Sharon and Vance (May 26)

[om_catseye]

Sharon encourages Vance to use his TK creatively. INVISIBLE STEPS.



Sharon found Vance in the common room. She dropped down onto the couch and grabbed up a piece of paper, tucking it into the book he was reading, and then promptly shut the book on him. She tugged at his wrist.

"I have an idea, you should come with me," she said.

Vance blinked, but stood up as instructed. "Where are we going? What's the idea?

"Danger room. Easier to control." She led him into the hall. "No flying you said, but have a safer idea. Going to make steps."

Now aware of their destination, Vance moved with a little more purpose. Steps, she'd said? Did she mean...TK steps? That actually sounded pretty cool, if he was able to manage it. He had to admit, he'd never exactly tried to make mind-stairs before. "That could be awesome."

She beamed at him. "Yes."

Vance grinned back. "I wonder....maybe I could eventually make, like, whole mental obstacle courses. How cool would that be?"

"Very cool!" She switched her grip on his wrist so that she was holding his hand instead, all the better to pull him at a brisk pace down the hall. "We can build very high, so don't be afraid. Always land on my feet. And I do heal, if for some reason I didn't." Her tone implied that wouldn't happen, she was just assuring him so he'd have no objections.

"Let's start small, and then build taller," he suggested. "Not that I'm doubting the agility of a cat."

"Good." Because that would be very foolish.

Vance chuckled, and then squeezed her hand once as they headed down to the Danger Room. "Alright," he said, as the doors opened with a soft, pneumatic hiss. "So. Stairs, huh?"

"Stairs!" she agreed. "Big flat surface. We can work the way up."

"Awesome." Vance spent a minute visualizing stairs, before he did anything solid. Once he had the picture pretty solid, and closed his eyes, and focused on his TK. Tendrils pushed out, forming themselves into the wide, flat platforms he'd pictured.

Sharon could sense the change and there was a faint hue where the tendrils of TK met. "Ready?" she asked.

"Go ahead," he replied, nodding while maintaining his concentration. She didn't weigh that much, so he figured it shouldn't get that much harder.

Sharon stepped up gingerly.

Vance watched her and also felt her as she took her first step up onto the tendril-stairs. Yeah, he could do this. "Doing good," he said.

She smiled and stepped up further.

As Sharon moved slowly up his first-attempt at stairs, Vance formed new steps to continue the staircase up towards the ceiling.

She walked carefully, making sure each step was firm beneath her, ready to shift into her big-cat form if the TK gave way. She trusted Vance, and doubted it would be necessary. "Good!" she called down.

"More?" He asked, already removing old steps, and then shifting them around and up so that the staircase would keep going.

She hopped up a step. "Yep! Ceilings way up."

That was definitely true. Alright, then. He was doing pretty well so far, so he figured he could keep it up. Vance pushed out some more tendrils, so he could layer steps more quickly. "If you want me to stop, just tell me, okay?" He told Sharon.

"Keep going!" she said with a grin.

The more levels he built, the more attention he realized it was taking, until it started to show in some slight vibration. Vance quickly pulled more of the lower levels away, so that only the level Sharon was on and those above it remained solid.

She didn't stop until she was waaaay up, seeing how tall the room was. She sat down on the top step and applauded. "Good!" She called down. Then, with a grin, she asked, "Think you could make a slide?"

"I...never really thought about it," Vance admitted. He let all of the steps but the one Sharon was sitting on vanish, and then reached with a tendril while trying to flatten it into something that resembled one of those whirly slides at the park. "Maybe?"

"Think and tell me when ready," she said. "Trust you."

Well, geez. Not that Vance had been taking this lightly (because of course he wasn't, this was dangerous), but her compliment made him even more determined to get this absolutely right. He swallowed, and then pushed more force into the tendril, solidifying it and a few tangential tendrils next to it. Vance bound them together and then flattened them out. "Okay. I think....I think it's ready."

She smiled. "Alright. Coming down. Shout loudly if your powers suddenly stop working." She winked.

"If my powers give out, I think we'll both be shouting loudly," Vance promised.

"Nope. I'll be turning into a cat." She pushed off and started to slide down.

He was too focused to even laugh the way he normally would've. Vance held the 'slide' firm as she made her way down. He would not let her fall.

He performed very adequately and the TK held all the way down. Sharon bounced up to her feet and immediately distracted him by pouncing and wrapping her arms around him. "Yay! Good job!"

Vance laughed, both amused and really relieved. A touch tired, he leaned into Sharon's embrace still grinning. "I'm glad you liked it."

She nuzzled his cheek and pulled him down to the floor so that he could sit. "Knew you'd come in handy."

"Stairs make me handy, huh?" He asked, letting her tug him down. Vance sat on the floor, or really he sprawled, propping himself with his arms.

She snuggled against him. "Good for tall places. Fun. Maybe we can figure out more fun things to do."

"Like what?"

"Will have to think," she said. "Other shapes maybe. Climbing things..."

Vance mulled that over. "Like an obstacle course or something?" He asked. It might work, though he guessed he'd never really thought of it. Mostly because it wasn't really something a superhero might want in his arsenal. Still, it couldn't hurt either.

"Yes," Sharon said. "Perfect. Ooooh, with moving parts." Because clearly Vance was being upgraded from chair to gym equipment. The possibilities with his powers were too entertaining to ignore. And really, moving obstacles were useful. Or would at least help him become more spontaneous and versatile. Sharon was only helping him in the long run.

"Maybe a start with stationary parts, first," he suggested. "Just until I get the hang of, y'know, making multiple things with my tendrils that aren't working together all at once."

"Well, yes," she said. "Still learning. But then, bigger." She gestured with her arms spread. With a smile she leaned back in against him, wrapping an arm around his torso and snuggling with her cheek against his chest. "Very hard worker. Will be good."

He flushed lightly at the praise. "I hope so."

"Know so."