(Untitled)

[mercuryrisen]

Date: Fall 2005
Characters: ...lots. Lots and lots.
Summary: it's the night of the 'splodey, and Heroes converge on Primatech.
Status: In progress.
Okay, folks, this is how we roll. This is the post to set the scene. Beneath it, go crazy with subthreads! At some point Pietro and Wanda will be going for a rescue mission, but other than that, feel

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[brightandsunny]

Kirin was in a different part of the building, in the part of the building his friend and most of the night shift workers didn't know existed or could even find the entrance.

He was in the sub-basement, in the room that was set aside for him to practice using his still unstable ability. Some days they would set up targets and try to coax laser beams out of him, the random scorch marks that scarred the walls here and there left as testament that he could make lasers but had terrible aim. Other days, they'd stick him in a room with the brightest lights they could find and give him the objective to focus his ability enough to tolerate them.

He was currently working on the latter form of practice, sitting in a cell under multiple floodlights, the bright light was blinding and made his already sunburned and irritated skin itch. He had managed to sit through one song on his iPod without breaking into a run for the door, so far so good.

[intoparadise]

Eden, on the other hand, didn't have anything so constructive to do. Or, at least, she wasn't doing it. The sheaf of mismatched paper that was Ivy Creed's public records had so far failed to be anything but alternately boring and depressing, so she'd decided to take a break. So far, her break had been three times as long as the time she'd spent on the records so far, and her immediate plans didn't involve going back to them.

Most of the doors she'd passed on her bit of exploration had been dark, or only dimly lit. This intense lighting seemed likely to be at least more interesting than work, so since the door wasn't locked, she decided to poke her head in.

[brightandsunny]

Kirin was sitting on the floor in the center of the room with his eyes closed, focusing on the relaxing music through his headphones and not the intense bright light surrounding him.

To an outside observer it was fairly obvious why the bright light wasn't burning his skin, it literally wasn't touching him. He was inexplicably darker than everything in the room, like he was surrounded by something invisible that casted a deep shadow over him, the light in the room stopping a few inches around his body and pushed away with in unseen force. It gave off an almost corona effect, making the bright room seem even brighter.

[intoparadise]

"...cool," said Eden, not especially loudly but not making any effort not to be heard, either. Of course, she couldn't see very clearly what was going on, since she was squinting to keep the light from hurting her eyes. But from what she could see, it was clearly not normal, and didn't seem to be threatening her, so she stayed to watch. Because it was cool.

[brightandsunny]

A dark eye peeked open and the intensity of the light fluttered between darker and brighter as the boy winced. "Gah!"

He fumbled for the sunglasses hooked to his collar and slipped them over his eyes. So there was someone in the room with him now. "Oh, hi. You tackled me in Vegas, it's been awhile. I don't think I got to introduce myself, I'm Kirin, by the way. But maybe I did introduce myself and forgot, I was in a bad mood that week so I could have forgotten." Kirin smiled at her and waved in the woman's direction mid-ramble. "Sorry about that."

[intoparadise]

"I didn't tackle you, I just didn't think you were real," said Eden, blinking in the fluctuating light. Yeah, that was the same guy. And, while kidnapping her still wasn't the best way of endearing yourself to Eden, she was well aware that she didn't have a lot of room to complain anymore. "If you go around with an illusionist you've gotta learn to expect that kind of thing. You do this? That's kind of awesome."

[brightandsunny]

"I had it coming, you know. I was really trying to talk it out but, you know, I'm not that good at that sort of thing...dealing with other people. I wouldn't think I was real either." Kirin turned off his iPod and got to his feet, swaying a little as he pressed his palm against his forehead.

"Yeah, I'm doing whatever you'd call this. Could you hit the light switch? I think I'm done."

[intoparadise]

"I'm not really that mad. I mean, this is way better than what I was worried about at the time." Which was still true no matter what had happened since. After a little groping, the lights went out. This made it even harder to see, even with the normal lighting now coming in through the door, but it'd come. "I take it you already know my name and my gift, right? I mean, if they thought it was a good idea to send you without even knowing that, that's not going to be very good for my ego."

[brightandsunny]

"Yeah, your name now is Eden McCain, and you can control people with your voice." Kirin nodded faintly and propped himself up against the wall by his shoulder. "Which is cool."

He held up a hand and it glowed faintly for a minute before returning to normal. "What I've got...it is literal pain most of the time."

[intoparadise]

Eden frowned. "It hurts to do it? Have they figured out why?"

[brightandsunny]

"I lucked out in the genetic lottery, my ability depends on me being exposed to light for me to control it, but I've been photosensitive since I was a little kid." Kirin gave Eden a wry smile.

"They say the pain will go away when I learn to control it better. I'm still trying to get used to thinking that I may have been hurting myself all this time not knowing what I was doing."

[intoparadise]

Eden made a face. "I can see why it'd suck if you haven't got a handle on it. So does most everything." Then, lest she have to explain that last, she added "So this is, what, practice?"

[brightandsunny]

Kirin nodded. "This is all the Company really has me do. Learn to control what I have, and sometimes make lasers."

He righted himself and let out a relieved sigh when he didn't feel dizzy. "Little ones, and I don't have good aim. But I can make them."

[intoparadise]

Ooooh, lasers.

"Now, that part is lucky," Eden sighed. "Seems like everyone who's ever even heard of me wants a piece. And for some reason, despite that, I'm still stuck reading over boring adoption paperwork. Is it that 'office politics' thing?."

[brightandsunny]

"I really don't know. I mean, all they have me do now is practice, practice, practice. You know, they're always talking about my potential and stuff, but until I can control it I'm just a kid. Not much use to anybody, you know?"

"I guess, I'm lucky that I don't have paperwork to do...yet."

[intoparadise]

"It's not my paperwork. I'm reading it, not filling it out," Eden corrected. "I guess it's research. Everything on public record about that psycho we caught a little while ago. And it is boring as Hell."