You sure are a curious one...open

Pepper had been feeling troubled lately. Her power was increasingly growing, and by now she was practically a bomb just waiting to go off. The student walked into the conservatory, never having visited it before. She walked along the plants, her fingers gently brush the tops of them. Pepper stopped at the Fire Lily. So beautiful.

Sitting on one of the benches was Luke. His eyes were fixed on the book in front of him, his knees pulled up to his chest as he reclined sideways. He always sought quiet, peaceful places to hide simply because he wasn't fond of other people. Normally they would ask why he always wore gloves or ask about his powers...It was never a topic he enjoyed because it revealed how dangerous he was - if he touched the a person with a dangerous gift...It was easy for things to go wrong when you copied the gift of whoever you touched.

His eyes flickered to his gloves that were resting neatly on his knees. He hated always being forced to wear them, which was why he mostly sought peaceful spots where he would be alone - he could remove them without a worry. However, his heart skipped a beat when he heard the sound of door to the conservatory open and someone entering. His eyes flickered as he attempted to locate them, sinking slightly into the bench as he attempted to hide behind his book. This wasn't good...He swallowed, before he reached over to his gloves and started to slip them on. He might as well be prepared if whoever entered spotted him and decided to talk.

Pepper heard a rustle a few steps away and realized she didn't even notice if any other students were around. She looked behind her spotting a boy sitting on a bench. He didn't look like he wanted to talk, but sometimes, not saying hello made it look like she was rude. She took a breathe and walked over to him. "Hello. Sorry, I didn't see you." she said quietly. "Uh, mind if I sit with you?"

Ah...Of course. He looked up as he finished slipping on his final glove as she came over. His eyes studied her for a few moments before he grumbled something soft under his breath as he closed his book before swinging his feet off the side of the bench to create room for the girl. "Go ahead," he said with a dip of his head. No point in being rude to her even if he didn't want to talk. Gah, curse him for caring for how other people felt - it would be so much easier to be anti-social if he didn't.

Pepper sat down awkwardly, not knowing what to say. "So, um, I'm Pepper." She could tell that the boy didn't want to talk. "I'm sorry if I interrupted your reading. I'm just, having some troubles and..." she said he voice trailed off.

He leaned back slightly, his eyes fixed on Pepper as she started to talk. He listened quietly, not saying a word until she was done and mused over what to say. At least she seemed to recognize that he hadn't really been hoping to be social but her words didn't spark curiosity in him - the type of curiosity that he hated as it always lead to questions that people didn't want to answer. "Nice to meet you, Pepper," he stated softly before he glanced at his book that remained closed on his lap. "And...its fine. I can read it later I suppose." Silent until he stiffed slightly as he turned to look at her once again. "Ah...Do you wish to talk about it? I'm...Not the best at helping people but I can listen...And I suppose that is all people need at times. But if you don't wish to talk about it, its fine. I'm never fond of talking about personality issues..." He grew quiet, forcing himself to stop his rambling. He always felt unsure of what to say, but his father had always told him that really all people want to do is find somebody to listen to their problems.

Pepper was surprised how similar this boy sounded, thinking of her brother. "My powers, they're just acting up. And I'm just worried. And, I want to tell my brother, but then he'll worry about me. I don't want him to waste his time doing that." She looked down at her lap.

Smiling softly as he attempted to come up with words to say, before he spared a glance down at his gloved hand. "My powers are always acting up," he found himself saying before he frowned softly. While he hated talking about it, if it was going to help...God, he always attempted to act so cold to people but he could never carry though with it. He liked helping people, even he if attempted to hide it behind books, puzzles and gloved hands. "Well...Somewhat always acting up. Its dangerous to touch people and I just don't know how to get around it...My parents were always worried but I would never admit it."

"Ya, well at least yours isn't turning into a huge dragon. My power losing control means blowing the roof off this place!" She said somewhat exaggerated.

His eyes flickered toward the ceiling as she mentioned it, attempting to picture something like that. "It would be my gift if I touched you," he found himself mumbling under his breath as he let out a soft sigh, leaning back ton the bench. However, he quickly realized that she might of heard what he had said causing him to clear his throat as he turned his attention to her. "Ah...My power is rather special I suppose as it allows me to...Copy other people's gifts. And from what I've learned from copying my parent's gifts, I tend to have little to no control over them." He gritted his teeth as he raised a gloved hand to draw attention to it. "One mistake means trouble for me."

Pepper glanced at the boy. That's an odd power. "And whoever you take the power from."

ooc-shortness ;3;

Luke nodded with a sigh as he leaned back on the bench, letting his gloved hand drop back onto the book on his lap. "Its always so...Annoying to be forced to wear gloves around people. And while I know I am help master my gift..." he gave a soft shrug as he shook his head. "But how I am suppose to do that when my gift somehow relies on mastering other people's gifts?"

Pepper thought for a minute. "Hmm. Maybe, that's it. Maybe, now just here me out. You know the X-Men? Anyway, there is a girl named Rouge that has a power almost exactly like yours." She was starting to get excited talking about someone else's power. "In one of the episodes, she loses control of her abilities because she absorbed so many people's powers, she couldn't contain herself. So, it might actually be a good thing that you're not using your power so much. We wouldn't want you losing control, would we?" She gave a smile. "And don't feel like you're not important. I mean, my power is turning into a dragon that even I sometimes can't control. So I don't use it that often either." Pepper hoped her words were encouraging enough for him.

X-Men? Luke couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that, his mouth open slightly as he thought about anything to say about it. Truth-be-told, that sounded really stupid. I mean, 'X-Men' what the hell did that mean? Also Rouge? What kind of name was that, a code-name or something? But he didn't dare say a thing until Pepper had finished talking before he gave her a soft smile as he let her words soak in. "I...I suppose you do have a point," he found himself saying as he leaned back on the chair. "But I suppose the real issue on my part is that...Well, I don't want to have a life where I am to scared to hold somebody's hand, you know?" He shook his mess of blonde hair, a huff escaping his nose. "But I suppose a life behind gloves would be a little price to pay for everybody's safety."

Pepper thought for a moment. "Well, I guess we are kinda similar in ways. Cause I never really get to use my power without most likely hurting someone." She said with a sigh.

ooc-short, late//shot