(2019-10-07) Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Summary: Syd, Bryce, Ashton and Pavel plan for the immediate future. Turns out growing up is hard.
Date: IC Date (2019-10-07)
Related: Related Logs (None)
NPCs: {$npc}
Scene Runner: N/A
Players:
ashton..bryce..pavel..sydney..

Multi-discipline science class has just wrapped up for the day as the Professor dismisses the students. Bryce however, doesn't get up immediately. Instead he just sits there with the 'thinking' look on his face. He brings his hands forward and places his elbows on the desk. His fingertips tap together as many of the students start to file out: some heading to dinner while others are heading to work or homework. One student can be heard saying, "Man, I can't wait for the Arena Fetch match tonight."

Sydney rests her head on her desk, trying to absorb it all. Science used to be fun. Used to be easy. There's so much more of it now, and so much of what she knew from back in the day… turns out to be wrong.

Having been relatively quiet during the class, Pavel remains seated for now. Since he is wearing the power armor, he can get up when it's time for doing so. But for now he just looks at his notes rather carefully, muttering something in Russian to himself.

<FS3> Bryce rolls Omniglot: Good Success.

Ashton is finishing up his AP Chemistry assignment. He hears Bryce's comment and smirks slightly. There is nothing wrong with a little bit of competition, but that is about as far as Ashton is willing to take it, refusing to lower himself to trash talking. He'll leave that to Jaws.

Bryce looks over at Sydney and knows how difficult her time has been. He can't imagine how difficult it must be to relearn so much. To find so much which was previously held to be true to now be disproven. He looks over at her and says, "You know, I, I do not mind helping you, er, study." Without realizing what he is doing, Bryce responds in Russian to Pavel, "Your father is a scientist?" He then reaches up and touches his circlet while thinking about the lecture. Speaking (in English this time) to no one in particular, he says, "Maybe it is time for me to try, uh, some ap-plied science my, myself."

Sydney looks over at Bryce and smiles weakly. "Ok. I'll take you up on that." She looks around at the others, then back at Bryce, and murmurs, almost to herself (but knowing he can probably read lips) "if it's biology, we still gotta wait another month."

"Yes, he is the one that built the suit for me," Pavel replies, instinctively in Russian before he seems to remember not everyone speaks the language. Switching to English, he smiles. "Ah, sorry. I forget not everyone speak the language."
Ashton closes up his notebook and slides it and he text book into his backpack. He cocks his head slightly, "Everything alright Bryce… you looked like you had the world on your shoulders a few minutes ago." He smiles to Pavel, "No worries… We are a multi-national school.. It happens."

Bryce looks at Sydney and shakes his head. "No, I was … oh." He just figured out what she was meaning and blushed a healthy red color. "Actually, I was th-thinking along the, the lines of, uh, psytech." He glances at Pavel and says, "Ah, my, er, ap-apologies. I s-sometimes speak in, er, other languages without even knowing, er, uh, it." His recent embarrassment has greatly triggered his speech impediment. Glancing up at Ashton, he says, "Just trying to, er, make another, well, difficult and p-p-possibly dangerous decision."

Sydney tries, really hard, to contain her smirk. She doesn't quite succeed. It fades quickly at the mention of 'difficult and dangerous.' "Uh oh. What's on your mind?"
"Thank you," Pavel replies to them all, before he blinks a bit as he hears Bryce speak of a difficult and possibly dangerous decision. "That sounds interesting," he replies, offering him a bit of a grin. "What kind of a decision?"

Difficult and possibly dangerous should me the motto of the school. Ashton cocks his head as he arches a brow looking at Bryce. "Oh? Need help?" You might be able to take the boy out of Ares, but you can't take the Ares out of the boy.

Bryce is silent for a moment knowing that Sydney would be the most concerned out of everyone. "I have been, well, working on a new, a new ability. I call it, well, Mind Walk." He looks to Ashton and says, "We have, er, discussed it before I, I think." He looks down at his desk and says, "B-but I fear that it is not, quite, well, not quite what it needs to be. I am thinking that I need to, er, push beyond my current abilities. I have run, uh, multiple scenarios… in my mind." Of course Bryce has done that. "I see the path most likely to succeed is also, well, the most dangerous. It might be time for me to, to - work on my circlet."

You say, "Ahh." That's all she says. "You um. I mean… I can let you in here… if you want…" She taps her temple."

Pavel listens in quiet, nodding a bit. "I see. Most dangerous for you or for the person you walk in the mind of?" It's offered a bit quietly, before he glances between the others. "Like my old coach, back home in Russia, used to say, if you don't train, you will not succeed."

Ashton nods slightly. Yeah they have discussed Bryce's mind walk, even experimented around with it. "I wasn't sure if you were still working on that, since Dax is better." He cocks his head, "Well, the offer of being a guinnea pig is still open if you need me."

"I do not think the, the Mind Walk can be a, uh, transferance," Bryce says to Sydney. As Pavel asks about who is in danger, Bryce explains, "The Mind W-walk could be dangerous to b-both me and the p-person I am, well, -in-. However, any work done on my, my circlet is extremely d-dangerous to me." Bryce takes a slow breath and then releases it. It is something he has learned to do to help with his stammering. "Th-thank you, Ashton. I have used it, well, once so far. Thankfully, it was successful and helped the, the person. He was, well, locked in his own mind and releasing his, er, powers in the c-cafeteria to, well, rather unintendedly challenging results."

Nodding as he remembers that cafeteria incident, Pavel offers Bryce a smile. "Your ability and you helped a lot of people in the cafeteria," he replies, before he adds, "If you do the rest just as well, everyone will be good."

Ashton frowns slightly and nods. "Just be careful messing with your circlet. I know without it, you'd die. I'd hate for it to stop working because you were trying to boost its effectiveness." The young sorcerer sighs softly, "Yet, I can understand the temptation of doing it so that you might be able to do more because of that tinkering."

Bryce smiles a bit though he reaches up and hides that smile with his left hand as is his habit. "Thank you, P-pavel." With another breath, he addresses Ashton, "And that is my, my concern. It is b-better to remain as I am than to, to die for then I c-could be of help to none. Even if I only end up in a, a permanent c-coma, that would be worse than I am now." He places his palms flat on the surface of the desk. "But is this as I am, is it enough? I am no longer certain."

Sydney gets up quietly, wanders over to Bryce, and sets one hand on his. "Yes. It's enough. If you want to go further, it's your body and your brain and your circlet. You know the risks better than anyone else. But what you are now… is enough.

"Do you know much about how the circlet works?" Pavel asks, sounding a bit curious. "I mean, if you do not know, tinkering with it could probably be bad, not only for you, but for everyone nearby, yes?" A brief smile is offered at Sydney's words. "She speaks the truth," he offers.

Ashton slings his book bag over his left shoulder. He looks at Bryce then Sydney, and finally nods, "She's right…. you could help more people, but you are enough right now."

Bryce looks up at Sydney and places his hand on top of her hand. He now realizes that this has created some type of hand sandwich. Of all the visual images to have at this moment. "It does not, uh, feel enough. Even after all this time, I, I haven't even been able to attempt to help, Tem-er, Daxton. And how many others could, could use help like him?" Glancing down at the desk for a moment, he shifts attention to answer Pavel, "C-currently there are only, well, two people who know how this works. The, the foremost expert is its creator, my … my f-f-father." He struggles even more to say 'father' than any other word. "I am the only other person who has an, an idea how it works. If anyone has a, a chance, it is me. I do not d-dare trust it to, to him."

You say, "What if you mind-walked him? Go straight to the horse's… um… pre-frontal cortex. Or could you get close enough without getting caught?" She makes no move to extract her hand. Just squeezes' Bryce's hand softly. "…Anyway, I think it's normal for us to want to push our powers… get better… get stronger. And it's risky. Very risky, sometimes. I mean… one of the magic types screws up… and Gozer the Gozarian turns up? They still study, right?" She looks at Ashton, mostly."

"Everyone always wants to get better at what they do. That is not only true for our powers and abilities, but for everything. It is what drives people to improve," Pavel offers, with a quiet nod, before he nods a bit again at what's said.

Ashton does indeed notice the intimacy of the hand-sandwich. He doesn't say anything about that. "It's your life Bryce. If I felt that I could be more or better, I know that I probably would do it… " He arches an eyebrow at Sydney, "Ghostbusters really?" He smirks, "Well, I'd never goof up that big, but Sydney has a point. Like I said, it's your life to do with as you want, no one else can really tell you what to do. Just be careful."

Bryce usually doesn't like people touching him, but of course, Sydney is the exception to that. He nods when she squeezes his hand. "I, I c-created the ability for the p-primary purpose of helping him, but I do not think I am strong enough for it." He then explains in greater detail. "I got the idea from, from C-callisto. When I, When I …" He gets a far off look on his face as though his mind is going far beyond where he is now. After a second or two, he shakes his head and refocuses, "When I .. needed help, C-callisto used her dream walk ability to, to help me. I, well, I was hoping to develop something like that for, for others." He doesn't mention what Sydney did to help. Suddenly, he blinks a few times, "Who?"

Sydney chuckles a little at Ashton. "Who ya gonna call? I mean I only saw that movie this year after the mention of it in Stranger Things. It hadn't come out yet when I went into the freezer." She sobers. "The point I'm making is that nobody except you has the right to demand that you be more than you are. Not the school, not society, and least of all your dad. You do. If it's what you want, go for it."

Ashton smirks at Sydney and shakes his head. He says obviously joking, "You are such a nerd." He looks to Bryce, "Listen to your girl friend." Sure he's guessing, but it's pretty obvious to him at least. "Anyway, I have to run. Take care, Bryce, and if there is anything I can do, just let me know."

Pavel smiles, nodding a bit as he listens to the others. "True. Other people might have ideas, but only you can decide if you should do what you need, you know."

Bryce nods clearly thankful for all the advice he has been given. "Th-thank you." After a few pensive seconds, Bryce slowly starts to sit up straighter. "Of c-course, that is - well, doing in that methodology, but why should I. Why limit - he can't, ah, but I can. With a completely different appr - yes, that might be the way to go."

Sydney looks down. "Just so we're clear. If you fry your brain before November 4th, I will be annoyed with you.

Pavel smiles as he listens, but doesn't add anything for now.

Bryce nods looking like he is now trying to appear serious (though failiing). "Right, so I will, er, pencil in 'Brain Frying' for November 5th." He actually tried one of his jokes again.

Sydney snorts and chuckles. "Good. I'll schedule 'Knock Down Bryce's Dad's house' for the 6th." She curls an arm around Bryce and squeezes… gently…

Pavel grins as he listens to the two of them. "It sounds like everything is in order, then. I will see you two later." And he gets up to head out of the room.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License