It Can't Rain All the Time

[Cionne Davenport]

Really. Really, she had been trying. Cid had ventured out and tried to make friends. She had joined clubs and everything, trying to convince herself that it was all right to be around other people. But every time she got within a certain physical distance from someone, she started to panic. If she accidentally touched someone, she would come close to mental breakdown.

After a week, it had become too much. Every time she went out anymore, she started to freak out way too easily. This morning, it had just seemed easier to not get out of bed at all.

Cid pretended to be asleep until her roommate left. When she was finally alone, she reached for the ipod on her bedside table and put on her favorite song. For a while, she just stared at the ceiling, but she must have dozed off again because the next thing she knew, she was waking up in a sweat. Cid couldn't even remember her nightmare. Okay, this was getting ridiculous. There was no way that she was just going to lay in her bed and rot for the rest of her life, too terrified to do anything else.

The only person she could think of to go to was the person that had brought her here in the first place. Blake had made her feel like it was not the worst thing in the world before. Maybe she could help her now. Getting dressed, Cid made her way carefully to look for her trainer. She hadn't been in any of the lounges, so Cid headed for the training rooms. Thank goodness, she found her there. The world had sort of started to feel like it was going to cave in on her again.

Knocking on the open door, she called in as strong a voice as she could muster, "Blake? Er, do you have a minute?"

[Blake Harlow]

Ah, another one of those days where Blake didn't have a whole lot to do. You think as a trainer she would be a lot busier and she was but today had just seemed like a pretty good day. The morning was a normal one with Blake making herself something to eat; with tons of sugar, and chatting it up with her best friend Lordan. After that she took a little Blake nap before she would have back to back training sessions. Sure one could take that as being busy, but they were back to back which meant a chunk of her time was being taken for a solid amount of time compared to chunk of time being taken, break, and then chunk of time again. I was having that break and only having to get back to work a little while after that Blake felt like she was actually busy.

This time around she just had to get done training these two students one after the other and then she would be done for the rest of the day unless she got some last minute information about needing to train a kid or that it was her time to go out and scan for any mutant children. She was currently in the training rooms completing her work training a mutant with the power to cover his body in certain properties of metals. As such Blake had different metal materials lined along the wall and was testing how fast he could cover his body in them, how long he had to wait before he could absorb another metal to coat himself in, and when his side effects would start to kick in. The boy being new to his powers was only able to do it twice before he look on the verge of passing out. So Blake sent him to go get looked at by the nurse after scheduling another time for them to meet and work on how long he could maintain a metal covered form.

She was cleaning things up to make the room look a little neat for the next time she would be in here. All the trainers did get their own training rooms at times, but they also had to rotate depending on what mutant they were going to be working with because certain rooms were ideal to work in. There was a knock that had Blake biting down on her lollypop and looking to the door that was opened and a familiar face appearing. The girl she brought to this school; calling her by her first name, which was fine since once leaving the home she was a lot kinder and less to business with the people she brought back to the school. Pulling her lollypop out of her mouth she smiled and motioned for the girl to come in. "Sure Cionne...or did you want me to call you Cid?" Blake asked since she had forgotten. "Anyways, I have more than a minute. Come in and take seat." Blake said motioning to one of the chairs in the room as she multitasked with cleaning up.

[Cionne Davenport]

Blake was really pretty and a bit disarming to Cid, so she could not help but give her a small smile. She was not sure if she liked her yet or not, but she was trying to keep an open mind. "Cid, please," she told her. Cid followed her instruction and sat down, though she sat on the edge of her seat.

She imagined she probably looked like a completely different person than the last time she had seen Blake. Normally, she was perfectly groomed and done up, but not today. Today, her dark hair hung limply around her face, waves falling in whichever direction they chose. The only makeup on her face was whatever she had not been able to clean off the night before. Her top was the tank top she had worn to bed and she had simply pulled yoga pants and sandals on to go out. They were all designer, of course, but she hardly looked like half the fashionista she normally did.

"Sorry to bother you without making an appointment or anything. I just... I'm going kind of crazy here."

[Blake Harlow]

There was a small smile there and Blake looking over at the girl and giving a nod when Cionne asked to be called Cid. Cid it was then. Blake worked on cleaning up still but her eyes were always going over to look at the girl, noting how she had sat down. It was not very relaxed and she was not even sitting back like Blake personally would have sat. No, Cid was on the edge of her seat which meant that she had a lot to talk about or was perhaps feeling some form of stress or tension. Blake stopping her cleaning and grabbing a chair to sit on then. Turning it around so the back face Cid and Blake sitting on it in a very not lady like manner, but the chairs back was in the way so she could not just sit with her legs crossed. Plus the back of the chair gave her something to lean on so she could sit lazy but at least look like she did in fact care, because she did.

There were other signs about Cid that revealed to Blake that this was going to end up being a talk. Cid's physically appearance was less than stellar, but Blake was not concerned about things such as looks. She just assumed the girl had just recently got of bed after sleeping in late. Blake could relate to that easy enough since she was at heart a lazy person in a lot of categories. "It's fine. I'm done for the day and have time." Blake said as she moved to cross her arms and rest them on the back of the chair. Hearing words that she short of expected to come from new students who were still adjusting to the school. They had councilors for this sort of thing, but Cid was not the first to seek out the one that brought them to the school. "Crazy in what way? Having a hard time adjusting?" Blake asked, feeling along her dog tags to pick out the right one to wear in this situation.

[Cionne Davenport]

Heavy sigh. Then Cid launched into her little tirade. If she did not get it all out at once, she might never get it out. "Well, you see, I'm... Scared, no, terrified of being touched. Every time I get within a foot of anyone I start freaking out and it's getting to be super annoying. This morning, it didn't even seem like it was worth it to get out of bed. It's not like me. I'm not used to being scared of people. At my old school, I was on top. I was the person everyone wanted to hang around and now, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone just walked away because I got all weird when they got inside my bubble."

She paused to take a breath, and then went on, surprising herself with how much she was actually willing to share. Maybe it was because Blake was the only person she kind of knew from the other side. Her other life. "I just don't want what happened to my mom or to Alex to happen to anything else. What if I can't stop it? What if I don't just heal somebody? What if I heal them to death? Does that even make sense?"

[Blake Harlow]

Cid let out a heavy sigh followed by her going right into it which made it a whole lot easier for Blake. She didn't have to work to get information out of the girl or let her know that should could talk to her and that talking about things actually did help. Blake sat there silently, her eyes looking at Cid as the other girl started to talk. Revealing that she was scared, no terrified about being touched. Sadly Cid was not alone in her fear about being touched since Blake knew many students who were like that. Freaking out when she would be within a foot of someone and that it was getting annoying. The last part revealing that Cid really did not want to remain as she was so that at least showed that Blake was going to have someone who would be putting in effort. Blake was a little confused on how not wanting to be touched effected not wanting to get out of bed, but she figured if she thought about it for a moment she would figure it out.

Talk about her old school and the kind of girl she was back before her powers came it, she was popular. There was even talk about how she was worried people would end up leaving her alone because she freak out when they would be in her bubble. There was a pause then and Blake was going to say something but Cid was back to talking again so she remained silent and listened. Listening was the easy part after all. She didn't want what happened to her mother and Alex to happen to anyone here. Not confident if she could stop from using her ability and what if she healed them to death. Blake figured that was possible, well not really since the definition of healing was to make better and death was not better. Once Cid seemed like she was done, Blake went to speak, touching on what she felt was the biggest issue.

"Well, I'm your trainer Cid and it’s my job to get you to the point where you can control your power. I have copied it before and got a little better understanding of it which means training will go all the smoother for the two of us." Blake point out since she didn't want Cid to be worrying about never getting control, that was why she was at the school after all and what Blake's job was. Then it was to the whole fear of touching and what could happen. "From what I understand of your power so far it works with skin to skin contact. So if anything you should just worry about that kind of touch. Wearing longer sleeves or gloves could easily help with that problem but if not you just have to be careful around others. Not many people here are going to freak out or be upset with you for not wanting them close, this place is full of mutants with all sorts of powers. Some powers that they really can't touch someone without hurting them." Blake explained and she knew this was a fact because she could sense them and had worked with some of them.

"I would suggest another training session with me soon and that you at least work on being around people or areas that people are in. Like the library, it has people but not many and you don't really have to worry about someone coming up and bothering you. Just have to take things slow." Blake said and then stopped talking for the moment because man did she feel like she was talking a lot.

[Cionne Davenport]

"If you can copy it," Cid asked, "Does that mean it won't affect you the way it affects everyone else?" Sighing, she said, "It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't feel that magnetic pull every time I touched someone."

Long sleeves and gloves? Lord, she hoped she could make that fashion work, though, at this point she was willing to try. "I guess I'll get some gloves next time I go into town to see if that might help, then. And I probably sound pretty silly. I'm sure you hear worse stuff every day..."

"Library? I suppose I can do that... Or maybe the movies or something?" The library had never really been her scene, but there was no time like the present. "Okay, when can I come back for a session? I don't mean to rush you... I'm just really desperate to understand this stupid power so that I can turn it off."

[Blake Harlow]

There was a question that Blake didn't really know for sure if she could give an accurate answer to. She was a trainer and while she knew a lot about powers and could figure them out the more she used them; there were still some ends and outs that she didn't fully get. "Possibly. Might cancel one another out or we both end up trying to heal one another." Blake said with a small chuckle at the thought of them just going back and forth healing one another if the powers didn't cancel out. She figured they would, but Blake was copying it after all and she didn't have the same genetic makeup that Cid had so she could not say for sure. She leave that to one of the power specialist or more specifically the side effect specialist to figure out. Cid let out a sigh and reveled that she felt like it would not be so bad to not have to always feel that magnetic pull every time she touched someone.

Blake could not fully relate because her power was basically to copy others in every way but when she was not copying anyone’s power she was like any other person out there. Well like anyone besides the whole always being able to tell who was a mutant, who was not, and what their power was. Blake didn't want Cid to have to always wear gloves but for now it was probably for the best. To ensure that the girl didn't shut herself off from the world and still had contact with at least one another person. It was hard enough to be a hormonal teenager, but having to deal with being afraid of going around and touching people just had to cause a lot of stress. "Not silly at all. I'm happy that you are talking to me and seeking advice. It’s those that don't try to reach out that just fall into dark depression." Blake pointed out and while yes she had heard worse that was still a matter of option and for Cid this was pretty bad.

Blake nodded at the question about the library and possibly the movies. So long as it was not like a super popular movie Blake could see that working as well. "Whatever works best for you. Just go to places with a small amount of people and work your way up." Blake said simply since there was not need to rush this process on getting used to being back around people and dealing with the fear about touching them. There was a question then about coming back for a session that had Blake nodding and chuckling then. "You can always sign up to have more training days with me you know." Blake pointed out as she started to crunch into her lollypop. "I'm free at the moment and it would not be that hard to obtain your folder and log everything, I'm just not really prepared for a session today, but if you want to we can." Blake said because that was her job and even if she didn't have anyone else to train today and was just going to go back and be lazy she could do this. She could pull some things together to have a training session now while they talked if that was what Cid wanted.

[Cionne Davenport]

"Will you be able to train me if it cancels out?" There was some serious concern in Cid's voice. "I mean, I really don't want another trainer. I like you."

"Oh believe me," Cid laughed darkly, "It was a tough call whether or not to come here or to fall into that deeper, darker place. I had fully determined to stay in my room and sleep all day instead of be around people, but I had a nightmare. That's when I realized how ridiculous I was being. I know there are counselors for this sort of thing, but... I just feel more comfortable talking to you."

"I think I will," she said, "I've been putting it off, but I really don't think I can anymore. I need to learn how to use this stupid power so that I can stop using it as fast as humanly possible." She briefly wondered if she should have said 'mutantly' possible. "If you're not prepared..." she said, her voice sounding hopefully subdued as she swung her feet back and forth. "I mean, I wouldn't want to impose on you..."

[Blake Harlow]

"I will be able to train you even if it does not cancel out. Still we have to wait and see for sure but I'm pretty confident that we should be able to work well together as trainer and trainee." Blake said with a friendly smile and she meant every word of it since all she could do was copy other mutant’s powers. Sometimes it made training difficult but she did not have to copy a mutant’s ability that she was working with; she could copy one that was within her range, or not copy a power at all. There was always something that she could still do in order to help a student and she never really passed any of the students off to another trainer unless she really felt that another would be best for them. Plus Guy was the one that handle all that training moving around and typically was responsible for the trainer pairings in the first place and Blake respected what her boss thought.

Blake could not help but to chuckle a little at Cid telling her that she liked her, good thing Blake was a good pansexual staff members and would not outright prey upon her student. "I like you too Cid. I can tell you are a good kid at heart and I see great potential in you with and without this power." Blake said, purely speaking from observation and what she knew about the girl since the day she had sensed the power and went in to go pick up the girl. There were words, followed by a dark chuckle, and Cid pointing out that she had almost not come but she had a nightmare and things started to click for her. By clicking Blake was meaning that Cid was realizing what was what and didn't want her life to go down a dark path, which Blake was very happy to hear. "Well I'm sorry you had a nightmare but I'm happy that it brought you out to me. Yes their our counselors and if things do get too dark for you I will recommend one to you, but I don't mind at all you coming to talk to me. It's important to have at least one person you feel comfortable talking with and if that is me, that is fine." Blake said keeping her smile as she crunched the last bit of her lollypop and tossed the stick into the trash can.

"So you better keep in touch with me or I will have to go to your room and drag you out to get you some light." Blake half teased but was mostly warning the girl because she would really do that. She was responsible for the people she trainer in more ways than just training them. Blake was happy to hear that Cid was ready to get to training and that she was not going to be putting it off any longer like some students seemed to like doing. All of them had trainers and when they had to meet, but that did not mean that all of them went to their lessons. Blake was about to say something but then Cid revealed that she didn't want to impose, which just had Blake shaking her head no as she grabbed some more gummy bears and started to munch on them.

"It really is no problem. I'm sure I can put together a little training lesson for right now, let me just take a second to get your folder. Feel free to have any candy if you like." Blake said as she got off her chair and moved to her trainer’s bag which she thankfully did carry all the folders of the students that she had been assigned to train. Going through them to find Cid's folder.

[Cionne Davenport]

"That's good," Cid said, sounding relieved at the fact that they would be able to work together. It would be so grating to have to be assigned to another trainer. "Thanks," she said, "But I don't know what I am anymore. Mostly, I'm just trying to get through it. I feel like I've aged a million years these past few months."

"I don't think I'm at that scary of a place yet. Under the circumstances, I'm doing shockingly well. My mom and Alex would want me to keep going. Or I wouldn't even be trying." Her sigh turned into the teeniest of laughs, "Is that standard protocol?" she asked, raising one eyebrow. It would be funny, anyway, for Blake to drag her out of bed.

"Are you sure?" Cid asked, but she sounded so glad. She looked down at the candy, which made her stomach revolt at the sight of it. She had not been eating well lately. Still, she selected a green gummy bear and chewed on it for Blake's sake.

[Blake Harlow]

As of now Blake was pretty sure that she could still remain Cid's trainer and kept the girl out. It was a healing ability after all so it should not have been too hard to get understanding of; it was getting full control over it that would probably take the longest amount of time. A thanks, followed by Cid confessing that she didn't even know who she was anymore and that she was just trying to get through it and being over exaggerate as many teenagers were. She at least said that she didn't think that she was at a scary place yet and how she thought she was doing pretty well considering the circumstances. Adding even the fact how she was doing this for her mother and Alex because that was what they would wanted. "That is a good way to look at it. I'm pretty sure that anyone that cares and loves you would have that kind of outlook that they would want you to keep living on." Blake said with a small nod as she flipped through the pages in the folder for a moment.

Blake did raise an eyebrow for a moment when she read up how Cid's power worked from what the power specialist had gathered so far. While she detected the power she had not actually copied it so didn't really know fully how it worked yet. Still, from what was written down and what Blake felt. Wait, so does to take on others injuries or does she give them hers? Blake thought to herself, seeing one ability as well sucking for her and the other would have been great for her but would suck for others. Cid's comment about the portal had her snapping out of her thoughts for a moment and giving a small chuckle. "Not really, but if it’s for your own good I'm not worried about losing my job over it." Blake pointed out and she really was not worried about losing her job in order to make sure a student was okay, since that was part of her job anyways.

"One hundred percent. In fact we are going to try something here and now, but you will have to touch me." Blake said, giving Cid a look as if letting the girl know that it would be okay and that she could trust Blake. Using one of the pieces of metal from training the kid before so cut her hand, a small wound but it started to bleed either way. Blake then holding out her hand to Cid. "Go ahead and grab my wrist." Blake said, wanting to test just how Cid's power work in terms of if she would be healed and Cid would take her wound or if Cid would remain fine while Blake would bleed. Plus she wanted to feel the effects and get down a couple of other bits of information as well.