Sinful Freedom [Training]

Samael seemed really impressed but there was that sentiment again: handy to have around, useful. Devon knew his powers could be useful. Still, he didn’t want to destroy the atmosphere or the environment; people were doing that well enough on their own.

“Yeah,” Devon nodded with a small smile. “I can ask for changes locally, which take longer but has a more widespread effect. Or I can modify a small area directly and quickly. Seventy degrees is easy,” he nodded again quickly. “Lately I’m practicing more and more, getting finer control.”

When Samael said he used the sinners’ resources, Devon winced. So he felt it was okay to take their money because they had sinned? Wasn’t that everyone by definition of the bible? Man, this guy walked a fine line and Devon was worrying more and more what side he fell on. It sounded like everyone was on the other side of that line.

“Flying is second nature to me,” Devon inhaled deeply. “I can see currents of air, manipulate the wind but I simply sail along. It’s freedom and power but when I need – or want – to go very fast I can fling myself along on gusts. Granted, I can manipulate the pressure to make it easier too… I should work on that.”

“So going to an island would be easy. I’ll probably head back to New York soon,” Devon nodded. “But I’ve thought of other places,” he glanced from left to right and then cleared his throat. The sliding water droplets and ice crystals seemed to spray apart but didn’t enter their small clear radius. The shattered and spread, becoming a mist and within a second a cloud of fog surrounded them, severely limiting vision beyond five feet of their clearing.

“I’ve thought about London, too,” Devon grinned. He let the air cool and settle as the fog quickly fell and dispersed, coating the grass around them in a fine layer of frost. “I’d get bored working the weather though. I don’t think that’s what I’m supposed to do. Besides, I hate feeling tied down like that. With all that’s going on, I like to move, explore…” He shrugged, glancing to the ground. Clearly it was more than that.

“It doesn’t matter where I go anyway. My body adapts to the air, the weather so high pressure cold mountain or dry desert, I’ll be fine. Well, until I get dehydrated but even then I could probably pull something out of the upper atmosphere…” he looked up in thought. “I can see pressure systems, moisture levels, the air currents like I said… It’s amazing how busy it is.”

“You must have had a hard time at first, everyone’s thoughts bouncing around or whatever?”

((OOC:
Bipolar Disorder: normal. Two more threads can be normal.
No percentage chances necessary at this time. ))

Samael listened carefully as Devon spoke about making changes to the weather. Not that Samael had gone to college, but he remembered from his earlier schooling just how wide an effect small weather changes could have. Plus he’d seen the Butterfly Effect which was really way better than the things he learned in school in regards to teaching people how small changes could spiral out of control. It was pretty good then that Devon had learned this and even could figure out how to use his powers in wide areas without messing things up. He was… responsible.

It didn’t seem that Devon approved of him using the money and whatnot he’d gotten from sinners, but Samael didn’t really care what he thought about that. What did it matter? It was… tithing if nothing else. If he didn’t do it, he wouldn’t be able to spend as much time finding more sinners, so in essence they paid to help him find their other sinner friends. It was win/win as least as far as Samael was concerned, and who could judge him but God?

“Flying wasn’t as easy for me,” he said, “I didn’t even learn how to do it until recently, and it was a… bumpy start, basically throwing myself from place to place like I was one of those rocks from earlier.” His eyes followed the droplets of water and ice crystals then looked back towards Devon’s dark eyes. As the fog rolled in he slowly turned in a circle, taking it in the way it looked and how the fog seemed to obscure almost everything. Something like this would be useful for him too, when it came to punishing sinners. Samael wondered if he could do something similar with darkness…

“You would get bored working the weather?” he asked curiously, “So what is it you think it is you are supposed to do then, as you said? Fight crime? Be a sinner finding sidekick?” He smirked slightly then admonished himself – he always worked alone, no room for anyone else. Plus they never understood anyways, so really what was the point?

“London would be nice, but overseas travel is expensive, and I don’t think I’m quite up to flying that far yet. Maybe once I’ve gotten a bit faster, yeah? It’ll be a lot easier then. Otherwise too long, too tiring, too easy to get lost.”

“As for the thoughts, it wasn’t as hard as you might think,” he said, “Like I said before it is a fairly new development, not something I was born with. So far it mostly seems to only come on when I really concentrate on someone, so it really hasn’t been too bad. If anything it was harder to get it to work than make it stop. Now that I’ve kind of mastered it though it is definitely easier to just kind of eavesdrop when I need to, or pick out random information.”

“How about you?” he asked, “Any accidental tornados or anything?”

“You were flying pretty good there,” Devon gave an encouraging nod. “It must require a lot more concentration on your part considering your abilities, but like all things… practice, right? Be sure your body can withstand the force before you push yourself too hard though. It can be dangerous.” He finished in a grave tone, a clear warning.

“But yeah, with the way the world is, I’m not going to sit around on an island. I can do some good. Sinner finding sidekick doesn’t exactly sound my style though,” he chuckled, smirking. “I think my focus will not be as narrow as that, but I guess the sin part applies sometimes.”

He listened more closely to Samael’s explanation of the thought detection. He’d forgotten that was new for the guy. He seriously hoped it wasn’t a practice that Samael used on just anyone, himself included. Devon felt guilty for a lot of things. He got upset often enough about nothing, when he thought on…

Was he listening in now? Was he reading Devon’s mind? Why would he ask that question? Was he eavesdropping? He had to be.

Devon’s brow narrowed to a sharp point over the black of his eyes. “Yeah,” he said with a menacing, angry tone. “I didn’t think you would do that to me. If this was all some sick joke for you to fuck with me after reading my thoughts, then you have serious problems.”

((OOC:
Bipolar Disorder: normal. Two more threads can be normal.
No percentage chances necessary at this time. ))

Samael shrugged slightly as they spoke of flight. “It has gotten quite a bit easier,” he said, “Once I kind of realized I didn’t have to throw myself and instead could just kind of.. perpetually move myself.” He shrugged again, “I guess with powers sometimes it is just finding the right way to picture them in your mind and then exerting that on your body, rather than just refining what you already know. You know what I mean?”

“Your focus won’t be as narrow as finding sinners, hmm?” Samael asked curiously. “How narrow of a focus do you think it is? Look at so many of those who are causing problems. Would you consider them sinners? It is not very narrow at all, but sadly far too broad at times.”

Samael watched as Devon seemed to grow uncomfortable after he spoke of peeking into people’s minds. He didn’t need to read Devon’s mind to see each of those thoughts flowing through him, they flowed through Devon’s face like someone had written them on a wall. Honestly Samael was surprised it took Devon this long. Samael hadn’t told very many people about his abilities, but he’d seen it all over the news. The distrust. The hate. The assumptions. All because people hated being powerless, they just couldn’t stand it. Samael could have read Devon’s mind a hundred times by now. Could have made Devon do anything he wanted a hundred times by now. Could have made Devon kill someone and forget all about it. But what do people get angry about first? The thought that you might read one little thought in their mind.

“How did we get to this, Devon?” Samael asked, staring back at those dark eyes, “How did we get from our talks today to you looking at me like that, challenging me to say I’ve ‘fucked’ with you or read your thoughts? I would think as a mutant you’d be reacting a little more trust, considering what I’ve told you so far.” He shook his head a little, crossing his arms, “I’m disappointed.”

“Disappointed in me? Who the hell do you think you are? Our talks today? I just met you. You were just saying how your focus is broad’ Devon said loudly. “Everyone’s a sinner right? And you’re standing all defensively. I know!” He crossed his arms over his chest, “I do it too!” Flinging out his arms, he shook his head.

“So you just happen to bring up the tornado?” Devon scoffed as a couple wind gusts howled through the nearby trees, bending them violently. “You’re the one who said you like to make sinners confess and then force them to repent, not me. You fuck with anyone you believe should be, right? Well I’m no rapist and I don’t deserve this weird mind game.”

He shook his head and pointed a finger at Samael, “I’m sorry if your mother was horrible to you and sorry if it’s all true, but you can’t just go around invading and pushing like this. It’s not fair!” Shouting as he was, Devon was quickly growing upset as his black eyes began to water. The tears flowed up off his cheeks and whirled off into the air as a strange slow wind began to tussle his black hair.

“I didn’t think you would do this and I know you told me all about what happened, but maybe I’m not ready okay? Give me that would you?” his voice was still elevated but it cracked here and there. The flurries gathered into clumps of snow and flew in haphazard directions around them, though never quite nearing their small area. The wind howled angrily from all directions but the air remained warm.

“I trusted you. I figured, hey he’s had it rough, he’s trying to do the best he can, but do you realize how you sound? How you keep sounding? Your beliefs seem to only be right when they satisfy what you want, and I don’t want this,” Devon pointed up into the air. His brow was knitted in severe concentration.

Despite this, a tree branch cracked a broke from a nearby pine. Rain was falling into their small bubble as thunder boomed up in the heavens. Devon was starting to shake, his arms and head twitching. “I barely know you,” he said in a low, contemptuous tone. “I just met you. I- I-,” he paused, the tone softening, “I’m barely holding on lately.”

The tears flew off his face and up, oddly defying gravity to bounce around his head and then drop into the grass below. It was clear the weather had descended into chaos and the near calm, warm area around the two was barely being held by the distraught Devon. He wore a severe frown, but one of deep sorrow not anger.

“Give me a chance to explain. It wasn’t on purpose. I- I-”

((OOC:
Bipolar: Low State. Highly Emotional State: Sorrow.
Maintain environmental conditions nearly failing as he struggles to take the 2 posts to keep things together against the chaos his emotions are causing.
))

And there Devon went, going on about how Samael shouldn’t ask for trust when they had already confided in each other about their past, their powers, their nightly rounds and things they did with their powers, even possibly what they planned on doing for the future. But asking for a bit of trust was apparently way too much trouble. Samael should have known this would happen.

He wasn’t sure why Devon thought he was playing some mind game, he had simply been asking him questions after the guy implied that Samael had been rooting around in his head. A lot of this was making no sense at all and Samael wasn’t really sure what was going on now.

Then things possibly got a little more clear – Devon thought Samael was in his head, pushing him towards things? Again, the trust issue, but also clear that the guy might not have a clear grasp of what normally went on in his head. From the things he said, there may be some mental stability at play. That would explain quite a bit actually, quite a bit indeed.

His gaze followed Devon’s up and towards the heavens, noticing that the weather had turned rather severe and looked almost dangerous as the storm clouds gathered. A loud boom of thunder reverberated close by and Samael briefly wondered if he was going to get electrocuted shortly. He wasn’t sure his new blood would do very well at regenerating that and he didn’t really plan on finding out.

When Samael looked back to Devon he saw the young man crying in a rather odd way that perhaps was just another indicator that mutants were never really fully human. There were always something unique – and sometimes it became apparent in something as simple as crying. When a mutant lost control… things were different.

Then Devon was begging for another chance – another chance at what Samael wasn’t sure. Was he now acknowledging the lack of trust after the intimacy of sharing secrets? Or was it something else? What wasn’t on purpose? Samael uncrossed his arms and cross the short distance between them, placing a hand on each of Devon’s shoulders, giving them a gentle squeeze. “Devon,” he said softly, “Relax. Explain all you need, though you don’t have to.”

“I want you to know, however, that I have not been in your head at all,” he added, “I didn’t need to be. I know you have your secrets, perhaps even your own sins, but I know you are not a bad person who intends to hurt people.”

Devon’s body was truly twitching. He was struggling to keep it together, concentrating to bring things back to normal. He knew he was losing it and he wanted so desperately to hold the weather together. Again, his emotions had gotten the better of him all because Samael had asked about a tornado.

Did he believe the Inquisitor? He came up and squeezed Devon’s shoulders, who in return stared back at Samael with a furrowed brow. The thunder boomed twice more, but it was quieting. The wind started to subside but only just, the trees still contorting much like Devon’s arms and shoulders were.

“Okay, okay,” Devon stuttered, nodding fervently. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It just sounded like-“ He turned around, gesturing with fluid motions. The snow clumps dispersed to flurries as he tried to bring his breath back to normal. He inhaled deeply as he turned back around, lowering his arms but inclining his head. He was still shaking, though at least the temperature remained warmer.

“Thank you, I’m sorry. I’m not alright, I said, you know,” the black-eyed boy sighed. “I don’t want to hurt people… I’m not like that kid.” He shook his head, “But can we change the subject? I need to calm down.” Another deep breath followed his curt tone.

“Sometimes I’m not rational, but I don’t mean not to be, you know?” he asked with a frown. “This is why I said your mother… Look, nevermind, I’m sorry, again,” he nodded once more. “You okay? You seem fine,” he stepped back a pace, glancing around awkwardly.

“You don’t drink- You don’t work- You like to see movies or read or something?” Devon asked, desperately trying to find a new subject. “I do. I think it’s important we have mundane interests too. Our powers aren’t us; I won’t let mine be.” He shook his head and inhaled again.

The trees were no longer cowed, but the breeze remained to eagerly stir the faint snow and the churning clouds. Devon ran a sleeve over his face and nearly growled, shaking his head. He didn’t look very happy with himself, but he scowled often enough anyway.

((OOC:
Bipolar: Low State. Highly Emotional State: Sorrow.
Second post spent to maintain weather, though still upset.
))

The weather had seemed to go more than a little crazy with the thunderstorm previously, the wind, snow flurries. It had essentially gone nuts as Devon lost control of his emotions. Samael appeared concerned, though part of him was rather detached as he took note of it all. What would happen if the guy truly lost control? Hurricanes? Tornados?

As he grasped Devon’s shoulders with gentle hands, Samael noted that things seemed to subside just a little. The guy took a step back from him and seemed to calm the weather down even more with a little more work from his powers, for which Samael was grateful. Things remained warm but he wondered about the surrounding area.

Devon spoke of how he wasn’t alright, and that much was obvious to Samael. Truly the boy seemed more than a little troubled and Samael wasn’t really sure what the root cause of it all was. It was tempting to just go look, but he chose not to. Devon would never know, but… the guy seemed to trust Samael, and for once Samael felt like maintaining that trust both ways.

“I understand,” he said, “None of us are rational all the time, trust me.” He gave a small chuckle, “But I do, I do understand what you are saying.”

Devon asked about mundane interests and Samael shrugged slightly, “I…. rarely have time for them, to be honest, between church and my work and research. You could say I read a lot, however it most likely is not the same things that you read.” Samael watched Devon curiously, “I know you believe I take things too far, and perhaps am overzealous, but perhaps some time you would come pray with me. You may find it brings peace and you don’t even have to believe everything. I have faith you will feel it.”

“You don’t have to though,” he said, then smiled as Devon wiped his eyes and seemed irritated by it, “It is okay to cry. All men should sometimes.”

“Thanks,” Devon said quickly, the annoyed tone still present. He wasn’t annoyed with Samael; he was annoyed with himself. He’d overreacted, letting his thoughts and fear run away from him. He knew he got emotional over such things, but it was hard to control. Things had been very close to getting out of hand. How many times was he going to let that happen?

“You mean the Bible?” he asked, sounding tired now. Every few minutes he would turn and look off in a different direction, his eyes still awash with night. As he calmed, so too did the weather but he’d disturbed the local area. Currents had been set off incorrectly, flowing away while the atmosphere had been unbalanced by the colliding pressure systems and increased temperature of his anger. He could see the chaos clearly.

“I don’t mind praying. I do it plenty,” Devon said, not sounding any less happier. “I’ll go, sure, but I don’t like churches.” He shook his head, “Doesn’t feel right to me, like I said. I’d rather pray under the open sky, or more likely above the clouds. It’s amazing at dawn.”

A slow, deep breath came with that thought. Those were some of his favorite memories: the first sunrise above the clouds, floating over a thunderstorm, seeing the sunset into the ocean. “And I wasn’t exactly crying. I was upset; it happens,” he shrugged as he moved a hand through the air, closing it into a fist.

The winds quieted further and the clouds thinned above as the flurries floated normally down over them again. The warm air heated each flake into a small droplet of water that Devon let fall between them, but not upon them. “But yeah, I got you. In every life a little rain must fall,” he smirked.

“You should make time for movies and other books, too. They tell a lot about people, not like the characters do I mean,” he shook his head. “But how people are doing. When people are trying to get away from things they go to fantasy movies. Feeling powerless? Go to an action movie. Stuff like that. It’s sort of therapeutic I guess.”

((OOC:
Bipolar: Low State. Highly Emotional State: Sorrow.
Second post spent to maintain weather, though still upset.
))

Samael could tell that Devon was still annoyed, though it did not seem directed at Samael himself this time but perhaps rather the things Devon was feeling and the lack of control he currently had over the weather around them. Though the weather control seemed to be fixing itself rather quickly, which was good all things considered. No need for a blizzard in DC this time of year, after all.

Devon questioned if he meant the bible, and then talked about how he disliked churches and preferred praying under the open sky – or apparently also praying way high up in it. Samael pondered what the dawn must look like above cloud levels. Very bright, he supposed. And very cold. He also didn’t understand how Devon disliked churches, as Samael loved them so much. Large or small, if they were well tended they were places of God and places to relax. He didn’t even mind the opulence of so many of them, after all the people had tithed to build it, and if they didn’t like it they would give their money elsewhere. A well made church reminded people of strength and of the power of God, it gave them strength which was something that lasted far longer than a simple can full of beans. Samael got the feeling that might be Devon’s biggest issues with the churches, he was sure the guy would find them hypocritical – that or maybe just claustrophobic, though that might be odd considering the very definition of a cathedral ceiling.

Samael watched as the winds seemed to quiet down even more at Devon’s urging and he watched the guy work, somewhat curiously. Throughout their conversation Devon seemed to change direction as if taking care of each of the cardinal directions’ weather bit by bit, and indeed perhaps that is exactly what he was doing. It made Devon’s power seem quite epic in proportion.

“I make time for movies and television sometimes,” Samael said almost slowly as if unsure of himself, “Just not… too often. I think sometimes people escape too much rather than face reality.” He didn’t add that he did not want to be seen as gluttonous or slothful either by attending too many, as much as he’d like to see some of them. He always had to be careful, the seven sins were always right there tempting you. He eyed Devon curiously, seven deadly sins indeed.

Devon rolled his eyes though thankfully it was impossible to tell due to the darkness that had encompassed them. Not too often, not too much. This guy didn’t live so it was no wonder he seemed so removed. Maybe Devon needed to address his issues more; okay, sure, that was becoming obvious. At least he still tried to make himself a part of society. Humans clearly didn’t know or understand, so if they were going to, you had to understand them. Simply condemning people and judging them probably wasn’t going to achieve much in general.

“I think it just became clear to me, you’re more interested in the specific individual and I’ve a bigger picture,” Devon said gently. “Maybe it’s the high flying or something. Maybe it’s my perspective of weather systems. I don’t know exactly. I would like to encourage more thought in people.”

“And yeah, people escape sometimes too much. Just make sure you understand what’s going on else you’re not going to be able to reach them…” he trailed off and frowned. Damn it. He really did owe his past shrinks an apology. This conversation was getting annoying.

A sight left him as he stuck his hands in his pockets. He was calming down. Things felt okay for now. He was going to stick with the belief that Samael was staying out of his head. Devon wasn’t going to bring up anything he didn’t want to. It was going to be a long while, if ever, he told someone about what happened.

“I think it might be time to go,” Devon added. “It’s getting late.” He looked around at the ominous and once again silent night. He was feeling tired, emotionally anyway.

((OOC:
Bipolar: Depressive.
Second post spent to maintain weather, though still upset.
))

Samael frowned slightly as Devon seemed to imply that Samael didn’t see the big picture. Devon didn’t really have it right at all, but Samael didn’t really think this was the right time to correct him with how overly emotional the guy seemed. Maybe later he could sit the guy down and talk about how taking action and actually doing things is worth a thousand times more than sitting around philosophizing about the big picture. Or… maybe there was some middle ground the two of them would find together. It remained to be seen surely.

Devon pondered leaving and Samael checked his watch briefly and nodded, “That is probably a good idea, actually. I still have the dinner tonight – in fact I think it has already started but I’ve never been much one for getting to these things on time. Better to show up once they’ve had a little bit to drink, you know?” Besides, Samael was good enough at reading people to know that Devon was probably a little exhausted, especially with all of the changes he’d just made to the weather. He wasn’t sure how tiring it was, but probably wasn’t easy.

Samael lifted slowly off the ground and gestured towards the city, “Let’s head back then. Before we split up though, make sure I get you my number for when you come to New York City, yeah? Hopefully you’ll visit sooner rather than later.”

“I don’t have a cell phone,” Devon replied quickly. He didn’t need one, let alone he didn’t want to be tracked down with one. Yeah he picked up throw aways when he needed to but he hates how it made him feel like a drug dealer. It was pathetic not to even own a cell phone and he knew it. It was his turn to frown again.

He hadn’t missed Samael’s either, but in a way he didn’t care. Well that wasn’t right. It was more he cared that it upset the guy but Devon didn’t want to hold his tongue either. The Inquisitor had a very odd perspective and it sure seemed pretty narrow. He needed someone to shake up the status quo and make him consider things differently. Devon was fine with that.

“Maybe you should give me your number, instead,” Devon urged. “I’ll call you when I’m in town and we can meet somewhere or something. I guess I’ve been away for over a month so visiting wouldn’t be too bad, but I might bounce around Virginia for a while. I don’t know.” He finished with a low, sad tone and a dismissive shrug.

“I would like to see more of what you can do. We can practice up at least with your telekinesis or something,” he said with a touch more hope. He wasn’t going to bring up telepathy. Devon had no defensive power there, save for the chaos raging within him. As far as he was concerned, one telepathic command and he’d-

“Yeah, so, sure,” the Tempest nodded. A sudden gust howled down from the sky and bore him aloft. Snow raced along the current’s spiraling path and trailed after Devon’s fingers as he took his hands from his pockets.

((OOC:
Bipolar: Depressive.
))

Samael was surprised that Devon didn’t have a cell phone. Who didn’t have a cell phone these days? The idea made him smile just slightly as he reinforced the idea of the crazy cloud flying hippie that Devon seemed to be. He wondered if the guy smoked pot or if he chose not to because he was too scared of what he’d do while high – not that Samael did the stuff, he’d never tarnish his body with it. But he thought Devon might… And oddly the thought didn’t make him too angry. It just seemed to fit him.

Devon started to fly towards town and Samael followed like a silent rocket, the air whistling slightly around him. As he flew he toyed with other methods of his powers, creating a small shield of telekinetic force in front of him to help part the wind. It certainly helped things from getting too cold.

The pair hurtled quickly towards the city, staying low once they got close, and once they were towards downtown again Samael set them down in an alley. As the weather manipulator settled, Samael smiled at him, “Can you remember a phone number if I give it to you? Or an address?”

He would then give Devon his information and flash him a warm smile before leaving, “I’m… glad we talked. Look me up soon, alright?” And with that he’d zip off into the night.

Devon soared on, throwing a pocket of forty-something degree air around Samael. He would zig-zag ahead like lightning only to fling back and check on the stabilized air. He knew the wind was fluttering a fair amount but it looked like the Inquisitor could handle the trail breezes. That was good; he’d need it.

He gave Samael a quick nod after they’d landed. The guy had to get on but not before offering over his name and address. An address too? Maybe Devon was in the wrong; Samael seemed more trusting than he expected. It was odd exchanging such information in an alley at all.

A small, forced smile spread across his face. “Yeah, it was interesting… I will eventually. Try not to get yourself in trouble,” he snarked. With a small nod, he watched Samael leave. A moment later he was back in the air.

The stirring flurries and risen gusts turned him back to the YMCA where he picked up his bag and a strange letter. From there, he ascended above the clouds in a monstrous howl of wind. He stared up at the stars and the moon, the clouds unable to block his view from beneath him. Finding southwest, he flew on.

He had a decision to make.

(( Total of 6405 words. OOC was NOT counted.

1000 spent on skill upgrade: https://marvelunlimited.forumotion.com/t1725-tempest-skill-upgrades
2800 spent on abilities: https://marvelunlimited.forumotion.com/t1733-atmokinetic-abilities-2-complete
1400 spent on abilities: https://marvelunlimited.forumotion.com/t1654-atmokinetic-abilities-complete

Bank = 1205 words.
))