Powers Assessment
Jan. 9th, 2024 01:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsAngelo helps Paige test out her powers.
Paige pulled her coat tighter around her as she marched through the snow outside the mansion. Winter was so much colder up here than at home. Of course, it didn't help that there were holes in the sides of the house, but at least the repairs seemed to be moving along.
The repairs were the reason she was out here. Paige had told Alani that she wanted to start working on training her powers before her schedule with school got too busy, and Alani had suggested she talk to Angelo, who was supposed to be helping with the repairs to the windows. So out into the snow Paige went.
Twenty years in New York had brought Angelo to better terms with cold and snow, but adjustment didn't mean he had to like it. He was as bundled up as humanly possible, little more than eyes showing above the clothing, but looked up from his work as the newcomer approached. "Hey there."
"Hi," Paige waved. "I'm lookin’ for Angelo Espinosa? I think he's supposed to be out here." She tried her best to plow her way through a snow drift in the boots she had borrowed from Sam. She would have to find out where she could get some snow gear of her own at this rate.
"You found him." He loosened his scarf a little bit, peering at her. "And if I had to guess, you are Paige Guthrie."
"I guess Sam's told everyone about me, then." Looked like she was going to be 'Sam's little sister' to everyone here then. She held out her hand. "Nice to meet you. I was told you're the person I should talk to about starting my training?"
"He's proud of you, is all." He shook her hand cheerfully. "Powers training, right? What do you do?" He'd had to remind himself that he shouldn't know that without being told.
"Well..." There wasn't a pretty way to put this. "I can peel my skin off and get a new form underneath." Paige took her hand back so she could peel off the outer layer of skin and show a wooden one underneath. "As far as I've found, I can control what I change into if I focus, but if I don't, it's something random. Like now."
"Huh!" He studied her new skin, visibly intrigued. "Well, that's not quite like mine, but kinda. I've got extra skin and I can stretch it and reshape it."
"Oh, that's interestin’. So it's kind of elastic?" Paige peeled off the wood and shoved her hands back under her arms. "Also, if'n it's not too much trouble, do you think we could continue this conversation inside? I'm not used to these New York winters yet."
"Yeah, I've been here twenty years and I'm not either. My husband laughs at me, but he's French. It gets colder there than California." He nodded, gathering up his tools. "Let's go find a warm room and I'll show you."
"Oh, I can't imagine how much worse this is if you're from California." Paige trudged after him into the building. "Kentucky doesn't get much snow, but we do get cold snaps."
"Southern California, even. I grew up in LA and my parents were from Mexico. I'd never even seen snow in real life until I wound up out here."
"That's rough. We got snow on occasion, but never this much. Maybe I can convince Sam and Jay to come out for a snowball fight and take them down."
"Has anybody showed you round yet?" he asked, turning to look at her. "There's a town not too far from here with most of the stores people need, or failing that it's easy enough to get to the city."
"I've been to Kirby's with Sam and Alani. That's it, though. Sam keeps saying he's going to show me around, but he's been pretty busy and I've been gettin’ ready to start grad school." Moving north had been more chaotic and much colder than planned, so with Sam splitting time between work and watching over Jay and Paige trying to get everything in order and keeping an eye on both brothers, there just hadn't been time yet. Paige was fine with that, the snow had to melt eventually and she could probably get snow gear on discount once spring hit, or she could get Sam to use his fancy job funds to buy stuff for her.
He pulled the door open and held it for her. "I know we literally just met, but if you want a tour guide, I can make the time. You've got to see District X."
“I’m going to see if I can bug my brothers into taking some free time first, but I’ll keep that in mind. What’s District X?” Lord knew, both her brothers could use a break and to get out and have some fun. It would be nice to get out and see the surrounding area at some point.
"It's in the city, the mutant quarter. Lots of mutant-run businesses, some using their powers for what they do, some just visible. It's a pretty cool community."
“That sounds amazing! Definitely have to make plans to go there now.” Paige let her arms drop to her sides as the warmth finally returned to her fingers. “So, how do we get started with training?”
“Well, I guess, you’ve showed me a bit of what your powers can do. Now I show you mine and we work out what’s useful to learn from it.” They reached one of the parlours and he opened the door. “This room should do.”
“Ok, cool,” Paige said as she stepped into the room. She was very curious to see what Angelo’s mutation looked like in practice.
He'd already begun the lengthy process of taking off his jacket, scarves - plural - and gloves, piling them neatly on a chair and revealing the grey skin underneath. "So, yeah, it kind of is elastic, but I can control where it goes. We think it's a kind of very limited TK, I can't lift so much as a pencil with my brain if it's not part of me."
“Yeah I guess it would have to be in order to control your skin without the muscles or bones attached. Interestin’ that it’s self-contained.” Paige kicked off Sam’s boots by the door, since they were too big for her.
"I got one of the weirder powers", he agreed with a grin. "But my dad had a skin-based power too, I found out a while back, so there's that. Genetics, what can you do."
“Funny, I have different powers from my brothers. And even they don’t fly the same way. Wonder how that works out.” Paige started to look like she was getting lost in thought.
"Just the luck of the draw, I think. My husband and his cousin - Jean-Philippe and Marie-Ange, you'll meet them both at some point - are both mutants but totally different. He makes electricity, she's a precog and can make helpers for herself out of ectoplasm."
“Still, there has to be some interestin’ scientific explanation behind that. Gotta wonder why it can turn out so differently.”
"Oh, we have people who spend their whole lives looking at that", he said with a grin, idly stretching out. "You're going to grad school, right? What's your subject?"
“Psychology, I’m gettin’ my PhD. Which isn’t really applicable to this subject, but it is fascinating.” Paige shifted her stance a bit. “But I tend to go on about things I’m interested in. Let me know if I’m ramblin’ too much."
"Hey, not at all", Angelo assured her. "Doesn't everyone do that, when they get on their favourite things? But if you want to get back to powers, we can do that and talk at the same time."
“Right, yes, the reason I’m here.” She shook her head and refocused on the task at hand.
"So. Have you ever tried turning yourself into something stretchy? Or is it just random what happens?"
“I’ve managed to do rubber before, but it’s not really stretchy. It’s random unless I focus on what form I want to take.” Paige had experimented a bit with what she could turn into, but she felt she still had a long way to go.
"And is it only non-organic?" he asked, thinking it out. "Or could you, say, mimic my skin?"
“Uh, well. I’ve turned into wood before, but haven’t tried turnin’ into someone else.” She had never considered that idea before.
Angelo grinned. "Want to give it a shot?"
“Sure,” Paige said, rolling her neck. Reaching up to her shoulders and focusing very hard on how Angelo described his powers, she grabbed at her skin and ripped it away. Peeling it off revealed…just her normal skin again. Nothing changed. “Hmm."
"See what happens if you try to stretch", he suggested. "If it doesn't work, at least we know it doesn't work."
Paige held out her arm and thought really hard about stretching her fingers to reach the other side of the room.
Nothing. “Guess it doesn’t work that way.”
"Yeah", he said a little regretfully. "Guess you'd have to have my X-gene. What other things have you tried before?"
“Titanium, different kinds of metal, rubber, wood, I got diamond that one time, stone,” Paige listed, thinking back on everything she’d tried. “I’ve been meaning to do some readin’ to refresh on my chemistry so I can try some new things. Oh, I can also shed and get rid of paper cuts and small stuff like that.”
"Interesting. So you basically grow a whole new set of skin instantly underneath the layer of whatever?"
“Yeah, exactly. I completely replace it every time I husk.”
He nodded. "Well, I gotta be honest, I'm not sure how much more I can teach you? You seem to have a pretty good grasp already on how your powers work and what they can do, and I just... stretch. Unless there was something specific you know you can't do."
“Well, I know I can’t grow extra limbs or appendages like wings or anythin’. And we know I can’t copy other physical mutations now. That’s pretty much all I’ve figured out at this point.” Paige shrugged.
"Yeah, I more meant something you think you might or should be able to do but you can't yet. What were you hoping for with powers training?"
“Oh,” Paige blushed. “Uh, mostly just trying more complicated forms. Or shiftin’ between multiple forms."
He nodded. "That's something we can work with. You mean going from one thing to another without skin in between, or having multiple things at once?"
“Both, I suppose. Could be useful either way.”
"I'm guessing you tried it already? What happened?"
“I tried multiple things together once.” Paige winced at the memory. “It wasn’t a pleasant experience. But maybe if I study some more and I can figure out how the chemistry works, it won’t hurt as much. I haven’t practiced goin’ from one thing to another really. Kind of difficult to practice that on your own when you leave behind a pile of scraps.”
Paige looked at the pile of dead skin she had husked off. “Speaking of, is there somewhere I should put that?”
"We can take it out to the burn pile when we're done", Angelo offered. "I don't want you to hurt yourself, but do you want to try one thing to another?"
“Sure, I can give it a try.” Paige pulled off her outer layer of skin to reveal an iron form beneath. Taking a breath, she refocused on the next form she wanted to take. Shucking off the metal gave Paige a wooden skin.
“I did it!”
"You did!" he cheered her on. "How does it feel?"
“Ok!” Peeling off her previous form had felt a little like removing a piece of chapped skin off your lips, but it had faded almost immediately. She took a moment to shed back into her normal skin.
"Great, so now we know something you can do that you hadn't done before", he said happily. "Want to keep going and try for something else?"
“Sure.” Paige started stripping off husks one by one, switching from one form to the next. The fourth one stung a bit to take off, and she winced. “Ok, maybe there’s a limit to how many I can do. That one hurt.”
"Hm. Maybe it's more like your lower layers of skin getting pushed up, then, not so much actually regenerating. Like when you scratch yourself too deep, it hurts more."
“Maybe. I think that’s all I have in me for today.” Paige took a deep breath and husked back into her normal skin. It stung worse than the last time, but she was done for the day.
"It's good to know your limits", Angelo agreed firmly. "Then we don't have to explain to the medlab how we made you bleed. You want to get a hot chocolate?"
“That sounds incredible right now.”
Paige pulled her coat tighter around her as she marched through the snow outside the mansion. Winter was so much colder up here than at home. Of course, it didn't help that there were holes in the sides of the house, but at least the repairs seemed to be moving along.
The repairs were the reason she was out here. Paige had told Alani that she wanted to start working on training her powers before her schedule with school got too busy, and Alani had suggested she talk to Angelo, who was supposed to be helping with the repairs to the windows. So out into the snow Paige went.
Twenty years in New York had brought Angelo to better terms with cold and snow, but adjustment didn't mean he had to like it. He was as bundled up as humanly possible, little more than eyes showing above the clothing, but looked up from his work as the newcomer approached. "Hey there."
"Hi," Paige waved. "I'm lookin’ for Angelo Espinosa? I think he's supposed to be out here." She tried her best to plow her way through a snow drift in the boots she had borrowed from Sam. She would have to find out where she could get some snow gear of her own at this rate.
"You found him." He loosened his scarf a little bit, peering at her. "And if I had to guess, you are Paige Guthrie."
"I guess Sam's told everyone about me, then." Looked like she was going to be 'Sam's little sister' to everyone here then. She held out her hand. "Nice to meet you. I was told you're the person I should talk to about starting my training?"
"He's proud of you, is all." He shook her hand cheerfully. "Powers training, right? What do you do?" He'd had to remind himself that he shouldn't know that without being told.
"Well..." There wasn't a pretty way to put this. "I can peel my skin off and get a new form underneath." Paige took her hand back so she could peel off the outer layer of skin and show a wooden one underneath. "As far as I've found, I can control what I change into if I focus, but if I don't, it's something random. Like now."
"Huh!" He studied her new skin, visibly intrigued. "Well, that's not quite like mine, but kinda. I've got extra skin and I can stretch it and reshape it."
"Oh, that's interestin’. So it's kind of elastic?" Paige peeled off the wood and shoved her hands back under her arms. "Also, if'n it's not too much trouble, do you think we could continue this conversation inside? I'm not used to these New York winters yet."
"Yeah, I've been here twenty years and I'm not either. My husband laughs at me, but he's French. It gets colder there than California." He nodded, gathering up his tools. "Let's go find a warm room and I'll show you."
"Oh, I can't imagine how much worse this is if you're from California." Paige trudged after him into the building. "Kentucky doesn't get much snow, but we do get cold snaps."
"Southern California, even. I grew up in LA and my parents were from Mexico. I'd never even seen snow in real life until I wound up out here."
"That's rough. We got snow on occasion, but never this much. Maybe I can convince Sam and Jay to come out for a snowball fight and take them down."
"Has anybody showed you round yet?" he asked, turning to look at her. "There's a town not too far from here with most of the stores people need, or failing that it's easy enough to get to the city."
"I've been to Kirby's with Sam and Alani. That's it, though. Sam keeps saying he's going to show me around, but he's been pretty busy and I've been gettin’ ready to start grad school." Moving north had been more chaotic and much colder than planned, so with Sam splitting time between work and watching over Jay and Paige trying to get everything in order and keeping an eye on both brothers, there just hadn't been time yet. Paige was fine with that, the snow had to melt eventually and she could probably get snow gear on discount once spring hit, or she could get Sam to use his fancy job funds to buy stuff for her.
He pulled the door open and held it for her. "I know we literally just met, but if you want a tour guide, I can make the time. You've got to see District X."
“I’m going to see if I can bug my brothers into taking some free time first, but I’ll keep that in mind. What’s District X?” Lord knew, both her brothers could use a break and to get out and have some fun. It would be nice to get out and see the surrounding area at some point.
"It's in the city, the mutant quarter. Lots of mutant-run businesses, some using their powers for what they do, some just visible. It's a pretty cool community."
“That sounds amazing! Definitely have to make plans to go there now.” Paige let her arms drop to her sides as the warmth finally returned to her fingers. “So, how do we get started with training?”
“Well, I guess, you’ve showed me a bit of what your powers can do. Now I show you mine and we work out what’s useful to learn from it.” They reached one of the parlours and he opened the door. “This room should do.”
“Ok, cool,” Paige said as she stepped into the room. She was very curious to see what Angelo’s mutation looked like in practice.
He'd already begun the lengthy process of taking off his jacket, scarves - plural - and gloves, piling them neatly on a chair and revealing the grey skin underneath. "So, yeah, it kind of is elastic, but I can control where it goes. We think it's a kind of very limited TK, I can't lift so much as a pencil with my brain if it's not part of me."
“Yeah I guess it would have to be in order to control your skin without the muscles or bones attached. Interestin’ that it’s self-contained.” Paige kicked off Sam’s boots by the door, since they were too big for her.
"I got one of the weirder powers", he agreed with a grin. "But my dad had a skin-based power too, I found out a while back, so there's that. Genetics, what can you do."
“Funny, I have different powers from my brothers. And even they don’t fly the same way. Wonder how that works out.” Paige started to look like she was getting lost in thought.
"Just the luck of the draw, I think. My husband and his cousin - Jean-Philippe and Marie-Ange, you'll meet them both at some point - are both mutants but totally different. He makes electricity, she's a precog and can make helpers for herself out of ectoplasm."
“Still, there has to be some interestin’ scientific explanation behind that. Gotta wonder why it can turn out so differently.”
"Oh, we have people who spend their whole lives looking at that", he said with a grin, idly stretching out. "You're going to grad school, right? What's your subject?"
“Psychology, I’m gettin’ my PhD. Which isn’t really applicable to this subject, but it is fascinating.” Paige shifted her stance a bit. “But I tend to go on about things I’m interested in. Let me know if I’m ramblin’ too much."
"Hey, not at all", Angelo assured her. "Doesn't everyone do that, when they get on their favourite things? But if you want to get back to powers, we can do that and talk at the same time."
“Right, yes, the reason I’m here.” She shook her head and refocused on the task at hand.
"So. Have you ever tried turning yourself into something stretchy? Or is it just random what happens?"
“I’ve managed to do rubber before, but it’s not really stretchy. It’s random unless I focus on what form I want to take.” Paige had experimented a bit with what she could turn into, but she felt she still had a long way to go.
"And is it only non-organic?" he asked, thinking it out. "Or could you, say, mimic my skin?"
“Uh, well. I’ve turned into wood before, but haven’t tried turnin’ into someone else.” She had never considered that idea before.
Angelo grinned. "Want to give it a shot?"
“Sure,” Paige said, rolling her neck. Reaching up to her shoulders and focusing very hard on how Angelo described his powers, she grabbed at her skin and ripped it away. Peeling it off revealed…just her normal skin again. Nothing changed. “Hmm."
"See what happens if you try to stretch", he suggested. "If it doesn't work, at least we know it doesn't work."
Paige held out her arm and thought really hard about stretching her fingers to reach the other side of the room.
Nothing. “Guess it doesn’t work that way.”
"Yeah", he said a little regretfully. "Guess you'd have to have my X-gene. What other things have you tried before?"
“Titanium, different kinds of metal, rubber, wood, I got diamond that one time, stone,” Paige listed, thinking back on everything she’d tried. “I’ve been meaning to do some readin’ to refresh on my chemistry so I can try some new things. Oh, I can also shed and get rid of paper cuts and small stuff like that.”
"Interesting. So you basically grow a whole new set of skin instantly underneath the layer of whatever?"
“Yeah, exactly. I completely replace it every time I husk.”
He nodded. "Well, I gotta be honest, I'm not sure how much more I can teach you? You seem to have a pretty good grasp already on how your powers work and what they can do, and I just... stretch. Unless there was something specific you know you can't do."
“Well, I know I can’t grow extra limbs or appendages like wings or anythin’. And we know I can’t copy other physical mutations now. That’s pretty much all I’ve figured out at this point.” Paige shrugged.
"Yeah, I more meant something you think you might or should be able to do but you can't yet. What were you hoping for with powers training?"
“Oh,” Paige blushed. “Uh, mostly just trying more complicated forms. Or shiftin’ between multiple forms."
He nodded. "That's something we can work with. You mean going from one thing to another without skin in between, or having multiple things at once?"
“Both, I suppose. Could be useful either way.”
"I'm guessing you tried it already? What happened?"
“I tried multiple things together once.” Paige winced at the memory. “It wasn’t a pleasant experience. But maybe if I study some more and I can figure out how the chemistry works, it won’t hurt as much. I haven’t practiced goin’ from one thing to another really. Kind of difficult to practice that on your own when you leave behind a pile of scraps.”
Paige looked at the pile of dead skin she had husked off. “Speaking of, is there somewhere I should put that?”
"We can take it out to the burn pile when we're done", Angelo offered. "I don't want you to hurt yourself, but do you want to try one thing to another?"
“Sure, I can give it a try.” Paige pulled off her outer layer of skin to reveal an iron form beneath. Taking a breath, she refocused on the next form she wanted to take. Shucking off the metal gave Paige a wooden skin.
“I did it!”
"You did!" he cheered her on. "How does it feel?"
“Ok!” Peeling off her previous form had felt a little like removing a piece of chapped skin off your lips, but it had faded almost immediately. She took a moment to shed back into her normal skin.
"Great, so now we know something you can do that you hadn't done before", he said happily. "Want to keep going and try for something else?"
“Sure.” Paige started stripping off husks one by one, switching from one form to the next. The fourth one stung a bit to take off, and she winced. “Ok, maybe there’s a limit to how many I can do. That one hurt.”
"Hm. Maybe it's more like your lower layers of skin getting pushed up, then, not so much actually regenerating. Like when you scratch yourself too deep, it hurts more."
“Maybe. I think that’s all I have in me for today.” Paige took a deep breath and husked back into her normal skin. It stung worse than the last time, but she was done for the day.
"It's good to know your limits", Angelo agreed firmly. "Then we don't have to explain to the medlab how we made you bleed. You want to get a hot chocolate?"
“That sounds incredible right now.”
