When he slept, John actually dreamed. He hated that was such a pansy-sounding word, but there was no other way to describe it.
He was on a rooftop, wind whipping past his face, as he stared out into the expanse of city beneath him. With practiced skill, he lit the zippo in his hands and had both fists engulfed in flames withot even looking. But he wasn't going to do his usual blasting this and that today.
This time around, he was going to fly.
Contrary to popular opinion, he read up on fire endlessly, anything that would would make him stronger. He understood the theory of using his pyrokinesis to fly well enough, but once he tried being in the air, there were 100 billion things he had to be aware of, like where the wind was going, where his body was, how intense a fire was needed, etc. But as he stood, one foot only half on the ledge, his mind felt clear enough to make the attempt, and without giving himself a chance to doubt, backed up several paces, then leapt off the building in a running leap.
He was surprised at how much he enjoyed the free fall, with the air so peaceful and everything out of his control. But, even if this was a dream, he still felt obligated to not crash into a sad mess. But the fall wasn't useless. With it he managed to gain a sense of his environment, and this time around knew exactly how to combat it. Arms at his sides, he angled his palms to be parallel to the ground and commanded an extra spark, straight from his heart.
The thrust was so sudden it surprised him, but the shock was quickly filled with elation when he realized he was falling up and he couldn't help but let out a yell of triumph. When gravity took over, he had a smile plastered on his face as he battled the fall once again, successfully. The smile never left his face as he repeated the actions over and over again.
He shot out flames once again, but this time to steady himself in the air. He had managed to develop enough control so that the stops were smooth, not sudden. He was still grinning when he became aware that the building he was having his flight practice next to was an apartment building. And at the moment, he was stopped right in front of a young woman's window.
But his joy was not mirrored in her face. Instead, she was nearly pale and her muscles frozen. But what struck him as odd was that the X-men had ingrained in them if a human witnessed their powers and was frightened by them, the X-men should be the ones that were scared, and that they should be sorry that they caused this.
But the young woman's fear didn't worry John. It empowered him.
His grin shifted into a smirk as he adjusted his flames to fly towards her window. With every inch closer, he saw the panic in her eyes grow, and her mouth slowly opened, ready to scream.
The scream did come, but it was very real and extremely shrill that he had to cover his ears. But just as suddenly as it had come, it was silenced, leaving a vacuum of sound. The silence was quickly shattered as he heard the students in other rooms rush about in a frenzy. He remained calm and efficient, however, grabbing his zippo and dashing out of the room, noting that Bobby hadn't been in there. He realized he had two choices: find out whatever was causing the trouble or get the hell out of there.
Celci managed to avoid any attention by stealing away to the tunnel again. Her night had been sleepless from nightmares born from worry, and when she awoke hunger that she had completely forgotten about until now gnawed at her stomach. She had to come in contact with others eventually. She slipped into town easily enough, and realized that she blended in more that she thought. She was simply making a big deal out of nothing. The smell of bread hit her nose, the satisfying smell almost filling her stomach for her, before it was quickly replaced with the emptiness, adding a growl for effect. Without a thought she walked though the open door the smell had been wafting from and pointed to the first bread she saw in the tiny display of the tiny store. "Can I have, like 3 of those please?"
"No problem girlie!" The woman smiled warmly as she carefully packed the bread. Celci had had her eyes trained on it the entire time, so she had barely heard when the shopkeeper informed her, "That'll be $6."
Celci's fell and she mentally smacked herself in the forehead for forgetting the world ran on money. She tried to summon up her most pleading look, and realized she didn't have to do much acting because she was truly desperate. "I'm sorry ma'am. I don't have any money, but I'm so hungry. So if you could just-!"
"No. Get out of here now."
Celci was stunned. The woman had gone from caring to cold in no time at all. "Please, even j-just one little piece!"
"No!" The woman emphasized the rejection by dumping the bread back in the display case. "I make one little exception and you think it's an invitation to a free-for-all. Or, I do this for you and all the other filth on the street like you comes swarming in here like the bunch of rats you are."
When she snarled her words, making her sound so inhuman, something sparked inside of Celci, but she was a split second too late to realize that her emotions had triggered her fists to be engulfed in flames.
Both Celci's and the shop keeper's eyes were wide, but the woman didn't cower in fear as she had expected. Instead, she leapt for the phone, her eyes clouded with more hate than when she had called Celci filth. Celci took the chance to tear out of there.
But there were plenty of people on the streets now, and they all froze when they had one look at the flames that were now spreading up her arms. But, just like the woman in the shop, they didn't cower from her or run away. They closed in on her, seeing her as one of those mutated freaks that was easy enough to overtake. She tried to step back, but all that resulted in was the woman in the store shrieking again and again that she was mutant filth (getting creative with her insults). The shrieks became drowned out by police sirens. At the sound of their wailing and the blue and red flashing lights, the crowd parted to let two cops through. They were nearly twice as tall as her, and much stronger, but they still had their guns ready and aimed at her chest.
"Put your weapons out immediately! I repeat, put your weapons out immediately!" The commands were nearly barked, making Celci jump, but she quickly obliged. Tears had gathered in her eyes, ready to fall as she apologized, hands still in the air. "I-I'm s-sorry! I-It was an accident! I wasn't going to hurt anyone, I promise!" One of the tears finally fell, sliding down her cheek as her voiced dropped barely above a whisper. "Please don't hurt me."
The cop pulled the trigger of his gun, leads of a taser shooting out and sticking into her neck. In a second she was on the ground, out cold.
