Getting to Know Each Other

Michi balanced her tray of food from the cafeteria as she attempted to hold open the initiate dorm room door with her foot. She jerked her head toward the interior, having no use of her hands, but encouraging Regina to go in first.

"I'm starving," she said, as Regina went through the doorway, allowing her space to get through. "Thank god we made it to the cafeteria before it closed."

Michi sat on the carpet then, setting her tray down carefully, as not to spill her soup before digging in. The warm broth of the soup made her feel a lot better after her long and draining day. It was a comfort, after so much taking in of a new place, so much paperwork completed, and then meeting these two students. She was physically drained after being hurt like that by Regina. Michi didn't blame her so much as wonder what happened, but was more so concerned at this point about when she could sleep. The whole thing had just been physically exhausting, and she was ready to pass out.

She set down her bowl to swallow momentarily and asked, "So, what happened back there?"

Regina rubbed her arm nervously as she sat down across from Michi after setting down her tray beside her. "My gift happened..." she said shamefully, "I try so hard to contain it, since all my attempts to control it are futile. Otherwise, I try to avoid touching people." Regina sighed at the thought, but knew she should probably try to make the though subject a little more light-hearted. "Yeah, it's pretty awful, my boundaries that is!" she added the last part with a small chuckle, "No hugs, no holding hands, no games, no sports, no friends, no boyfriends, no touching...ever..." The orange-haired girl shrugged at this point, her expression nonchalant, "It's not as bad as it seems, especially since I can fix what I break or what other people break, sometimes it's even welcomed by other people. But still, being helpful doesn't stop people from thinking of you as a freak; as a potential danger." she was starting to realize that the subject was getting darker again, "But, as you have seen, my gift and the boundaries also ruined any sort of social skills I have..." her words were followed by a nervous chuckle.

Michi listened as Regina started to talk about that power she'd seen. She talked about being unable to control it. Michi grimaced as Regina listed off all the things she could never do; stopped herself from doing in order to keep the people around her safe.

"I'm sorry you have to hold back so much," Michi told her. "It must hurt. Though if it's any consolation, I think you've still learned your social skills from watching others. You don't seem maladjusted to me." She chuckled before continuing. "It's not exactly the same, but I have trouble controlling my power too. But for me, it's that I can't progress with it. I'm not becoming more skilled, even though I practiced almost constantly at home, and I don't know why. I never showed you my gift or talked about it yet, but—"

Michi outstretched her hand, palm facing upwards, and a small sphere of light faded into existence, right above her skin.

"I can control and create light," she said. "It's just light, so it isn't solid or physical. You can't touch it, because that's the way all light is. But I can create points of it. So instead of on my hand, I could put it on yours. But I'm controlling where it appears and how long it stays constant."

The light hovering above Michi's hand disappeared, and another ball of it appeared in front of Regina. It was the same size as the other.

"But I can't make them any bigger," she continued. "This is as much as I can do, about the light of a flashlight."

The light faded away, and Michi brought up her knees to hug them while sitting.

"I came here to learn how to better control my power," she said, "and become as skilled as my parents are in their light creation. Is that why you came? To better control your powers?"

"Yeah, I just want to know how to hold it back at times so that I can come in contact with people; even just for a moment." she said with a sigh, "Besides, no schools where I used to live would take me anymore because of all of the reports and my mom was losing her jobs constantly...among other things..." Regina had brought her 'father situation' previously with Grant, and didn't think it was a very good idea to scare off her newfound friend with such depressing things, just yet. She knew that she would need to be truthful for this, or any friendship, to work out, but she didn't need to tell this truth right now...
"Well, your gift seems rather harmless!" Regina said with a shrug and a chuckle of good-natured laughter. "So you're telling me that you and your family are living flashlights?" she only meant the words as a joke to lighten the mood.

Michi hardly knew what to say. Regina sounded so sad. Her whole life had been uprooted by her gift. Michi wondered how long it had been since the last time she hugged someone before today.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Have you gotten any better over time? Can you control your powers now more than you used to?"

Then Regina laughed, trying to change the subject and talk about Michi's gift.

"Yeah, I suppose you could call us human flashlights," Michi laughed. "But my parents are much more skilled than I am. They could light an entire building, multiple buildings, or a football field if they wanted with how powerful they are. I'm still learning. If I'm a flashlight, they could be the sun."

Michi almost drifted away in memories then. She was so frustrated with how her powers had stopped progressing. Her parents were so talented, and she never felt like she was living up to their family's potential. She had loved watching them when she was younger. She prayed for the power to go out at home during storms, because it meant that her parents would take turns lighting the house. The neighbors always assumed that the Tanaka family never lost power, and always asked why. Her parents told them they must be lucky. But Michi knew, and always waited for the next time.

She sighed.

"Not really on my own time have I gotten any better with my gift." Regina said to Michi, "I usually just avoid it and hide my powers so that I'm not seen as a threat by anyone. So I suppose that's a form of control..." She chuckled a little, taking her own words as kind of a joke.
"You've got a lot of potential," Regina told the other girl, "You also have a lot less to worry about when it come to your gift. And I won't mind if you practice in the dorm, as long as you don't blind me or anything!" She had meant what she side about Michi's potential, the same was true about letting her use her gift around her, but she was poking fun with it.

"It's hard to know what to do," Michi said. "Maybe someone here at the school would have some kind of pain control power, and you could practice with them?" She shrugged. "It's kind of a long shot, I guess, but maybe your professors can come up with a better plan that won't force you to hurt anyone or to stay by yourself all the time."

Michi couldn't imagine how distraught Regina probably felt. She needed to practice in order to improve, but couldn't find a way to without hurting others with her gift. But Regina still remained kind, through all her suffering. She complimented Michi on her potential, and had been attentive and genuinely apologetic when she hurt her with her gift.

"Thank you," Michi said. "And I promise not to blind anyone."

She laughed a little. The jokes, the talking, the hanging out. This could be friendship.

Regina smiled warmly at Michi until the scent of their meals caught her attention. "Oh dear, we've barely touched our food!" she said with a nervous chuckle. She dug into her pile as she brought their dinners to her temporary-roommate's mind. "I really hope we stay in touch after we've been sorted to our respective houses," she spoke her thoughts aloud, "you know, we might just end up being roommates there too! But that may be a bit of a long shot." It seemed like a nice idea to her, especially since she liked being around Michi and her company was most definitely welcome anytime.