Log [Alison, Mick] The best laid plans...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Evening, sunset. Alison wanders outside to find Mick, and after a talk about the school and the past, proposes a little impromptu experiment. As all things such as that go, there ends up being an unexpected side effect.

Mick sat down on the boulder, staring out at the lake with a faint smile. It was warm, tonight, feeling decidedly like spring. Definitely smelling like spring, too, as Ani would say. The setting sun was just visible over the horizon, and the red-gold clouds were reflected on the water.

"It's beautiful here," he said to the person he heard coming up behind him. Light, familiar footsteps. "I remember when I first saw the grounds, after they let me out of the medlab. It hardly seemed real. Beautiful, peaceful... and then all the kids, everywhere..."

'I remember the first time we took a walk on the school grounds, too," Alison murmured, a scarf loosely wrapped around her neck, the light coat she wore left open in tribute to the milder weather. She stole a corner of the boulder for her own, looking over the lake as well. It was unfrozen now, and she wondered if that meant they'd ever get to see Cain carry through on the not so rare promises to throw Remy in the lake. Somehow, she didn't think so.

"Seems like just yesterday, and yet so long ago," Mick murmured, his eyes flickering sideways to her. He smiled. "I half-expected Ani to be the one who found me first," he said, "but then, I suspect she's spending some time with Kyle again. She worries about him, you know."

Leaning to the side a bit, she rested her shoulder against his. "I know. Hank does too. He's fitting in well with the rest of the students, though - he's a good kid, too. Even with the getting used to the temper, he's not one to stay angry long." She smiled a bit, remembering the emails she'd exchanged with him after the punishment for the fight with Jay had been decided upon.

"I'm glad," Mick said simply. "Nate tells me that the kids who stayed here after what happened in Canada are doing well, too." He nodded to himself, letting that be the solace part of him insisted upon seeing it as. No matter what happened on the weekend, some had been saved.

"They are," a firm nod followed that. "Talia was decidedly no-nonsense about things when we got that unannounced visit too, not long ago. She did well." Leaning back a bit, she looked up into the sky. No Haroun flying up there, nor to sense in the soundscape, either. He might still be in bed, she thought with a small smile. "We get news from those who went back to their parents sometimes, too. The odd letter or email."

"So there are dozens of them on that island," Mick said quietly, thinking about the files MacInnis had provided. "The ones who survived the first phase of the conditioning... even when we get them out, it's going to be difficult for them."

"They'll have help. Charles provided extensive documentation to the government for those who will be helping the children, afterwards." It was non-telepathic advice in nature, since he wasn't open about his powers, but it would still be highly effective. And they were fairly sure the Trojan Horse might affect the children, as well, if unleashed. "You know, speaking of that island... I wanted to ask you something."

"Fire away," Mick said, wondering at her tone.

"Funny you say that," she looked at him, expression growing serious. "Since that's exactly what I want you to do." Alison continued, clarifying what she meant. "Take a shot at me, that is." She had the wonderful new sonic sound generators Hank had made for her, but they still had limits - which Mick's power far surpassed.

He raised an eyebrow, but realized swiftly enough what she meant. "Take a few steps back," he suggested. "I'll make it a low-level blast at first." He concentrated, ramping up the sonics slowly.

Alison snickered a bit at the raised eyebrow but did as he told her to do, cupping her hands in front of her to absorb the sonics. She had no doubt this would work - Hank had agreed it was a good idea, in fact. But well, how well and what levels of sonics would be required was another thing entirely.

Mick aimed the carefully measured blast right at her hands. "If this hurts at all, I'm drowning myself, just to let you know," he said, letting go.

A giggle answered him, Alison abruptly separating her hands, shaking them frantically. "Tickles!" She rubbed them together, making a mental note to have Hank maybe put Mick through a general measuring scale of his sonics. She'd felt the wave as sound, the way she normally did other sonics, though the sleeves of her coat had definitely reacted, fluttering as though hit by the wind. "All good! Not glowing yet," she added with a chuckle.

"All right." A little stronger, then. Mick concentrated, bringing his hands together and aiming the blast at hers again as she cupped them. "And I am not testing the subsonics on you, by the way. However you bat your eyes at me."

"Awwww!" Sound spilled into her hands, and this time a light flare glimmered across her briefly in reaction - she'd not even tried to stop it, since this was about figuring out how much he could power her, of course. "That's no fun! I like subsonics! And that still tickles a bit."

"I don't like them," Mick murmured, and turned up the power sharply this time. Not gradually. He was clearly well short of her tolerance level and they'd be here all night if he kept this up.

"Hank thinks it's the subsonics that made me go boom before Christmas. Because I hadn't been exposed them often enough, so when Sean and Terry overloaded me on 'em, my power sort of snapped. That's why I get a dose every week no-" she paused, her eyes widening. Wait a minute. She looked down, the sudden breeze where there should be no breeze at all drawing a strangled sort of sound from her. "Aaah..."

Mick's eyes widened a little. He bit his lip, hard, then got up and slid out of his jacket, offering it to her - and keeping his eyes quite averted. "I, um, didn't mean to shred your shirt," he muttered. Ani would be mocking him for blushing. "Are you all right?"

Trying very hard not to laugh, Alison accepted the jacket, the remnants of coat, shirt and bra being neatly bundled up once she was covered up. "I'm fine." She was a bad bad person, she decided. "Feeling decidedly perky, from the sound boost, but that's it. I'll have to go shopping for a new coat, too. Such woe." Still trying not to snicker too much, she continued. "You know, that was silly. I should have thought of that."

Mick shook his head. "I should have stuck to the gradual increase," he said, looking back at her once he was reasonably sure she'd had enough time to cover up properly. The last thing he wanted was for Haroun to fly by and find him and a half-naked Alison standing here together. "How do you feel? Other than a draft?"

She couldn't help it at that. Shoulders shaking, Alison started to laugh, zipping up the jacket cheerfully all the way to her throat just to reassure him. "Fine." She grinned at him, the extra energy buzz making her fidget in place. "I need sound, actually. Not on the level some mutants depend on stuff other than food to survive, but something kinda like that. This is like a recharge, really. I'll probably sleep a bit less tonight, but it won't affect me negatively in the least." She nodded, decisively. "And it proves you could power me up easily if you let loose."

Which might be very valuable indeed on Saturday. Mick nodded slowly. "If worse comes to worse, we'll find each other," he said quietly. "I don't need to recharge. I can keep powering you constantly and point the sonics in another direction simultaneously, too."

"And as long as I'm kept powered up..." Alison trailed off, hugging the coat a little closer. She simply nodded, there being no need to go into what the worse might be. She knew Mick would never want to go back to Mistra. If worse came to worse and they failed utterly... "We should probably head back to the mansion now," she said, keeping her voice steady somehow. "I sort of need to get a new shirt."