[Ed Reynolds]

| Melody Newton | 419 words |

[attr="class","edreynolds"]Whoever left the blinds up in this room was an idiot, Ed decided. Instead of being able to focus on his education, which was of course Very Important, he was instead forced to stare out the window and daydream. What added insult to injury was that he couldn’t even think of anything good to daydream about so he was mostly thinking about how terrible the bacon was in the school canteen and what he was hoping would be on the menu for dinner.

He glanced across at his lab partner, Melody. This was their first lesson together and they’d both been late, so they hadn’t had the chance to introduce themselves properly, but the fact that she had also failed to show up on time – a whole thirty seconds after his own arrival, in fact – suggested they were going to get along perfectly well.

He realised the teacher had stopped talking and there was a sudden bustle of movement from the other tables indicating that an instruction had been given. Ed frowned. He hadn’t been paying attention in the slightest – hopefully Melody had.

“So… first, hi, I’m Ed. Second, what are we supposed to be getting on with exactly?”

It was a good thing Melody had arrived after him. The teacher had managed to say, “So great of you to join us, Ed-” before Ed had cut him off with a swift, “Yep, I’m Ed.” It was a reflex at this point, but Ed was still relieved Melody hadn’t witnessed it. It meant she hadn’t even heard the teacher attempting to use his full name and she would assume Ed was short for Edward, as everybody else did. He knew her name because as soon as he’d found his seat the door had swung open once more, the teacher had sighed deeply and then he’d heard, “And you must be Melody.”

Ed’s eyes had widened imperceptibly in surprise as he saw the brightness of hers for the first time. They were a ridiculously golden amber – he could have sworn that there were even flames dancing around her irises – and it was startlingly otherworldly. He really needed to stop being taken aback by the inevitability that all his fellow classmates had metahuman abilities and associated quirks. Right now, however, he was just searching those bright gold eyes for any indication that she had been paying attention to their teacher.

Worst come to worst, they could always just blag it and see what happened. How badly could they get it wrong?

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[Melody Newton]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

I NEED TO COME DOWN

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]SEEMS LIKE THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD WENT AND LOST ITS MIND

[attr="class","nikki102"]AND ALL MY CHILDHOOD HEROES HAVE FALLEN OFF OR DIED

[attr="class","nikki109"]Melody had been deliberately late. She didn't want to be here, she had made it quite clear to every member of the faculty she had met since she had been sent here by her father. She was not going to make any of their lives any easier, and in fact, she may very well go out of her way to do the opposite.

She'd not been entirely surprised to find that she was only a little later than one of her classmates, the boy who was taking his seat behind one of the workbenches. He was tall, taller than Melody by a good few inches, although he was similarly gangly. With his long limbs and apparently uncontrollable mop of hair he looked a little like an inverted mop. She could imagine the teacher instructing him to upend himself if he spilled chemicals. She stifled a laugh at the mental image.

She joined the others in collecting a heavy black apron and safety glasses from the side, taking the opportunity to examine the equipment that had already been set up on the tables. By the time she'd actually placed the cheap plastic glasses over her face she'd worked out what they were supposed to be doing.

"I'm Melody. And it's cool, I know what we're doing."

She sounded completely confident, and she was, but not because she'd actually been listening. She'd been busy picturing Ed upside down mopping the floor while the teacher had explained what they were about to do.

She handed him a pair of the glass spectacles, and without explaining anything, began to set up the various glass beakers and test tubes they would need. "Over there," she pointed towards the various chemicals that had been set out by the teacher's desk, presumably for the lesson. "We need one of everything."

[attr="class","nikki103"]309

[attr="class","nikki103"]Ed Reynolds

[attr="class","nikki103"]Eau de Resistance

PHARAOH LEAP.

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[Ed Reynolds]

| Melody Newton | 331 words |

[attr="class","edreynolds"]I know what we’re doing.

Well thank goodness for that or the two of them would have spent the next twenty minutes twiddling their thumbs and burning splints with the bunsen burner. The rest of the class seemed to know what they were doing, at least, so following their lead felt like a good place to start. He suited up, complete with dashing plastic safety specs, and watched as the pair in front of them began sketching out a table on their paper. He copied it - well, he drew the same number of boxes, his eyesight wasn’t quite good enough to make out the headings - while Melody began assembling their equipment.

“Hey, you actually do know what you’re doing!” he pointed out with a grin. “Done this before?”

She then pointed at the chemicals situated at the front of her room, delivering a brief, blunt instruction. Not even any pleases or thank yous.

“You’re a bossy one, aren’t you?” he teased, quickly ducking away and heading quickly to the front of the classroom. He glanced back at her, making quite the show of acquiring the individual chemicals. The shenanigans caused him to accidentally drip a bit onto someone else’s arm while he was waving the pipette around but the teacher quickly reassured Ed’s victim in a rather tired voice that no, it wasn’t deadly strong acid, and no her hand wasn’t about to fall off.

He came back to the bench, looking undeservedly smug at his “success” in collecting all the chemicals. “Right, let’s get this show on the road. Shall I grab a bunsen burner?”

Around him, the orange safety flames were beginning to burst into life at the other benches. There was a telltale scent of gas in the air as the nearest bench to them left the tap flowing freely for far longer than they were supposed to, but eventually they too managed to connect up their burner and diligently started to work through the experiment.

[newclass=.edreynolds]font:11px;color:#e4e4e4;[/newclass][newclass=.edreynolds b]color:#EA960C;[/newclass]

[Melody Newton]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

I NEED TO COME DOWN

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]SEEMS LIKE THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD WENT AND LOST ITS MIND

[attr="class","nikki102"]AND ALL MY CHILDHOOD HEROES HAVE FALLEN OFF OR DIED

[attr="class","nikki109"] "Duh, I said I knew what we were doing. I was doing stuff like this in like fifth grade."

Until she'd realised that her dad was secretly trying to prove that she should be in a higher grade and she'd refused to do any more science with him. She'd failed the next three exams in school just to hammer home the point. She didn't want to be like him, anything like him. That she'd worked out the experiment they were supposed to be doing without listening to a word the teacher had been said didn't exactly prove her point though.

She glared at Ed as he ducked away, too far already to receive a casual punch in the arm. It wasn't as if she could use her power, setting someone on fire for calling her bossy would probably be an overreaction. She settled for a dark look until he succeeded in spraying one of their classmates with one of the chemicals he was supposed to be collecting, at which point she smirked at the girl's dramatic reaction.

She nodded at one of the other chemicals he brought back with him, "You might have had more success if you spilled that one on her."

She looked at him blankly for a moment, then around at the other pairs. Each pair had a Bunsen burner already plugged into the gas and most had small yellow flames flickering above the metal tubes. Then she looked at the test tubes they were supposed to be mixing chemicals in. She picked one up with a thoughtful look on her face, then nodded. Unfortunately, when she went to get one the teacher informed her that there weren't enough.

"You two will just have to watch someone else's experiment."

Melody was damned if she was going to watch someone else have all the fun. She used the pipette to add a few drops of the chemicals together, gently swirling the test tube until they had mixed, then she lifted it up, higher than her head, and stared at the solution settling in the bottom. The beam of light that linked her eyes and the test tube cut a line through the world so bright it hurt to look at.

She didn't plan what happened next. Super-heated in less than a second, the test tube exploded, sending tiny shards of glass flying across the room and causing the rest of the class diving for cover. Not that Melody noticed that as she was too busy pulling the burning plastic safety glasses off her face.

She turned sheepishly to Ed, "Whoops…"

[attr="class","nikki103"]432

[attr="class","nikki103"]Ed Reynolds

[attr="class","nikki103"]Eau de Resistance

PHARAOH LEAP.

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[Ed Reynolds]

| Melody Newton | 501 words |

[attr="class","edreynolds"]Ed hadn’t quite figured out how grades lined up with his own experience of the schooling system but he could safely assume that fifth grade was young. Huh, he should probably figure out which grade he was in now. The school wasn’t huge and had a pretty narrow age range so it didn’t seem to strictly limit classes by year group, but nor did it mix them all together blindly. Most of the people he interacted with seemed to be around his age – maybe a year either side.

Either way, he could tell that Melody’s experience of high school chemistry at an early age was somewhat impressive, and he could also tell that she was going to be a very useful carry- er, lab partner.

“Like, duh,” he responded with a grin, choosing to mock her accent rather than conjure any kind of witty response. He figured it would annoy her more – but not so much that she’d actually hate him. Ed couldn’t afford to have his carry bail so early in the game.

The smirk on Melody’s face as he returned with the chemicals was enough to prove that she had the perfect sense of humour to endure his attempts at banter. She even came up with some of her own.

“Yeah, turned out my masterful assassination attempt wasn’t so masterful after all.” Ed sighed dramatically. “What does this one do then?” He held it out at arm’s length with wide eyes, unsure whether to be afraid or if Melody was just messing with him.

It appeared that the reason Melody hadn’t already grabbed a Bunsen burner was because there wasn’t one left for them to use. The teacher – who just seemed to be permanently weary at this point – just told them they’d have to watch someone else’s experiment. Ed played it cool until he turned his back on the two of them, at which point he groaned.

“What’s the point? I could’ve just stayed in my room and looked it up on YouTube…”

Happily, Melody had other ideas.

Unhappily, those ideas were rather… explosive. He’d waited patiently as she mixed the solution – unsure as to what she was expecting from it without a Bunsen burner to kickstart things. She held it up as though she were admiring her handiwork, and Ed was just about to offer a sarcastic “Fantastic, now what?” when a blinding beam of light suddenly flashed in front of his face followed almost immediately by the sound of exploding glass.

He blinked.

There was glass everywhere – tiny shards coating his front like some diamante science diva’s costume of choice – and Melody’s safety glasses were looking more than a little worse for wear. The best she could offer him was “Whoops”.

So apparently those bright amber eyes were bright for a reason.

“Come on, what do you mean that wasn’t on purpose, that was so coo-”

The rest of Ed’s words were drowned out by their teacher, who was suddenly much more lively, and much more upset.

[newclass=.edreynolds]font:11px;color:#e4e4e4;[/newclass][newclass=.edreynolds b]color:#EA960C;[/newclass]

[Melody Newton]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

I NEED TO COME DOWN

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]SEEMS LIKE THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD WENT AND LOST ITS MIND

[attr="class","nikki102"]AND ALL MY CHILDHOOD HEROES HAVE FALLEN OFF OR DIED

[attr="class","nikki109"]Melody had smiled as Ed obviously took her at her word, holding the clear chemical out in front of him as though it might spontaneously combust. She'd rolled her eyes, "Jeez you're so gullible."

When she'd taken the chemical from him she'd acted as though it were about to explode as well, before relaxing and shaking it about in her hand. "Nothing unless you're stupid enough to drink it."

The look she'd given him had heavily suggested that she wouldn't be surprised if he was stupid enough to drink it. She had seemed entirely confident around the chemicals that she was mixing, although there had been a clear annoyance on her face when the teacher had told them that they were unable to go on with the experiment. It didn't matter that she'd done it before, she wasn't going to be taken out of this activity because this brand new, high budget school hadn't bothered to provide enough equipment.

That was what had lead to the current situation, with sparkling shards of glass bedazzling the front of Ed's apron, and alarmed students poking their heads over the top of work benches. The boy was clearly impressed by what had just happened, although as Melody was throwing her melted and burning plastic goggles onto the floor, the teacher's voice could be heard quite clearly above the confusion.

"Melody! Ed! Outside now!"

And so it was the Melody and Ed found themselves stood sheepishly outside the door. Melody pulled a face, looking apologetically towards her partner in crime, who was a partner in crime through no fault of his own.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get you in trouble, but I guess you got unlucky being paired up with me… It was funny though."

She should have realised that using her eyes would have had that effect. After all, she'd cut through things as tough as steel before, super heating glass wasn't out of the question. She hadn't even thought about it, and while she knew the teacher would be out to reprimand them both in a second, she could already hear what her father would have said.

Melody you should have known better. Instead of endangering yourself and your classmates. You knew that would be a dangerous course of action, and you chose it anyway. I'm disappointed in you.

She scowled as she heard the teacher open the door of the classroom.

[attr="class","nikki103"]401

[attr="class","nikki103"]Ed Reynolds

[attr="class","nikki103"]Eau de Resistance

NOTES

Definitely not compensating...

PHARAOH LEAP.

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[Ed Reynolds]

| Melody Newton | 530 words |

[attr="class","edreynolds"]At Melody’s implication that Ed may very well be idiotic enough to take a swig from the test tube, he cast her a withering look. Sure, he might not have paid attention to a single second of the lesson so far – and thus had no clue what they were up to – and nor was he apparently some kind of child genius as Melody seemed to be, but he at least had the brain cells to recognise that drinking a mystery liquid from a chemistry experiment was ill-advised.

On reflection, the two of them could probably agree that using laser eyes as a makeshift replacement for a Bunsen burner was also ill-advised. So really, it was 1-0 to Melody when it came to moments of stupidity. He wasn’t complaining much, however, as it was mostly just really really funny and nobody had gotten hurt.

The teacher did not seem to share his point of view. The two of them were sent out immediately, Ed doing his best to conceal his amusement by stifling a giggle until they were safely out the door, to await their inevitable dressing-down.

Ed leaned up against the wall, his eyes sparkling with mischief as Melody spoke.

“It’s alright, I might be able to forgive you one day,” he declared theatrically. Then he laughed. “It was funny. Did you see the look on his face!? Surely he must’ve been expecting a few explosions when he signed up to teach at a school for people like us,” he pointed out, attempting to somehow pass the blame onto the teacher himself. “And anyway I- oh, hey, your eyes are different!”

Somehow, at some point, the golden flare of her iris had faded away to grey. Ed swore he could spy a crescent moon shape defined there but – before he could say any more – the classroom door opened.

“I don’t know what you were thinking, Melody,” the teacher scolded as he confronted the pair. “That could have had very serious consequences and I hope you realise that. As for you, Ed – this is no laughing matter and nothing to be encouraged.”

Ed did his best to look contrite but it was marred by the lingering grin on his face which the teacher took for defiance, along with Melody’s unapologetic scowl.

“Both of you need to apologise right now,” he continued, his frustration evident. “And you’ll be cleaning that mess up on your own time, understand?”

Eyebrows raising slightly, Ed was almost ready to argue back. It wasn’t even like he’d done anything wrong! Sure, he’d found the whole situation funny, but it wasn’t his fault Melody had decided to use her power. And it wasn’t her fault that they didn’t have the right equipment to do the experiment. So unfair!

Still… a quiet voice in his head reminded him of the need to keep his head down. Don’t go making a name for yourself, don’t draw any unnecessary attention. He could suck it up and force out an apology – no matter how insincere.

He didn’t quite meet the teacher in the eyes, but he did manage to mumble, “Yeah, sorry.” Whether Melody could manage that task remained to be seen.

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[Melody Newton]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

I NEED TO COME DOWN

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]SEEMS LIKE THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD WENT AND LOST ITS MIND

[attr="class","nikki102"]AND ALL MY CHILDHOOD HEROES HAVE FALLEN OFF OR DIED

[attr="class","nikki109"]"Oh my god I thought he was going to lay an egg."

She blushed, and looked away for a moment, it was embarrassing that her ability reflected her emotions. It was basic and couldn't give anyone a deep view into her psyche, but it more than gave away her general mood. Before she could explain the teacher appeared in the doorway. She glared sullenly at him, the silver in her eyes intensifying.

The teacher raised his eyebrows, but continued, demanding an apology from the both of them. Melody glanced at Ed, and for a brief moment the taller boy looked as though he was going to argue with the teacher. She was disappointed when he backed down. Perhaps it would have been sensible for Melody to have followed his lead.

Melody did not follow his lead. It wasn't that she had any problem with clearing it up. She had produced the mess after all, however accidentally, but she simply couldn't sit back and take this without a response. She muttered under her breath.

"Should have had enough equipment then."

There was an indrawn breath from the teacher. "Excuse me?"

Melody answered without thinking. "You heard me, should have had enough stupid equipment."

"I think you need to consider carefully the way you are speaking to me. This is your first day Melody, and I don't want to get off to a bad start. I'm sure you don't want to either."

Melody stared at the floor this time.

He crossed his arms. "Now the both of you will be coming back tonight to clean up the lab. I expect you here two minutes after the bell has gone."

She shrugged and continued to glare at the rather unoffensive wooden flooring. The teacher shook his head in exasperation and gestured them both back inside.

"Just don't make me come looking for you tonight."

---

So, Melody was late for the detention. Although this time at least it was not her fault. Or it wasn't entirely her fault. The last teacher of the day had kept her back for a reprimand, and as a result she was a few minutes late to the lab. She walked in with her bag and dropped it onto one of the lab benches.

The teacher was waiting with an unimpressed look on his face. "So nice of you to join us Melody, I said 2 minutes past."

[attr="class","nikki103"]400

[attr="class","nikki103"]Ed Reynolds

[attr="class","nikki103"]Eau de Resistance

NOTES

Not my fault for once

PHARAOH LEAP.

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[Ed Reynolds]

| Melody Newton | 433 words |

[attr="class","edreynolds"]Melody had the confidence to treat their teacher in the way Ed had wanted to treat him. He showed his comradery by grinning delightedly at her when the teacher wasn’t looking before joining her in staring at the floor as the teacher declared their punishment. Just great – Ed’s crime had been innocent amusement at an undeniably funny moment. What else was he meant to have done? Scolded his lab partner for improper power use? Ed was just happy to be in a country where powers could be freely used like that.

He’d spent his next lesson doing his best to give the illusion of productivity. Fortunately Melody wasn’t there to land him in any more trouble and he just about made it to the end of the lesson intact. It helped that the content was relatively simple, so he was at least able to answer questions when called upon. Ed might well be a lazy student, but he wasn’t entirely stupid.

Or so he liked to think, anyway.

The lesson ended early, leaving Ed to loiter outside the science lab with levels of boredom that surely constituted child cruelty. Eventually his science teacher appeared, looking just as enthusiastic to be there as Ed, and wordlessly let him into the room – pointing to a stool.

Ed leaned against it, dumping his bag on the seat instead in a small act of defiance. The teacher raised his eyebrows, but the bags under his eyes were a fair explanation for his decision not to say anything further. They stood across from each other – the silent wait an agonising punishment in itself.

“If she’s not here in five minutes, can I leave?”

“…I’m not going to dignify that with a response, Ed.”

Technically, that’s a response, Ed thought to himself.

Melody eventually arrived – clearly beyond the two minutes that their teacher had allowed them. She didn’t seem overly apologetic about that fact.

“So… We’re here,” Ed pointed out, side-stepping the teacher’s sarcastic greeting for his lab partner. “You want us to clean, yeah?”

The teacher indicated a couple of dustpans and brushes, some other cleaning equipment contained in a bucket nearby. “You will clean up the mess you made. I’ll be in the office.” The office door connected directly to the lab itself, so this was not quite the Get out of Jail Free card that it seemed. “It is up to you how much of your own time you choose to waste.”

Ed eyed that lab. There was glass… everywhere. This wasn’t just a quick sweep and go. Ugh, why couldn’t he have developed vacuum physiology?

[newclass=.edreynolds]font:11px;color:#e4e4e4;[/newclass][newclass=.edreynolds b]color:#EA960C;[/newclass]

[Melody Newton]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

I NEED TO COME DOWN

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]SEEMS LIKE THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD WENT AND LOST ITS MIND

[attr="class","nikki102"]AND ALL MY CHILDHOOD HEROES HAVE FALLEN OFF OR DIED

[attr="class","nikki109"]"Nice of you to join us Melody."

Melody's response was to roll her eyes, "Yeah, well you can take it up with my teacher. She kept me back."

She didn't go onto explain who Miss was, evidently expecting the teacher to just know.

"And which 'teacher' was that Melody?"

Unfortunately he chose to do so. She sighed a long suffering sigh, "That English teacher."

He corrected her, informing her that said teacher had a name and reminding her of it. She rolled her eyes again, but out of his sight, and resisted the urge to say anything. It would likely only make this detention more tedious than it already was.

She made her way sullenly over to the brush, not removing the sullen look from her face until the teacher had disappeared through the office door. He left it open though, making it clear that while he might not be in the room, he was more than aware of what was going on in there.

She picked up a brush and turned around to stare, disheartened, at the mess her use of powers had produced. There was glass scattered quite far over the classroom, including other test tubes that had obviously been dropped by startled students. If it had just been the glass from their test tube it would have been a five minute job, as it was, it would take both of them working to get out of here in any reasonable time.

"God this sucks. I bet he's getting off on this."

Her tone was resentful, but low enough that it was unlikely the teacher would be able to hear exactly what she was saying from the office. She started brushing up a glittering pile of glass, pushing it vaguely in the direction of the centre of the room. It was the best thing to do, gather everything they could, then use the dustpan to actually get rid of it. It didn't help that several of the fragments of glass were tiny, and she had to go over them multiple times with the brush to get them to move in the right direction.
"This is such a waste of time."

She stopped and stood with the brush held loosely in one hand. "Haven't you got a power that can speed this up or something? Cause that would be pretty awesome right now."

[attr="class","nikki103"]393

[attr="class","nikki103"]Ed Reynolds

[attr="class","nikki103"]Eau de Resistance

PHARAOH LEAP.

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[Ed Reynolds]

| Melody Newton | 404 words |

[attr="class","edreynolds"]Not really sure where to start, Ed followed Melody in grabbing a brush, noting the sadistically small size of them. He raked his fingers through the bristles for a moment – pausing mid-scratch to let out a sudden, harsh burst of laughter at the resentful comment Melody had just made.

“You know, I was literally just thinking that only a sadist would give us brushes these small. Might as well have just brought my toothbrush along if I knew this is what he’d give us.” Ed help the offending brush aloft, spinning it in the air as he surveyed the scene of broken glass and spilt chemicals.

Melody began where you always had to start in situations like this – anywhere. Ed also selected a random spot at the edge of the carnage, following her lead in trying to coax the tiny shards towards the middle of the room. They were about as stubborn and defiant as Melody herself, which was a layer of irony to the punishment which the teacher probably hadn’t considered but was poetic nonetheless.

“I know… there’s so much I’d rather be doing,” Ed grumbled, neglecting to mention the fact that he’d probably have just been sat in his room on either his laptop or guitar doing nothing at all productive. “We didn’t even get to do the experiment in the end anyway.”

He was starting to tap out a rhythm with his brush-sweeping – doing literally anything to make the task more enjoyable.

“Unfortunately, Melody, my Henry Hoover power is only activated under the full moon,” he quipped, beginning to enjoy the rather complex beat he was producing. “Hey! You stopped brushing! Don’t tell me you’re going to try and laser eyes this situation too.”

He paused suddenly, a dash of inspiration coming to him as he thought of Melody’s power and then his own in turn. Ed dropped the brush suddenly and placed his hands on the floor, wrists together and palms facing towards the centre of the room. “Apologies if this goes very wrong,” he said, more as an after-thought than as a genuine warning or apology. With that, he concentrated in pushing the shards away with his power, watching in satisfaction as every piece of glass immediately before him was shoved a few feet closer to the centre of the room.

“Maybe this won’t take us so long after all…” he said quietly, just in case the teacher overheard.

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[Melody Newton]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

I NEED TO COME DOWN

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]SEEMS LIKE THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD WENT AND LOST ITS MIND

[attr="class","nikki102"]AND ALL MY CHILDHOOD HEROES HAVE FALLEN OFF OR DIED

[attr="class","nikki109"]She glared at him for a moment, then shook her head. "Please, if setting fire to the place was an acceptable result, I would have done it already, so don't tempt me any more than I already am."

She stepped back as Ed turned around dramatically and dropped to put his hands on the floor. It wasn't exactly what she'd expected from him, but then she didn't know what his power was yet. Maybe he really could suck it all up like some sort of vacuum. It definitely would make the difference in cleaning up. A damn sight better than this tiny little brush the teacher had given them.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise as all of the glass near him was suddenly shoved away. "That's kinda cool, I guess that'll make things quicker."

She stared at the floor for a second, feeling the spark of an idea in her mind. "Wait wait, if you keep doing it like that it's just going to go everywhere. Give me a minute…"

She closed her eyes concentrating for a moment. There was an awkward silence, but when she had closed her eyes they had been amber, and when she opened them again they were silver. They caught the light for a moment and shimmer, before they became more muted. Then she turned back to where Aaron had been cleaning and stared at a space a few feet in front of him.

The glow of her eyes brightened again, and faintly at first, but with increasing solidity as she focused two rectangles formed in a vague arrow shape, with a gap at one hand to form a sort of funnel laid out on the floor. "Try it now."

[attr="class","nikki103"]286

[attr="class","nikki103"]Ed Reynolds

[attr="class","nikki103"]Eau de Resistance

NOTES

notes here, i guess?

PHARAOH LEAP.

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[Ed Reynolds]

| Melody Newton | 314 words |

[attr="class","edreynolds"]Ed grinned broadly at Melody’s low-key praise. He’d take “kinda cool”, especially from somebody whose eyes could fire laser beams. Especially from somebody who gave Ed the impression of not handing out praise to her peers particularly often (if at all). He moved to another section of the room to continue forcing bits of glass towards the vague centre of the room when Melody stopped him, closing her eyes for a moment.

He was a little confused, but too intrigued to say anything to break the awkward silence. Ed didn’t think Melody was the type for thinking-time when it came to plans, more of a roll-with-the-punches kind of a girl, but maybe this was like in the movies when a super genius started seeing numbers scrolling wildly around their head while they concocted a brilliant plan.

Then her eyes opened, and Ed noticed that the golden blaze of amber had faded away entirely to silvery crescent moons, just as they had earlier. Melody hadn’t had the chance to explain the shift earlier but, now that he’d seen it happen twice, Ed was even more intrigued by her power set. If sunshine eyes equalled lasers, what did moons bring to the table?

“That’s so cool,” he declared, upping her “kinda”. Before he could ask the purpose, Melody had set to work forming some kind of weird, force-field arrangement, perhaps? It was hard to tell but, as he did what he was told, it certainly seemed to be the case.

Instead of spraying haphazardly in the general direction of the middle, the glass shards funnelled neatly into one smaller pile. Ed’s eyes lit up.

“Oh mate, we are going to be done in no time,” he announced delightedly, immediately moving on to the next area of glass to ‘sweep’. “You’re a right box of tricks, aren’t you? Any other eye colours I should watch out for?”

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[Melody Newton]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

I NEED TO COME DOWN

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]SEEMS LIKE THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD WENT AND LOST ITS MIND

[attr="class","nikki102"]AND ALL MY CHILDHOOD HEROES HAVE FALLEN OFF OR DIED

[attr="class","nikki109"]Melody grinned when her idea worked, the tiny pieces of glass rushing inexorably away from Ed towards the centre of the room, their flow controlled by the fields she had projected. It worked even better than she had hoped, and the shards were in a neat pile near the centre of the room. Their individual powers might not have been super helpful, but when they put them together it was so much more effective. They'd be cleaned up in just a few minutes.

She shrugged, but answered his question without looking away from the force fields. "I've got one other thing I can do, but we should probably focus on cleaning this up before I do that. It takes me a second to make my eyes change."

She blinked and the fields shimmered out of existence, then she jumped up to sit on a table, crossing her legs and resting the tiny brush on her crossed feet. She indicated the rest of the glittering floor, before focusing on a spot a little way away from herself. After a moment two more glittering shapes appeared.

"Come on then leaf-blower boy. We've got a whole classroom to clean and I'm not staying here all night."

It didn't take the two long to finish cleaning the room, bar one close shave when the teacher came back to check on them and Melody had to leap from her perch to look busy. Fortunately the shimmering of her shields had faded as he entered the room. He'd looked around, expressed his approval of how hard they were clearly working, then told them to call him back in once they were finished.

Once they had he stood with arms crossed, frowning slight as he glanced at the clock on the wall.

"I'm impressed at how quickly you managed to clear the whole room."

He wandered around for a moment as though trying to spot somewhere they'd missed, but held his hands up in surrender as Melody rolled her eyes and was about to open her mouth to complain.

"Alright, I said you could go when it's all done. Off you go."

With a victorious grin on her face Melody nearly skipped out of the door. She headed down the corridor, only glancing back once to check that Ed was following, and not stopping until they were around the corner and out of sight. "That ended up more fun than I thought it would be."

She had been about to say something about Ed being good company after all, but hesitated, glancing around for an exit instead. "Come on, I need to get outside."

Seeing one, she started towards it, fishing in the pocket of her jacket and flashing the lid of a packet of cigarettes at Ed. "You want one?"

[attr="class","nikki103"]464

[attr="class","nikki103"]Ed Reynolds

[attr="class","nikki103"]Eau de Resistance

NOTES

I don't care if they'll kill me

PHARAOH LEAP.

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[Ed Reynolds]

| Melody Newton | 414 words |

[attr="class","edreynolds"]Ed was visibly impressed that Melody’s magic eyes apparently had a third, as of yet unrevealed, setting. It seemed that she had a fair degree of control over which aspect of her power she could use, but Ed could see that it wasn’t quite as simply as quickly switching in and out of the various options. He supposed the third setting would be revealed in time – Melody seemed the type to enjoy showing off every now and then.

They completed their punishment far more swiftly than the teacher had probably been anticipating. It helped that the two had managed to find a way for their powers to combine extremely effectively for the task at hand. If Ed had been feeling generous, which he wasn’t particularly at this moment in time, he might have praised the teacher for the unintentional but highly effective lesson in team-work. As it was, he was still annoyed to even have to be here in the first place, so he wasn’t giving his teacher any credit at all.

Ed couldn’t help but look faintly smug as the teacher inspected the clear room, a small frown of disbelief evident on the man’s face. He kept his word however, allowing them their early freedom.

Melody seemed positively buoyant about the whole experience.

“It was, yeah. I’m not keen to do it again, though,” he mused. “Maybe hold back on exploding any more test tubes, yeah?”

They headed down the corridor, not towards the dormitories or the canteen, but to a door leading outside. The weather looked suitably gloomy when Ed glanced out the window, but nothing too sinister. A torrential downpour didn’t seem imminent, at least.

His eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and delight as Melody produced a packet of cigarettes from her pocket. “Oh fuck yes, how did you sneak these in here? I haven’t had one in ages.” He didn’t even pretend to hesitate before whipping one out of the pack. “One of the many drawbacks of being in the complete middle of nowhere. I was starting to think I’d have to scout out a rebellious staff member to feed the habit.”

Ed was exaggerating his smoking tendencies slightly, but he couldn’t deny that it had been on his mind on and off during his time here. In between landing him in detention and supplying him with cigarettes, Melody was starting to take shape as the very welcome devil on his shoulder – which Ed was perfectly content with.

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