School of Power | In-Character

[Space_Candy]

AJ Garcia

The cool air brushed through AJ's clothes, as he watched Maia play one of the games- laughing as the girl was getting frustrated because she had to 'free the plushies'. He turned his head away from her for a moment, hoping to spot Romeski, Ann, or even Tommy. He felt restless, knowing he didn't contribute to the mall incident- the scene ran through his head over and over.

Absent-mindedly, he pulled out his pack of cigarettes; lighting one quickly and sucking in the smoke in hopes of taking the anxiety from his chest. He had more chances to show his use, right?

@Atomic Knight @Crunch @Jeremi
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Maia Drake

"Damn!" She had missed again, Maia quickly pulled more crumpled bills out of her pocket- giving herself more turns at the booth. She looked over to AJ, who was lost in thought- a common occurrence. She took the cigarette from his lips, taking a quick drag and giving it back. She rolled up her sleeves and took a deep breath, hitting all the milk bottles down in one shot.

"Yes!" She cheered, excitedly awaiting her prize.

@Atomic Knight​

 

[Atomic Knight]

@Chaos Sphere

The woman actually smiled. "Good guess," she said with a nod, "I have worked with the New Guard in the past." The woman examined Viktor for a moment.

"Aaliyah Taylor. I started just this year to teach some of the Health Science classes, mostly for the younger students. Though, I think most of our students will become pretty familiar with me, considering I can sense power usage." She put a finger to her nose to indicate that's how she did it.

"I probably won't be teaching you but I will be your new liaison with the New Guard. I didn't really plan to catch any of you guys today but I recognized you from my files." She let that sit for a moment before shrugging. "And don't worry, you're not in trouble or anything. I just happened to catch a whiff of something off of you, but I understand there are some powers that are harder to turn off than others. "

---

Miguel Ángel - Maia/AJ/@Space_Candy

Miguel Ángel Alejandro, more than anything else in the world, loved people. He loved being around people and seeing how they interacted with each other. He felt joy at seeing smiles and delight on the faces of those around him. He felt galvanized by being in a crowd, feeling the energy of dozens of humans connecting and being one with each other. He was the kind of person who believed in the inherent virtue of human beings and wished his power was one that he could use to bring that out in others. He loved people and their possibilities so very much that he sometimes wondered if he was just an idiot.

If only crowds and people didn't scare him most of the time.

For a guy like himself, Miguel found it difficult to engage with others in meaningful ways. He craved human connection but lacked the means to grow those connections. He was a failure of a Courser whose powers meant he could not remain around other Coursers for long periods of time. He loved the energy of the school festivals but found that he could not risk wandering among the other students for long in fear that he would accidentally copy someone's ability and use it in a manner that was dangerous. It had happened before and it would happen again, which left Miguel unable to argue when the faculty insisted on watching him on days like these.

The 18-year-old caught sight of a teacher eyeing him past one of the nearby booths. It wasn't meant to be rude or scary, but Miguel did have to stop and give the teacher a thumbs up to indicate he was still feeling okay. The teacher nodded and went on with observing other students, though Miguel knew it would not be long before some other teacher was checking on him. At the very least, Miguel was still feeling okay today, so he managed a small smile at his good fortune and tried to put those worrying thoughts out of his mind.

Coming upon a shooting gallery, Miguel watched as a girl made a rather impressive shot at some milk bottles, eliciting a cheer from both herself and the older student managing the booth. The shot had been so impressive that Miguel wondered slightly if she had used some kind of Courser ability. After a moment of consideration, he determined that had not been the case, for Miguel always seemed to have a vague sense of what someone's powers were. He believed it was some passive mental affect of his own power but he was so awful at controlling it that it was hard to really determine if was something he just imagined.

Miguel watched as the girl was handed a large stuffed bear wearing an old milk man's costume. It seemed kind of childish, especially for a girl who Miguel felt was dressed kind of cool and who seemed to be friends with the guy nearby who was smoking. A lot of kids back home used to vape but Miguel had observed a lot of American kids liked to smoke old-style cigarettes. Some kind of retro fad or something.

"U-Um... I heard they were getting serious about that stuff," Miguel Ángel said with a Spanish accent, speaking to the girl who had won the bear and her male friend. He nodded to the cigarette. "Kind of bold to be smoking that here, huh?" Miguel looked past them and at the student running the booth, though he seemed to not care they were smoking and was immediately clocked out from listening to this conversation.