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Seth manages to meet with everyone throughout the day, and has gotten some confirmations about meeting for like 10-15 minutes after class in the music room.

He's said it's serious and that he needs to talk with people. School comes and goes, and the music room has cleared out. They have the room to themselves.

So Seth waits. Sitting in the risers, tapping his foot nervously until some people arrive.

Colin arrives, still looking quite flustered. He still has to get the hang of his new gift of reading languages, and it lead to an awkward scene in his French class. He hopes that Sylvia, who was there too, won't mention it.

"Hey Seth. Is it all right?"

Sylvia enters with Colin, still chuckling over the way Madame Rousseau's dentures almost slid out of her mouth in astonishment.  Her jovial mood dissipates as she enters the room where Seth stands.  Seth's problem is serious business, and she expects not to have much to laugh about.

"That depends...Close the door...Never mind I got it."

Seth remarks at Colin's quick entrance. And the door behind Colin closes "of it's own accord".

"What's going on with you. You look flustered."

Seth doesn't want to talk too much until more people get here, because he doesn't want to spend a lot of time repeating himself.

As soon as the door is closed, Sylvia bursts in the door...

"Close the...Never mind..." And it shuts again...

"Nothing. A little incident with French. This is not being the easiest week of my life."

What happened in French...Hi Sylvia...What happened in French? Did you suddenly burst into flame or something?

Seth's face is jovial, but there is a hint of concern under the minor sarcasm...

Colin sighs.

"I was asked to read from the book. And I did read. In perfect english. I went on for two or three lines before I noticed the teacher was looking at me wrong and the class was laughing. I'm not sure if I'm going to go better because she thinks I improved or worse because she thinks I played dumb in in her class."

You speak French now? I wish I understood French. I mean I speak a few words. But...

Instant mastery of a language would be nice.

"No, that's the point. I don't. I just read it. I can't speak it, I can't understand it if I hear it, and I can't write it either. But if I read it, it's like reading english to me. How am I supposed to explain it to Madame Rousseau?"

"No kidding," Sylvia says, giving Colin an envious look.  "But it's not like Colin was having problems to begin with, or anything.  He only has to glance at the vocabulary list every week."  That might be a slight exaggeration, but very slight.

So if i were to write on the board say in Spanish or German. You could read it?

Wicked.

Seth goes to the board and writes [The whole world will come down on the shoulders of a turtle] in German

Can you read that?

Sylvia wasn't asked, but she likes riddles.  "The ganz. . . .  That's a type of sweater, isn't it?  The weird welt of the sweater is coming something-something. . . .  Something about seeing a child crouton?"

"The whole world will come down on the shoulders of a turtle? Yes. I guess that's German, it doesn't look like Spanish. I'm not sure yet what's the point of this, but I can. I guess it's got something to do with the One Tongue."

No that's not it... The weird welt of the sweater is about seeing a child crouton?" would be...Der sonderbare Welt der Strickjacke ist über das Sehen eines Kindcroutons?"

Yes...The whole world will come down on the shoulders of a turtle....Die ganze Welt kommt unten auf die Schultern einer Schildkröte

Seth's German is flawless...and when reading German it's hard not to sound angry...

It means I can pass pseudo secret German messages to you in class.

Still you are the NSA's wet dream with an ability like that.

Where is everyone else?

"Heh. I may be wrong but I don't think it works with codes, just normal languages."


"Sarah and Sammy may be a little late. The others should arrive shortly."

John makes his way into the music room, he almost looks lost.  Once he sees familiar faces he comes in.  "We never got formally introduced, I'm John Elliott."  John extends his hand to Seth.  "I wasn't sure if I should be here, so if it's a problem I can go."

Seth's handshake is firm and assured.

Hey...John. No, the more the merrier. And If was gonna be angry at you, I would be. But we'll be cool. I made a promise i wouldn't be a jerk. So to start, why not be cordial and friendly. I could use all the advice anyone can muster...

But to do that in this case, I'm going to have to reveal some stuff that's of a ...super..secret nature. I've heard rumors...rumblings. About you, in that regard.

He looks John in the eye...and whispers...low. His eye contact is even and free of deceit. He's going out on a limb here.


Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine....

John nods.  "Yeah, I see what you mean.  I already told Colin and Donnie.  I'm strong, and fast, and I don't get hurt easy.  And I can see through walls and stuff."

Sammy comes running in, late as usual.  "Sorry.  Only one me and too many places to be.  I wish I could copy myself; that would be a cool power."  She sits down, but doesn't take her coat off.  She has someplace else to go after this.

[OOC:  I'm going to say this happens BEFORE meeting up with Preston, if that's ok with SO.]

"You can see through walls and . . . ?"  Sylvia makes a small connection in her brain and buttons her sweater closed.

John waves his hands and blushes, "Nothing like that, it's more like an X-ray then anything else."

Sylvia mutters something about needing microscopic vision and lets it rest.

"We don't get radiated when you look at us, though, do we?"

I'm a Teke...The Superboy to your Superman as it were....Not that I know how I feel about that comparison. Telekinesis. Really Psychokinesis in the modern terminology.


Hey Sammy...Pull up a chair.


Seth laughs mightily....Sylvia...If that's what you are worried about... I wouldn't. One of my new abilities is the ability to feel things at a distance...Ranged tactile sense. With a thought...I could feel your blood moving through your veins....It's a hell of a lot more intimate then seeing..I'll tell you that...Not that I'm uhhh..Currently doing it or anything...

I swear I'm not.

Sammy mutters back "Donnie's not complaining, is he?"  At Sylvia's blush, she smiles smugly.  "Thought not."


Sammy automatically goes to the seat she normally occupies during her freshman orchestra class.  It would feel weird to sit anywhere else.

"No, it's harmless."

Sylvia is just staring at Seth in horror.  "Can you do that with your eyes closed?  If not, close your damned eyes."

I've only ever done it with my eyes closed...I wonder If I can do it with my eyes open...Good idea Sylvie..

And it's more of an area type thing...I can feel every everything within a certain distance...It's wicked...and weird.


Seth looks around....Like 2 0r 3 more people and then we'll begin...

When Megan finally makes her way into the music room, she was already dressed in her cheerleading outfit for practice.  “Sorry if I’m late.”  She said with a bit of a smile as she made her way over to a chair to sit down, still not exactly sure what all this was about.

Should we wait for Donnie and Kel? Or should I start now...What's going on with everyone's time schedule...

OOC:  SO said in a previous post to assume that the people you want to be at an event are there unless they explicitly say they are not there.

OOC- K Thanks...

“Sylvia, Kel and I have Cheerleading practice in about twenty minutes.  John should have football then, not sure about anyone else.”  Megan replied.

"I'm supposed to see a guy about a car," Sammy says.  "Then if there's still time, I'm supposed to hook up with Sarah at the Tasty and talk to Laticia, just to rule out if she's Pinky or not.  Colin, you might want to go there too; we told her we want to do a story on somebody who has overcome difficulties.  If nothing else, Sarah shouldn't be alone... just in case."

Ok...So quick recap for everyone...Some stuff will be things they know.. Some stuff will be new....

I'm Seth...And I'm an alcoholic. Not really.

But I do have powers.... Seth lifts a chair to demonstrate

And I have cancer.

A while back, A man by the name of Mr. Fortune., offered to make my wildest dreams come true. I would get a too good to be true record contract...I can sing and play instruments like i can walk, by the way. And he would get rid of my brain tumor...

In exchange I give up my powers...Signs point to this guy being on the level. And my mother is practically begging me to take the deal...But something doesn't feel right about it.

I really don't want to make some kind of Faustian Deal with the Devil here. And i want to know what everyone thinks.

That's the short version. I can answer any questions to the best of my ability.

Seth's speech pattern is super quick...He's clearly nervous...and uncomfortable.

Donnie slips into the room during Seth's preamble and speech. He climbs on a desk behind Sylvia and rests his chin on her shoulder, breathing in the scent of her hair.

"I don't know man. To be honest, if I could live a full life, without the ability to call dragons or do magic. I might take it. Seriously, you could live a full life, become a maestro of instruments, make a zillion dollars on tour, and give it all to cancer research. How advanced is the cancer?"

Donnie draws the Bitch Patrol spell in the air again, sparkling gold trailing his fingertip. "I'd give it up, to live. If I had something else to live for."

He tries very hard not to look at Sylvia when he says that. It would be too hokey and false-sounding.

Sammy squirms uncomfortably in her chair.  Cancer?  Damn.  She decides to stay quiet, for now, and listen to what the others have to say.  The dust devil muffin crumb delivery system collapses on itself just behind her.

Sylvia smiles an uncharacteristically carefree smile when Donnie enters the room but doesn't catch what he's talking about.  She agrees nevertheless.  "Dead sucks," she tells Seth.  "Life without powers might be okay."  And the pragmatist in her almost adds that death is always an option if life without powers isn't okay, but she pushes her lips against each other like the thought might fly out of her mouth if she doesn't pen it in.

Megan tried not to look too stunned when Seth said he had cancer, but it was hard to completely hide it.  Most of the others did not seem surprised by the announcement, so they apparently already knew.  It made her think back to her talk with Seth at the coffee shop yesterday morning, and his stepping aside as her Homecoming date.  The news really did not change anything, after all, last thing Seth would likely want is pity, but she still felt rather crummy about the whole mess.

As Donnie and Sylvia gave their opinions on the issue of the deal that Seth was offered, Megan was silent.  She thought about the concerns she occasionally had regarding what if her powers, gained accidentally, were also harming her, if that were true and someone could fix that at the cost of her powers, she figured she would accept that.  But Seth’s situation seemed a bit different, his powers and his cancer did not seem related, not to mention there was the offer of his dream at a record contract. 

“That does sound like a bit of a strange offer Seth, but is it so hard to believe?  I mean look at us, what we can do, why is it so hard to think there is someone that can do these things in exchange for what this Mr. Fortune wants?”  She paused a moment and then asked.  “What is it that you would want Seth?  You obviously want something like this record deal, and love to perform, and while I am sure you can achieve it on your own, why not take an offer for it now, especially if it can remove something harmful to you?  I know having powers is great, but what do you want to do with them?”

Colin looks intently at the floor for a while, and once again he feels guilty for not being able to help his friend.

"I think... actually, I believe, that each of us has a calling. Something that we really have to do in our lives, no matter the cost."

Daddy knew the risks. He knew the cost. But he had to be there all the same.

"You have to ask yourself what is really your calling, what you feel you have to do. You have to trust your heart. And when you decide, no matter what you decide, never look back."

Sammy's girl scout troop used to visit the aged in nursing homes.  She recalls overhearing one of the girls asking a leader why the old people talked about their ailments so much.  The leader replied, "For some of them, its all they have.  It has become what they are, how they define themselves.  They wouldn't know what to do if it were cured.  They'd be invisible, uninteresting."  Sammy wondered to herself, did Seth see himself as a talented musician with lots of potential, or did he see himself as doomed Cancerboy?

Very cautiously, she asks Seth "When you introduced yourself, you said your name.  You said you have powers.  Then you said you have cancer.  Have you had it for a long time?"

Seth was silent for a long moment. He considered what everyone had to say...and when he was done thinking...He still couldn't find the words he wanted.

He sighed.

"Sammy, I've had this cancer probably since i was born. But it was only diagnosed like 9 months ago.  It's very difficult to operate on. But you know science....It brings us new wonders every day."

And Colin, I want it all. Maybe that's not realistic..But i want to be a superhero rockstar.

He laughs...Superhero Rockstar.

Megan...Ughh... I Don't know guys. It feels like I'm trading in the surprises in my future for the known. And while there aren't any promises in not going though with it...There are promises in this one. 1) I get a record contract that i didn't "earn". 2) I will never have powers again. I don't know.

What if you were offered this. What if I offered you this right now. Would you take it...He asks everyone and no one in particular

"No." Sammy says, "I wouldn't.  Not without knowing a whole lot more about what else was being taken away.  It sounds too quick and easy, and quick and easy isn't always the best choice.  Sometimes important things get left out, overlooked, or just plain thrown away."  She pauses for a moment.  "When you were" flirting with "teasing Sylvia about what you can sense... can you turn that inward?  If you can feel her blood flowing, can you also sense yours?"

Donnie grows very still at Sammy's words about Seth teasing Sylvia. He notices the pause in Sammy's question."Teasing you?" he breathes into her ear.

"This is not going to help you. Our answers aren't and can't be your answers. We can be with you no matter what you decide, but it's got to be your decision."

After a moment he adds "Maybe there is something you can do. For a week, don't use your powers. No matter what. So you can feel what it's like without them. If that's not enough to decide, then pick another week, and try to go through it without taking anything if you... get a headache. So you'll know how you're going to feel if it gets worse."

Sylvia looks annoyed for a second, not at Donnie but at the idea that teenage boys should be able to see through clothes or feel you up without your even knowing it.  Then she hears that odd note in Donnie's voice, that odd stillness.  It worries her.  "It's nothing.  Seth was just telling us how he can sense things by touch from a distance."

"Really." His tone is very droll, and neutral. "Did he use it on you?" He is trying to keep his voice low, under Colin's comments so as not to attract attention.

The real answer is "I have no idea," and maybe that's what Sylvia's eyes say.  But what comes out her mouth is "I don't think so.  He was just joking.  You know, showing off."

"Huh." Donnie turns back to the conversation, but his arms are now resting around Sylvia, hands clasped in front of her belly. He sneaks glances at Seth, but says nothing else. He was unable to see Sylvia's face to see if she was doing her 'studiously blank' expression which meant she was hiding something, so he just had her on her word.

Sammy speaks sooner than she might have.  There's a tension in the room, and its making her twitchy.   She blurts out, "Seth, I'm only asking this because what if you could, well, cure yourself?  If you could wrap your senses around this cancer, know where it starts and where it stops, what blood vessels are feeding it... maybe you could tell a doctor exactly where to cut, or shut down the blood vessels feeding it yourself, or even push a scalpel around with your TK and cut it out yourself?  Yeah, I know, I watch too much tv, but its an idea..."

Megan looks over at Sammy as she suggests Seth trying to use his powers to deal with the tumor himself.  “Sammy, your suggesting Seth use his powers to try to shut off the blood vessels that feed the tumor in his brain?  While that might work, those blood vessels likely feed other parts of the brain past the tumor, he would basically be giving himself a stroke.  I would think that trying to remove the tumor another way with his powers would be dangerous as well, what if he ruptured the blood vessels attached to it and had uncontrolled bleeding?” 

Sammy smiles grimly.  "Exactly.  But he'd be cured of at least the tumor, wouldn't he?  Just not alive, or maybe just not able to function at all.  How does he know that this promise he's getting from that guy doesn't come with that kind of result?"

"I had Chris check on him. The guy's legit. Very creepy, but he honors his contracts."

Megan smiled back at Sammy as she replied, “somehow I doubt that even the strictest proponent of literally reading a contract for what you bargained for would not consider being dead or unable to function as being ‘cured’.”  She looked back to Seth.  “Didn’t you say he would ‘get rid of the tumor’?  That seems to imply more that it would be gone without negative results.  Your father’s an attorney Seth, did this Mr. Fortune give you a copy of the contract?  I am sure your father has had people at his office go through it with a fine tooth comb.”

Yeah...


Father went through it with a fine tooth comb...and It's "pretty good for all sides". But...I don't know. I can't shake this feeling in my gut. This is somehow all wrong for me.

And to answer the question that wasn't asked and i avoided, but was still floating out there this whole time.

My Life Expectancy is 24...at the outside.

But maybe in the next 10 years I'm meant to do something...Colin, you talked about calling.

I'm not a religious man. My parent's didn't care much for it, and neither do I. But, I do understand probability and chance. And aside from the freak occurance of "Powered" individuals at this school. There aren't that many of "us" around, ya know? So it seems to me that we have some sort of natural responsibility to use these powers for the betterment of mankind or whatever you want to call it. Who am I to give that up? Shirk off my responsibility, even if it kills me? I'm probably just talking out of my ass.

And one other thing that's been bothering me. Who can do this....

Who can remove a tumor that medical science can't...and who can take away powers that medical science has no explanation, or at least not a good one, for? And who would want to do this for some high school kid? And who would also have the ability to offer commercial music success?

And if someone had all of those abilities and means...Why the hell would they ask my permission?

All of this makes my head hurt....and in a very different way than it normally does.

John...You've been silent...What do you think?

"Probability and chance don't work with people, Seth. There maybe thousand of powered individuals, but there was only one Mozart. Your parents have only one son. There is only one Seth."

"I haven't known you too long, and any opinion I could offer would be colored by my own beliefs and convictions.  I can't do that, or I should say that I try not to do that, it never seems to come out right.  I know very little about you, except that you can be selfless, and that's probably what you'll end up doing.  Making a decision that's ultimately selfless."

Seth felt like sighing. Felt like saying something pithy. But he didn't. They were both dancing around the awkward. But Seth was generally interested in what he thought. John's "beliefs and convictions" were what he was interested in.

The fact that John thought he was selfless was interesting enough...and then... there was what Colin said. I mean...he was wrong and he was right. But Seth wasn't going to tell him that. Not with out getting into a really pretentious conversation about sociological statistics and psychohistory.

gaaaa....

Was it so much to hope that someone could come up with the magic bullet that would solve all his problems.

Suddenly Seth was getting really frustrated. And really emotional.

The last thing he was going to do was crack right now. But damn it his hand was starting to shake and he was finding it harder to focus individual thoughts.

Sammy fidgets in her chair.  "Why can't you tell the guy that he has to wait for your answer?  That you aren't ready to make that kind of decision yet?  If its a legitimate offer, it should be able to wait, right, unless the cancer is what is driving his deadline?  How'd he know about you anyway?"

"He saw me play the first day of school. Gave me a card.

And I have no idea how he knew I had powers. Which just adds to the creepiness of this whole god damn'ed thing.

It's not just him whose waiting. It's my parents. It's been like a month now. and I don't know. I just don't...FRAKKING KNOW.

He yelled the last two words into his hands. When he was done yelling, his hands moved up to grip and pull his hair. And then they move back down to rub the bridge of his nose.  His foot is tapping a quick angry beat on the floor, and every muscle on his body is tensed ot the breaking point.

"Fuck"  Soft and sweet...just barely audible.

Colin recognizes the signs.

"Seth? Let's get out. Some fresh air will do you good."

"There is a doctor.  My parents know him, I could see about getting you an appointment to see him."  John spoke up, his voice was low, but audible in the space, "He specializes in paranormals."

"Don't handle me. I don't want to be handled...." Seth says...without particularly looking up. It might not of be fair to snap at Colin. who was only being friendly. But....


Ok....that would be good. That would be really good... Could you do that.

Colin's comments did make him realize he was losing control a little...So he modulated his breathing as much as he could. Regular and deep. Regular and deep.

He really wanted to strike out at something right now.... Regular and Deep.

"I can call him tonight.  The only catch is he'll have to know about your powers.  If you can't reveal that, then I shouldn't call."

Megan had been listening to Seth as he respond to their comments, and John when Seth asked for his opinion.  She felt a bit of awkwardness return when John mentioned Seth being selfless, but that was soon replaced as Seth suddenly yelled into his hands. 

Colin suggested going outside for some air, but Seth seemed upset, or in pain or something.  John was offering to help get Seth an appointment to meet with a doctor that specialized in the paranormal as Megan sat upright and asked, “Seth, are you sure your alright?”

I can handle that. It's my decision, Not my parents. And I need to see a doctor who specializes in ourkind anyway.


No...But I will be. There's just a lot riding on this decision, which I feel totally blindsided with.

5 months ago if someone offered me this, I would have jumped at the chance. But 5 months ago i couldn't lift a car with my mind..or feel ants building a colony. It's a lot to give up. And my head hurts...and I can't finish the lyrics to this stupid song, and I'm supposed to debut it tomorrow night.

By the way. I'm playing a show tomorrow night. You should all come. I'm playing a whole set of my music...after i play the required Sweet Home Alabama and American Pie set first.

....
...
I think I have a lot to work out about this. It's like a really complicated knot...and i feel like I can't see the whole picture. I was hoping one of you would just tell me exactly what i needed to hear. But none of you have done that yet. It probably wasn't fair of me to expect it, but I did.

He's babbling at the end...Using extremely blunt truth to take people off guard so they won't look at him and see exactly how scared he is. He knows if he claims to be scared right out loud that people will assume he's dealing with it.

Seth never had a lot of friends, but he watched people, he watched how other's manipulated them into looking away from what was painful. Seth felt dirty doing it to his friends.

But these were his friends. Maybe the first he had ever had. And he knew that if he gave up his powers, he wouldn't be hanging out with the powered kids anymore...and then he would just be touring alone..surrounded by peeople who like him because he had a record contract, and he would never have a friend again.

God damn it he was getting scared and nervous again. He didn't want to lose control. No No NO No No. His hands were clutching his hair again.

Sylvia almost does it without noticing it, almost does it without thinking about it.  She sees only that Seth is anxious and so sends out a kind of soft, psychic lullaby:  Chill, baby.  Be calm, be safe.  Worrying doesn't help.  Easy does it.  You'll be all right.

OOC: Seth give me a Will Save DC 14

Will Save DC 14 (1d20-1=6) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=881353)

FAILED!

A feeling of relaxed calm washes over him.  His tension fades some, and he feels like everything might be okay afterall.

A feeling of relaxed calm washes over Seth.  His tension fades some, and he feels like everything might be okay afterall.

(OOC-  ;D)

"I don't know.

I don't want to keep you guys too late. go do you things. And if you think of anything or have any more in depth opinions on it let me know.

I think I'm going to rehearse for tomorrow. And John, I would really appreciate it if you set up that appointment. The quicker the better....."

The sound of a music locker opening behind you all is audible...and then a guitar floats out in to seth's now outstretched hand.