Watch Out, Dummy [open]

There was a line of target dummies standing side by side in a long row. Kayla stood in front of one of them, her left arm outstretched. Her right was still in a sling from the mission, a constant reminder of her own weakness.

It was stupid, unfair, but she knew that it was all her own fault in the end. She couldn't point her finger and blame anybody but herself for all her problems, as easy as that'd make things. So she had to train, and train, and train, until nobody would even think about trying to put her down anymore. That was the only way to go about it, to fix it. Whenever she moved onto another dummy, Kayla thought about Code Lilith, about her father, about the boy who had beaten her in the Summer Tournament and the kid she'd fought on the first day of school, and about everyone who had ever looked down on her or gotten in her way. There were too many people to list.

Die.

She snapped her fingers, and a bluish-white lightning bolt went streaking through the air from her index finger. It hit the target dead on, and the person-shaped dummy went flying backwards in an explosion of straw, sulfur, and splinters. Sparks crackled around her hand, but she was already moving on to the next one.

Die.

Another snap, like a gunshot, and another dummy went flopping backwards to the floor without its head. There weren't any smirks or scowls or the usual grins from Kayla today. Now her face was an iron mask, eyes burning with all her bottled frustration and determination. She thought about how helpless she'd been in the infirmary, about the Simulation, about every time she'd ever been humiliated, or beaten, or mocked.

Die.

Kayla snapped her fingers with a step forward. A spear of electricity went piercing through the painted target and through the strawman, exploding it from within. Another bullseye. Another death.

Ever since the teachers had cracked down on honing into one's gift, the training rooms had become serious business. Not that it hadn't always been important or stocked with various objects the students could manipulate, but never had the training room seen as many different students in one year than in all of the years of it's existence. Students of all shapes and sizes, with so many different gifts and abilities had walked  through those gym doors; which was a thrilling thought to Florence, who at only seven years old was much too young to use the room herself.

The ginger child was hidden behind an old punching bag that had a large hole scorched in the middle. It had been carelessly tossed to the side after a gifted student had used it, and was a bit of a nuisance to anyone wanting to reach the other punching bag. But it was perfect for the small child to hide behind to spy on whoever was training in here. Today she was surprised to see another girl in the room with a gift very similar to her own.

Her green eyes were pried open with shock as she watched the girl work her gift so effortlessly. Florence wanted to do that! She studied Kayla's movements in awe until the third Dummy was hit. This target was much closer to her than the others had been and its explosion sent large splinters directly towards her direction. Florence let out a small squeal and ducked behind the intact part of the punching bag, watching as the dummy's head rolled directly in front of her feet and stop.

Florence jumped up, her eyes wide and her hair sticking straight up due to all of the static energy in the air. She let her mouth gape open towards Kayla, before pulling it into a wide smile and exclaiming, "THAT WAS SOOOO AWESOME!"

The small, shrill squeal made her heart jump. Did I hit someone?! She whirled around, looking for the source of the sound, her fingers cocked like a gun. Kayla didn't know what she was expecting. An eavesdropping student, a teacher, an annoying escaped piglet, something, anybody. Instead she found herself staring at a little girl, with static-charged ginger hair and a wide beaming smile on her face. "Huh...?"

Kayla's iron mask melted into a confused and irritated frown. The girl was too young to be a student, only second or third grade at the most. Was she from in town? "How did you get in here?" she demanded, glancing down at the punching bag she'd been sheltering behind. There was a wide, scorched hole right through the middle. "Why are you here?" What kind of parent would let their kid run around a place like this? This was Beata Academy, where the faculty's idea of a fun Easter Sunday was letting monsters loose on campus. It wasn't exactly the world's best playpen.

Florence hopped up and down a few times, too excited to stand still. This girl was soo cool. "HOW DID YOU DOoooooOOOOO THAT!!" The small girl continued, completely ignoring the older girl's questioning. Now was not the time to worry about Florence, hello!! She had just completely demolished that dummy!

The flighty girl stopped jumping, only to pick up the dummy's head... and then she began to jump again. "You went all- ZAP ZAP!!--" She exclaimed, wildly reenacting Kayla's action with an over dramatic flare. "And then the-the-the uh... that little fake man thingy-thing went- POW POW POW!"" Florence threw the dummy's head as far as she could and flailed her arms around her, as if she was the exploding object herself. This was the coolest thing she had seen all week! Well, except for the monster guts... yeah, that was pretty cool.

"Agghh..." Kayla clasped her hand over her ear to try and block out the girl's excited squealing. How was she supposed to deal with this? Her questions went ignored and unanswered as the younger girl started flailing her arms around in an dramatic re-enactment. "It's just my gift..." It wasn't that impressive, was it? Maybe to an outsider, but it wasn't like anybody could just waltz into Beata Academy. Everyone here, at the school and in town, had some kind of power of their own.

Electricity writhed down her arm. It was too weird being, well... fawned over by this random little kid. "It's not that great. You must have parents or a brother or sister or something with powers, right?" A deep frown etched itself onto her face. The girl still hadn't told her how she'd gotten into the training room. "Speaking of which, where are your parents? Are you even allowed in here? Shouldn't you be coloring or something?"

She wasn't this girl's babysitter, but this wasn't the safest place to play hide-and-seek. The punching bag she was hiding behind was enough evidence of that.

Florence stared at Kayla blankly as she began to put herself down. "But you don't understand lady!!!! I can't do that!!!" The child explained, continuing to slightly bounce on the balls of her feet. She looked down at her hands and furrowed her eyebrows deep with concentration. A small current of light danced between her fingers and was gone as soon as it came. Flo looked back up at Kayla with exaggerated wide eyes. "Seeeeeeeeeee?!? I can't make that big lightening thingy like you!"

But much to Florence's disappointment Kayla didn't stop the whole nonsense of her parents. Florence let out a big sigh, letting her hands flop down to her side lazily. ""Duuuuuh!" Florence exclaimed raising an eyebrow towards the older girl. "My whole family can do power stuff! They just never-ever-ever-EVER use them for cool stuff like you just did!!!!" But Kayla didn't seem to stop there, and Florence began to pout. "Coloring is for babies and I am NOT a baby. I'm so grown up that... that... I walked her all by my self! So, HA!"

Why did this girl want to know so much about where her parents were or who her parents were? They were so boring!! Florence puffed out her chest with dignity. She knew that she had to impress this older girl if she ever wanted to be cool in her life time, so she just had to prove that she was just as cool and important as her parents. "Besides, my parents... they-- they work here and my brother and sister go to school here-- which means that I can totally be in here to work on my gift just like you." Florence justified, staring at the electric current that was dancing around Kayla with awe.

This girl ran her mouth at a mile a minute. Kayla began to rub her temple, but the sight of the electricity between the girl's fingers made her freeze up. She let the girl talk on and on and on for a minute before stopping her with a wave. "Hey, hey, wait a minute... you can do the same thing as me?" Before the inevitable "nuhh uhhh, what did I just say?!", she moved to correct herself. "You have the same gift?"

Besides, my parents... they-- they work here and my brother and sister go to school here--...

She didn't know anything about his parents, but he had a sister, didn't he? The Formal Queen, two years in the running. Gifts were genetic, right? What was it that he said again, back when they first met?

Kayla shook the thought out of her head. No, no, impossible. They were just as annoying, but she was too bright and cheery to be related to an asshat like him. "Must be pretty common," she muttered, dismissing her own wild thoughts and turning her attention back onto the brat.

Now what to do about this?

'Nothing' was always an option. If some little girl wanted to run around the school and get under everybody's feet, then it wasn't any concern of hers. Right? ...Right?

"It's really dangerous for a little kid to play around here, you know." There was a bit more fire in her voice as she started to lecture. She couldn't help but be reminded of her own little sister back home in a way... but Lain always felt more soft-spoken. "What do you think would happen if someone hit you on accident while they were training in here? And you're not supposed to mess around gym equipment, you know." Kayla rapped her knuckles on a nearby bench press, as if to prove a point. "Even if your parents work here, who's supposed to be watching you right now? You said you walked here by yourself, right? You're not old enough to just go running around without an adult!"

Now she really was sounding like a babysitter. Old habits died hard. She looked away with a sigh, running a hand through her bangs, sparks playing at the tips of her fingers. "And if you're the same as me, then you just have to wait until you get older. For now you should just be focusing on coloring or cooties or dolls or whatever you... do. There's not much to train at your age anyways."

ooc: sorry this post is like a million years late and is kind of short!

Florence stared at the older girl with surprise. She definitely didn't expect her to go all big sister on her like she just had. "B-but.." Florence stammered, a trace of defeat lingering in her words. "That's not faaaaair." Her voice was quivering. The small girl crossed her arms promptly in front of her chest. She began to pout, looking up at Kayla with large watery eyes.

"I j-just wa-a-anted t-to be cool li-like yooouu." Florence exclaimed as she began to cry. The girl buried her face into her hands, and her small sob turned into a wail. A gross, slobbery, loud wail. "W-why hiccup are y-you be-e-eing so hiccup m-mean?" It was the classic spoiled thing to do. It seemed all average children of this age were accustomed to throwing a mild tantrum whenever they didn't get their way. Florence herself didn't pitch a fit often, but this case was dire. She would practically die if Kayla didn't at least show her some cool lightning stuff.

She wasn't sure what she should've expected, but that caught her off guard. Kayla blinked down at her as tears began to fill the young girl's eyes. "...H-hey, what are you..."

Oh, Jesus Christ... She flinched against the wail, clasping a hand over her ear. It took all her willpower not to slap her across the head. How was she supposed to deal with this? Tell her to cram it, kick her out, just run away? Kayla wasn't equipped to handle something like this. "Okay, alright, shit!" she shouted finally, just yelling the first thing that came to mind, unable to take it anymore. "I'll do whatever you want, alright?! Just... shut up! You're too old to be crying like that!"