Closed eyes (tagged) - [IOM]

[Poppy Lockwood]

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The twenty year old threw her head back and a laugh escaped her. "Did you just only figured it out?" she asked rhetorically. It was one of the many names she had been called. When she had first been called in after getting caught, the thirteen year old was of course at first a little scared.

She got off easy and her guidance counselor and herself thought that would be the last time they saw of each other for her bad behaviour. Oh boy were they both wrong. Instead of cleaning up her act, Poppy Lockwood mixed more and more with the school rebels and other trouble makers. "Thinking about joining the club anytime soon?"

The thought that he could read her thoughts did not cross the brunette's pretty little head, because her mind was a little more focus on the night that the incident happened. Though she would not call it a traumatic experience, it was certainly one that she would not forget too easily. That night, a lot of things happened and her eyes were opened to new perspectives.

She thought over his question. Technically, everyone involved that night got hurt. Everyone was hurt. She was not the only one. To reply to the boy, she simply shrugged at first before a long pause followed. "I guess you can say I stopped for awhile..." and by awhile it was only less than a month before Poppy was back out at it again with her friend, Raven. "But just because you meet a bump along the way, it didn't mean you should stop doing something you love. Right?"

[Timothy Carter]

She laughed, for once not entirely at his expense it would seem. Timothy could only shrug as a response. A trouble-maker and proud of it was this one. He supposed so long as the fun remained harmless and without powers, that wasn't much of a problem. Whether someone like her would ever be able to resist the temptation of using her abilities was a different story. "I would not like to be your counsellor..." He declared imagining all the meetings, exasperation and potential headache that someone like this young woman must cause.

Despite his telepathy, he couldn't quite tell if she was serious about him joining the club. Whilst the chance to have a laugh might not be a bad thing in itself, the prospect of having to hang out with others was still a daunting one and he'd rather not think about the potential side effects of being around more than a couple of people at once. "No. I'll leave the fun and games to you." He wouldn't be surprised if she came to the conclusion that he was some kind of swat or teacher's pet, unwilling to get into trouble. There was a time when he would have jumped at the chance to 'have some fun' but when you'd been the cause of your mother breaking her neck, it tended to sober you up a little. He just hoped she never learned the lesson the same way he had.

Her words did have some sort of an effect on him. After all, everyone kept on saying that it was important that he continued on living his life. He'd like to go back to playing football, he'd been good at it once and loved the sport. Unfortunately, again the prospect of all of his teamates' voices in his head was not a pleasant one. "I guess you're right..." He conceded letting out a sigh as he felt himself shiver slightly from the cold. "It depends on the bump though."

[Poppy Lockwood]

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"Truer words have never been spoken," she said with a grin. Poppy Lockwood was a troublemaker and yes, she was definitely proud of it. It was one of the things the school counselors were not so fond of. Instead of trying to hide this side, the girl fully acknowledged it and did not rush to make any move to "improve" and be a "better" student. The sessions were mostly pointless since Poppy made it clear she was not going to stop pranking anytime soon, but at the same time she kind of liked it because it reminded her that if she did anything worse, she would have to endure more long hours of those kinds of sessions.

The twenty year old shrugged her shoulders and waved her hand as if to dismiss the idea. "Hey, to each their own." Poppy did come to a conclusion that the boy was not one that was willing to get into trouble. She went to high school, she had met a number of students who refused to bend and/or break the rules a little. Scaredy cats. Nothing that she would take personally. "It's always fun to have yall stick in the mud, huh," she gibed, winking.

To her surprise, the boy actually agreed to what she had said. At least he was not fully denying something that made sense. "True." She thought of the bump she met a few months ago, and she knew for certain it was not something that should hold her back no matter how dire the situation had seemed. "So," she started slowly, looking him directly in the eye, "met any bumps that threw you off the road you're on?"

[Timothy Carter]

Pranksters could be amusing sometimes, downright hilarious others and yet prime targets from strangulation the next day. Timothy supposed that it had something to do with whether you were on the receiving end or not. What was that old saying about tents and urinating? He was almost tempted to think up his own prank to play on her, just to give the college student a taste of her own medicine, just how he would go about such a thing however remained to be seen. He most certainly wouldn't/couldn't use his powers.

To each their own, eh? Well, Tim considered that to be a pretty good way to live his life. In his mind so long as what someone was doing didn't bother or affect you (or anyone else for that matter) then let them do it. His idea of fun wasn't pranking, it might not have been hanging out by himself in such an isolated part of the forest before but since developing his telepathy, it came as a welcome relief. It also meant that he didn't spent half his time either in detention or having to deal with the wrath of an offended victim. "You know the good thing about avoiding others is that it means I'm pretty much free to do what I want? If you think I'm moody, well, I don't care."

"More like the bump that threw me onto it." He turned away for a moment, looking due west. Los Angeles seemed like a long way away now. It had only been a few months but everything was different. He was alone, in this strange place which still felt too alien to be called a 'home'. He looked back at the girl, this wasn't exactly something he felt like talking about right now. Heck, his counsellor's had trouble getting it out from him so he wasn't about to share his deepest doubts and painful memories with this trouble maker.

He turned back to her, folding his arms across his chest to try and keep himself a little warmer - easier said than done when you're dripping wet - he wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of seeing him shiver from the cold, even if his goose bumps were probably a bit of a giveaway. "So, was I just unlucky or was this part of all the pranks that have been going on around campus?" He asked, determined to change the subject.

[Poppy Lockwood]

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To each their own. On the matter, Poppy Lockwood wholeheartedly agreed with the boy. Whilst she would not necessarily call it avoiding other people -- thought it was pretty much almost the same thing -- but instead refusing to interact with her peers, she knew the perks of being alone pfft I'm not alone independent. To the hell with what other people thought, she did not need "permission" to do whatever it was that she wanted to. "Well, good for you! But hey, you'd probably won't care but I didn't call you moody. Just plain, dull and a little unadventurous," she replied, trying to cover her snickers by plastering on a smile.

Her head turned, looking in the direction where he was looking. Of course to her, she did not have that faraway look in her eyes like he had because all that she saw were tall trees, the sky and more tall trees. So brought her gaze back to the boy and watched him, wondering what was going through his mind now and what exactly had he meant by what he said. Are you trying to be poetic? she reserved the snarky remark for her mind only. "And what road would that be, is it a fun one to be on?"

A small smirk tugged at the corners of her lips as she watched the boy fold his arms around himself, no doubt to hold off the cold. It probably was not an easy feat, thanks to Poppy, her prank and the early chilly morning weather. Heh. "You know, no matter either way I answer that, you would still be unlucky. Do you make a habit of being an easy target?" The brunette chuckled.

"Chin up, you're not the only stranger that has fallen victim to my pranks. Before or after they made that bloody announcement for spring break." She rolled her eyes. "On that note, were you planning on going anywhere?"

[Timothy Carter]

There was a part of Timothy Carter which hadn't changed that much from the fun-loving and occasionally reckless teen that he had once been not all that long ago. Being called 'dull' was hardly a compliment and somewhere along the line, it grated with that part of him which he held supressed inside of him. Were things different, he may very well have been part of a group of 'troublemakers' a bit like this girl. "I wasn't always. It's this ability-" He'd once made this mistake of talking about 'the voices in his head' that had almost got him sent to the local psychologist until he'd clarified. "As soon as I'm around more than one or two people I get these monster headaches..." He could blame a lot on his power, some of it might actually be justified.

The teen didn't particularly like the way he lived his life right now. Solitude protected him from picking up on the thoughts of everyone around him but if he was honest, it was a rather lonely way to exist. It wasn't just the 'background noise' that he was protecting himself from of course but the memory of his mother, who he really should go to see in a few days. If he lost his temper again, even for a couple of seconds, he was afraid that he might hurt someone else."I don't really have a choice." Was all he decided to reply.  

He just shrugged as to her implication that he was an easy target. Maybe coming out here by himself when there was this whole prank war thing going on might not have been the brightest idea in the universe but he'd done it so much recently that he hadn't expected to encounter any trouble. "I wasn't expecting anything." He replied defensively, still somewhat irritated that his powers for all of their usual annoying sonar-like quality hadn't picked up on such an obviously ill-intentioned menace as her. "Maybe you should start watching your back too." He added just as a hint of a threat, not that he'd likely do anything. 

He'd been lukewarm about the trip. Unlike some of his classmates who seemed to have taken the cancellation very poorly indeed - hence the current mayhem around school - he'd been rather more blasé about the whole thing, not judging it important enough to get worked up about. "Well, it might have been nice to leave the academy for a bit." He admitted kicking at the stones beneath his feet. "Nothing worth getting steamed up about though."  

[Poppy Lockwood]

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The twenty year old girl was not completely sure if the boy fitted all the adjectives she had thrown at him. Plain, dull and unadventurous. That was a pretty basic assessment for her whenever she met anyone who took a joke a little too seriously. Like the boy right now. When he halfheartedly denied, the girl was curious. Maybe not genuinely, but curious enough to wonder how he would portray himself other than the three words she had called him. "Oh hey, are you experiencing one right now? Cause talking to me does that to some, power side effects or not," she joked, although there might have been some truth in it.

Poppy Lockwood dramatically groaned and rolled her eyes when she heard his reply. "Really, 'I don't have a choice', seriously?" The girl laughed, now the thought that he was trying to be poetic grew stronger in her mind. "What kind of bull is that? Everyone has a choice." For someone who prioritized herself before most things, it was easy for her to say. "Or did you just choose the easy route out, huh?" She leaned back against the tree and let her eyes dart around the forest.

Like lasers, her head snapped back towards the boy. "Maybe then you would finally learn to let loose again," she said as a delighted grin slowly made its way onto her face. If he did act on his words, that would be a nice surprise but if the boy did not, then...that was just that then.

The girl nodded to what he said. It would definitely have been nice. "I guess it depends on the importance of it to some." Poppy chuckled. She had looked forward to spending some time at home over the break, partly due to the reason of her empty dorm now that her pet was dead. Even though the pain got easier to deal with over time, it still sucked waking up every morning not greeted by Coca. Quickly she gave herself a shake and plastered on a smile. "Well, some just expresses it differently than others."

[Timothy Carter]

A small chuckle escaped Timothy's mouth at the comment. It had been a while since he'd last laughed, at least with others or at them.  Maybe this young woman might not be quite as bad as he'd initially assumed she was. Mischievous, certainly but probably not malicious. "I can't imagine why..." He muttered averting his eyes for a moment. He wasn't too sure if she was genuinely interested in his own issues with his power or if her remark had simply been a light-hearted one to try and brighten the atmosphere a little bit. "Not right now. It's okay with one or two people but any more than that starts getting noisy."

Just as he was thinking that this stranger might almost be likable in some strange and odd way, she accused him of taking the easy route. Eyes narrowed and fists clenched, the teen felt his initial anger return to him. For a moment, just a small one, he felt like he did that terrible night when he'd unleashed his ability against his mother of all people. It was her memory, ironically enough which stirred the same uncontrollable urge to use his 'telepathic shout' against this person, whom he scarcely knew. Fortunately, that was also what stopped him. He couldn't hurt someone else again, not like that...

Taking a deep breath to calm himself somewhat, he took a couple of steps towards the young woman. "You don't know me." He declared his voice low and angry with the shame of what he had done. "Maybe I did chose the easy way out but I'm doing the rest of you a freaking favour." Stepping back somewhat, he decided that it might be more prudent to put some distance between the two of them.


It would have been nice to be able to relax, to be able to hang out with others. If it was only a few of them he could learn to live with the headaches and confusion brought on by having everyone else around him's thoughts being broadcast through his skull. "That would be nice." He conceded scratching his chin slightly before rubbing the back of his neck. Right now, his sole source of amusement was Argent. When she was flying through the sky, it was the only time that he felt free of his worldly troubles. More than once, he had wished that he could go up there with her and take to the skies.


Maybe he was miserable but the teen found both the parties currently pranking all of the college students and teachers to be rather irritating. There was a lot to be said for peace and quiet as far as he was concerned. "Yeah well, I just don"t like being caught in the crossfire." He replied once more crossing his arms and rubbing them giving up on trying to hide the fact that he was getting chilly.

[Poppy Lockwood]

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A small smile flitted across the girl's face as she found him not denying what she had said about herself. Well would you look at that. She nodded in understanding when he explained further more about the side effects of his ability. Her initial thought was right -- he was a high schooler since if he could only handle one or two people before the side effects kicked in. Of course with that thought, she had not factored in the epidemic SPRITE and how it affected the boy or not. But whatever.

Poppy Lockwood sucked in a deep breath and held her head up high as the boy came towards her. Her mind wondered what he was going to do next. Did not know him? She only shrugged in response and waited till he stepped back to reply. "Oh yeah, what did you do that was so bad that you felt like you needed to save us all from it?" An eyebrow arched challengingly.

"Does anyone, really?" Whether it could be implied or not, she was thinking of how if you could not beat them, join them. Poppy chuckled. "Chilly ain't it?" Well she was the main reason why and the cold morning air probably was not helping his case either. "You know, you don't need my permission to put yourself out of this misery. Go on," she said, prompting him to go and change himself out of the wet clothes. She would not have even taken it to heart if he had gone off in the middle of their "conversation" earlier. She was the one after all who dumped the water on the boy anyway.

[Timothy Carter]

He wondered if he would ever learn to be able to fully control his powers or at least to limit some of their actions. He would ideally like to be able to switch them off completely. The longer he spent here though, the more he began to doubt that would ever happen. At most, he could perfect some of his abilities maybe even figure out a way that he could use them for good or at least in a handy way rather than them constantly being a handicap to him. In a way, he was jealous of the girl and those like her who could use theirs with such apparent ease and without having to worry about the potential consequences of their actions.

Tim hesitated to tell here then and there what he'd done to his mother unintentionally that one time, maybe it would serve to shock her into realizing just what misuse of mutant abilities could potentially do. He held back however, never before had he told another student here about his secret and right now wasn't the time to go into any great detail. What he could say though was the truth. Part of it at least. "I hurt someone." He let out in a sigh, lowering his eyes. "I used my powers when I was angry and I lashed out."


He could only answer her response about being caught in the crossfire with a shrug. "I'm sure somebody somewhere would find a way to use it to their advantage. Even if it was just joining in." His comment was of course directed at her. She seemed like the sort to profit from this sort of carnage and certainly take part in it if she had the chance. It hurt his pride slightly to shiver in front of the person who'd gotten him drenched in the first place, it seemed like giving her a form of gratification that she really didn't need or deserve. "I might just..." He muttered, the prospect of getting dry and warm was a rather appealing one. "I'd like to see you this soaked with a smile on your face."

[Poppy Lockwood]

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It was quiet for a while. A long while actually after the revelation on what the boy had done. She watched the boy, with his eyes lowered and sighing like a deflated balloon. He looked so sad and in true regret over what he had done. Of course, Poppy Lockwood could not relate. One, she was never the empathetic kind and secondly, the girl simply never had to feel that way before. As to her knowledge, she had not hurt someone, but there was that time when she threw a chair at a teacher and wrecked a guy's car at least not when her power came into play.

Sure, there were the pranks but those were harmless and how much could she do by manipulating gravity. Well, quite a number of things actually but her sense of disconnection with the world never really put her in the position to lash out. There were of course the occasional emotional outburst -- she remembered the first time she manifested and endangered her pet's life because of the lack of control over her ability. But Poppy had came a long way since then, and she knew she was better than yesterday.

The brunette chuckled at the image her mind conjured up with the scenario the boy described. "See, the thing between you and me," she started, her finger pointing to him and to herself, "I would most probably be smiling like an idiot if someone dumped water on me," she said since she was not one to deny a funny prank unlike the boy. Whilst he found annoyance, she found amusement. What was the point in being a bad sport? "But hey, I guess getting wet isn't for everyone."

With that she pushed herself off against the tree trunk and turned around, heading back to where she came from. After a couple steps, her steps halted. She did not want to leave without saying how she felt. Not everybody necessarily shared her perspective on things, but Poppy liked to just leave it out there and if it would impact the boy in some way -- great. Her body turned again, facing him. "Just my two cents, everybody has hurt someone. At least in some form. But that shouldn't be the reason why you fear of it. If anything, it should make you want to use it and gain more control." She shrugged.

[Timothy Carter]

Timothy hated awkward silences like the one which hung in the air for a good few moments. He doubted that anyone particularly enjoyed them otherwise they wouldn't be dubbed 'awkward' but this one weighed especially heavily on his mind as he found himself remembering that awful day which changed his life. One split second and everything was different, darker... He sometimes asked himself if he'd ever been happy since the incident, more often that not he found himself coming to the conclusion that he had not.

It was hard to explain to another what it was like to harm someone close to you, like your mother. He'd tried with his counsellors but always felt that they were simply trying to make him feel better - which somewhere along the line he supposed was their job - and didn't or couldn't really comprehend what he was feeling. He could live with hearing another's thoughts - even if he couldn't switch that part of his ability off - it was only a nuisance but the idea of repeating his past mistakes and hurting someone, anyone else again was enough to make him live this life of self-imposed relative seclusion. He'd said that he didn't have a choice, maybe that was wrong; he had one and he'd chosen not to take the chance.

The teen remained dubious when the brunette claimed that she wouldn't have been bothered by the water. "I guess we'll just have to put that to the test someday." It wasn't entirely a joke. He wouldn't mind some payback, no matter the form. It would have to be carefully planned out. Simply dumping some water on her wouldn't do, it would have to be when like him she had been enjoying herself... Some research would be required before he went through with his revenge, if he ever did that was.


Timothy started to walk off, sensing that the conversation - such as it was - was coming to an end. It was time to head back to his dorm, dry off and put on some clothes which hadn't taken on the same quality as a sponge. He probably wouldn't come out here again today but would rather taken Argent out and let her stretch her wings; that usually cleared his mind. He was too far away to be able to pick up on any of Poppy's thoughts but the sound of her words was enough to get him to stop. He listened to them, slightly surprised that something like that came from such a source.

The teen ran them over through his mind a couple of times before turning back to look over his shoulder and back at the student. "Thanks... I'll keep it in mind..." He muttered still a little confused and unsure how to react. After a few more moments, he steadily began walking once more, slower this time, still trying to process this new apparent wisdom which had arrived from such an unexpected source.