-colored hair, leaning against the counter and giving the stranger in the kitchen an appraising look. "Hey!" Angel said brightly. "I'm Angel."

"Hi, I'm Tyler." He gave her quick wave. "So they tell me you can do what I can?" A small flame popped in his hand, flickering brightly.

Sooraya entered the kitchen a few moments later, joining Patsy who was pulling out cups and some tea and coffee.

"Yeah, I can." Angel held up a hand to imitate him, and a little blue flame danced to life over her head. "Cool, right?"

"Pretty cool." He agreed. "Sooraya mentioned you had trouble with it too? Ever blow something up?"

Sooraya stifled a laugh at the look in the lad's eyes, turning to Patsy and remarking quietly: "They seem to be hitting of okay..."

"When I first manifested I set the car on fire with my mom inside." Angel flopped down on the couch. "Cars don't really blow up in real life the way they do in movies, but there was still a lot fire and stuff."

Patsy smiled gently as she watched. "It's nice to see him actually interested in something."

"I don't think I have seen him this lively." Sooraya agreed, busying herself with a teapot and some bags. "Then again, Angel is someone who is very hard to resist. That I know from my own experience."

Tyler sat down next to Angel, his eyes widening a little. "You did?!? I only set my brother's gymbag on fire... though it had a shirt in it signed by some basketball dude he is a fan of..."

"Thank you for bringing her," Patsy said. "It's nice to see him opening up."

"Oh, if only I'd just set a jersey on fire." Angel laughed. "Fire can be a bit of a mess sometimes, huh?"

Tyler nodded and his smile retreated a bit. "When did you stop..."

Sooraya had been about to bring over the tea tray, but she waited when she heard Tyler ask the question. She did not want to disturb the click that seemed to have been made.

Angel's own smile faded into a serious, but still gentle look. "It was a while. Even a year later I was still bursting into flames if I got too emotional. Took a lot of time and practice to learn how to control it. I used to sleep with a fire extinguisher and I had fireproof blankets."

"More than a year?!?!?" Tyler looked shocked. "How did you to get it to stay? I don't even know where to begin!" He sounded frustrated and the cloth under his hand started to smoke.

"Hey, easy," Angel said gently, lifting his hand off the couch. "The first step is to be aware of it when it's happening."

"How?!?! Things always just start smoking and then there are flames. I don't even know what I do!" He pulled his other hand away from his pants, where a first sign of a scorch mark had started to appear.

Quietly leaning over to Patsy, Sooraya asked: "Do you have the things we got you nearby in case things do go a bit more fiery?"

"I know." Angel, on the other hand, was staying calm. Her panic would just feed his panic. "Close your eyes, okay? I know you're freaked out, but close your eyes and try to take a deep breath."

Patsy nodded and hurried upstairs to get the fireproof blanket.

Tyler did as the red-headed woman in front of him asked and closed his eyes, in the meantime pulling his hands away from anything that could possibly burn. He sucked in a deep breath, the sound of it harsh in his ears. "Now what?"

"Okay, this is gonna sound stupid, but just focus on staying calm. Think about things that make you happy. I happen to like cats myself."

"That's what Patsy has been telling me, but it never works!" A red glow flared up around Tyler's hands, but luckily they were not touching anything. "It just never works!"

"Hey, hey." Angel rested her hands over his, squeezing gently to stop him from pulling away. It didn't hurt her. "It's alright. Deep breaths."

Sooraya saw the little spark jump away from somewhere and land on the carpet. Not wanting to draw attention and Patsy not back from downstairs, she dissolved into her sand form without a word and smothered the spark. Resuming her normal form again, she nodded at Angel who had been looking at her over her shoulder.

"I know you're scared." Angel was still completely calm. "I get it. I do. It's terrifying. But you're okay. I promise you're okay. Just breathe."

"Your friend is good." Patsy commented very quietly as she came downstairs, a blanket in her arms. "He's getting control..."

Sooraya turned back to see the glow in Tyler's hands dying down. "She is." She commented back quietly. "Angel really knows what she is doing with this because she has been there herself."

Tyler carefully opened one eye to study his hands. "It's working? How?"

"It takes time, and a lot of patience," Angel explained as she let Tyler's hand go. "You gotta go easy yourself, alright? Mistakes happen."

"Can you come more often?" Tyler asked, looking back and forth between his hands and Angel's hand. "I wanna learn this. I have to learn this."

Angel smiled. "Absolutely. Every week if you want."

At the pleased smile on Tyler's face Sooraya leaned over to Patsy, quietly commenting: "Looks like we have success?"

The other woman nodded and after quickly having stuffed the blanket out of sight, picked up the tray with drinks and moved over. "I still have something to drink for who want it?"

Angel winked at Tyler before her hand shot up into the air. "Me please!"