trans_9 | Don't Play That Song [Open]

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Don't Play That Song [Open]

Sofia had gone to one of the Sensorium rooms to try out several ideas for prom. She still needed to call everyone together to organize the event, but she wanted to try things out by herself just so she'd have an idea.

She'd all ready gone through several versions with different themes. From elaborate and intricately decorated ballrooms to simpler ideas. Right now she was done to the bare bones of the room, clearing it before going to the next idea. There some tables in the corner, a buffet (with no food at the moment), and balloons scattered around the place.

Sofia looked around, her expression blank at first but then hardening. The air around her swirled, picking up speed until it could be heard. And then she lashed out. The balloons were tossed around, soon joined by the tables and chairs, and then the buffet itself. There were loud popping sounds as the balloons collided against the chairs and tables. Then the wind ripped the furniture apart. The storm didn't stop until everything was ripped into pieces. Sofia let it all fall to the ground. She stood in the middle of the wreckage. Silent.

Alone again.

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"...I'm not sure 'hurricane' works as a party theme, beautiful."

Oh, look. You have a visitor.

Sofia just might have flinched at that nickname but she didn't turn her head to see Julian. Her eyes were still on the floor.

"Laurie's gone."

...

...

"...oh."

Yeah, that's...

"I'm sorry."

"Thank you."

Sofia nudged some of the debris with her foot. Oh, if her father could see her now. Then again he never cared about her, not unless it directly affected him. She had no idea if he was even in the pods. She had mixed feelings about that thought.

"Stacy, please reset all of this." There was a ripple as everything moved back into place. "If only everything was so easy to fix."

He let out a quiet breath, and stepped in closer to her. He placed a hand on her back as he stood next to her.

"Hey..."

He... didn't really know what to say beyond that much right now. He wasn't very good at this whole 'being sensitive' thing, but it was easy to see that she was hurting.

She really didn't know what to make of that.

Sure, officially they had ended it more along the lines of "let's be friends" but they hadn't really talked since then. And Sofia didn't want pity sex. Or casual sex- that was the whole point.

But then she'd never understood Julian. Why should now be any different?

"At least she's safe." Relatively.

Actually the people in the pod cavern had a much worse record when it came to staying safe. But she didn't want to think about that. She'd all ready lost Laurie once and that nearly destroyed her.

He actually wasn't trying for pity sex. And lord only knows how he'd respond if she offered him any kind of sex. ~~Odds are good he'd say 'yes', though.~~

"Yeah..." He rubbed her back lightly for a moment, before finally removing his hand.

"So what themes have you liked so far?"

~~It was tempting.~~

Sofia shook her head. "I don't know. I can't think of something everyone will enjoy." She paused. "But I think I've decided against balloons."

They were really loud when they popped. And far too tempting for her to break when angry.

"Then what about something no one will enjoy?"

...

"Okay, that came out wrong," he admitted. This whole talking to hot girls while not flirting wasn't easy. Unless he was talking to Cess, but he never really thought of Cess as hot. Not that she wasn't attractive, but she was his practically his little sister, his brain just wasn't allowed to go there.

"What I mean is... why not pick a theme, like... a planet or something that none us on board have ever been to? Let everyone see something new."

"That's..." Huh. "That might work. But how would I pick out one planet out of all the universes here?" She brushed back her hair. "Not that it's a bad idea. I think it's good." Ugh, why did this still have to be so awkward.

Uh... yeah. That would be a problem.

"Close your eyes and throw a dart a map of the universe?" He shrugged a bit.

Thinking about it for a second more, he considered another option. "Or you could go down to the city. About 90% of the buildings there are from who knows where. Pick out a few you like and see what Stacy has on the worlds that they came from."

"I like that idea. I always enjoy flying over the city. Do you ever do that?"

"Sometimes," he admitted, "when I need to stretch out my powers."

Well, at least now they seemed to have settled on an actual, not awkward ~~for now~~ topic. "What do you think? It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"It's huge, is what it is." He shook his head a bit. He had a feeling he could fly for hours and still not make it to the end of the City.

"Kinda mind boggling, the few times I actually stop to think about it."

"Too focused on practicing your powers?" She smiled faintly. "You should take a break and just enjoy it every now and then. You can fly. You can move objects without touching them. It's something most people never get to experience." And it was something you wished you'd enjoyed every second of the moment it was gone.

"I do enjoy it, beautiful," he responded. "But I don't have the luxury of cutting loose like you do."

His powers could do a lot worse than pop balloons.

One of her eyebrows arched. "You think that was really cutting loose?" She shook her head. "Besides, this is the Sensoriums."

He tilted his head a little, a slight smirk spreading along his lips. He figured she could do more damage, but how much...

"C'mon now, you can't say something like that and not give me a demonstration."

Sofia considered it for a moment. "Alright. But- it's been a while." Whenever she pushed her powers she usually tried to keep some degree of control, even in battle. Probably because she was usually in the air at the time, and getting hit by some debris carried by her own wind was not something she wanted to experience.

"Stacy, please change this to a large field with a large forest several miles away."

Sofia waited for the setting to change.

"Can you have put up a shield in front of us? In case I lose control."

"But isn't losing control the whole point?" he teased.

"Just have it ready." Sofia turned away from Julian. She looked at the forest and frowned. Well, this was all simulated.

She reached out with her hands. It may not have been necessary but it was always easier that way. She closed her eyes, feeling the patterns of the wind until it felt like it was flowing through her. And then she changed it, making it go faster, but not where they were- only in the forest. She had it go faster and faster, and then changed its direction. It turned in circles. Now it was no longer audible but visible- and starting to bend the trees.

She opened her eyes to check her progress. Good, but she knew she could do better.

Her mouth thinned into a line. She narrowed her eyes and started to clench her right hand into a fist.

Come on.

The first tree was ripped from the ground, followed by another, and another.

"Come on." She spoke in Spanish but Stacy translated.

A part of her was thinking she could have done this before she lost her powers and that just added one more disappointment to her long list.

She used to feel so in tune with everything. Sometimes it was like she could feel the air as if it were an extension of her breath. Even when she had to hide it, asked to by her mother, or uncle, and then her father- it was always a part of her. Until she lost it. Until it was taken from her.

From miles away the wind howled. There were loud cracks as half of the forest was ripped from the ground. The trees slammed against each other in midair.

She'd blocked out many of her memories. She couldn't remember most of the hitchhike back to New York, but she could still remember Emma Frost and Scott Summers not asking but telling her to leave. Having to leave her friends and home.

How badly things went those first few days at her father's house. So many hopes that her father had changed. That now that she wasn't a mutant he would love her. That something good would come of this. But it became clear that she was an orphan and had been since the day her mother died. Since her uncle gave up on raising the niece he'd loved and cared for just because she'd had powers.

When Miranda Mantega had died she hadn't just lost a mother. She'd lost her uncle and cousins. She'd never had a father to lose, but she had had hopes. She lost her home and her friends, first when she was forced from Brazil and then at Xavier's.

And then it wasn't just her who had lost her friends but everyone. They were dead. Dead. And whose fault was it that she didn't get to say goodbye? Frost's? Summers'? No, it was too convenient to blame them. She knew whose fault it really was. She ran away. Just like she'd run away from her father, from her old life, from who she'd used to be. Like how she'd run away when Jubilee offered her one more chance to be the person she used to be. She'd kept running and running until she couldn't any more.

At least in the last moment of her life- before Stacy had saved her- at least then she had been herself. She'd done something she could be proud of, even if it cost her life.

And then she'd come on board Stacy. And what had she done then? Ruin every second chance she'd ever been given. Waste it all.

And now Laurie was gone and she might never see her again.

By now the entire forest was gone- along with a large portion of the soil. It was all careening through the air in a large windstorm- one that was very swiftly approaching the two mutants.

Well, Sofia had finally let go. She could feel the first few tears fall down her face and it only made her angrier. For being so weak in front of someone she couldn't afford to look vulnerable in front of. Her face twisted into a grimace and the trees swirled up into one massive tornado but she couldn't control everything and the rest of the debris scattered for miles around.

Julian let out a long, low whistle at the sight. That was... impressive.

"Not bad," he told her, and he was about to say something more when he noticed the tears. He stopped, not sure how to handle this. She didn't look to be in any kind of physical pain, so...

"Sofia?"

"Wait." She was rapidly realizing just how little control she now had over the storm. She tried to slow everything down but it was so widespread, she kept forgetting about one area- which pushed into another and another. It had a life of its own now and she was too drained to stop it. So she let it all go, giving it one final push in the direction opposite of them. Hopefully that would keep it away. If it didn't then she could always end the simulation.

Now that she was no longer concentrating Sofia realized just how exhausted she was. Her shoulders hunched over and she took a deep breath. She didn't bother to wipe the tears from her face or turn to Julian, instead watching the storm move off.

Julian stood just off to the side of her, watching the storm as it went off on its own. He didn't say anything for a while, not sure of what to say.

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tl;dr Losing Control

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