text;

[laserguy]

[Being in a new world is cool and all, but also sucks when everything you see is still a shade of red. Figures that the first time he's away in some new place he can't fully appreciate it, although, maybe he doesn't want to considering that stupid but truthful parchment he got referencing an incident that he's not exactly proud of.

How do they even know??

So excitement is honestly at an all time low and he's also sort of angry?? And the best thing to do when you're angry is clearly use this charm device and just say dumb shit--]

so who else is a freak here

Comments

[galling]

sure you're a freak then? from my personal experience, it's usually the cool kids that get those glasses

wouldn't you know it? didn't get mine til later

[ ... that gradually went up by a shade or three until the world, by mortal definition, went dark.

but hey. self-inflicted blindness -- in one sense -- beats getting Overwhelmed. ]

[laserguy]

I think I'm the exception to that rule.

So, you only recently got your powers too? Is it hard for you to control?

[Maybe he's reading too much into this, but a brief spark of... not really hope, but maybe relatability fills Scott.]

[galling]

[ ... that sure is a lot of uncertainty. if he can read that through text, then... ]

hate to burst your bubble, buddy, but i was born a freak! the control comes with time and a hell of a lotta work

if you just got yours, that kinda explains it

[ shot in the dark: ]

kinda like goin through a second puberty

[laserguy]

[He deflates upon reading that answer. So much for that. Scott wants to be angry, but he just feels despondent.]

I just don't know where to start, controlling my powers and everything. It's like I tell my brain to shut them off, but nothing happens.

[Just opens his eyes and boom, if he didn't have the shades Professor McCoy made him. He's lucky to even have that or else he'd be closing his eyes forever.]

Dude I'm not even through puberty and I got this, it sucks. [Not enough dealing with all his other body changes, have to go shoot lasers from his eyes too!!]

[galling]

sure does, kid

[ it absolutely sucks, he's not going to mince words about it. no it's going to get better or it gets worse, and then you're all gravy -- for now, it is what it is and what it is sucks. ]

whatcha in for anyway? does something blow up when you get angry?

[laserguy]

[...It's both nice and discomforting to hear that. Scott wants things to get better, or at least the ability to truly control his optic blasts without shades, but hearing a blanket 'things will be better' isn't something he wants to hear either. It's complicated.]

It was-- It really doesn't matter how I feel.

[The parchment is a big ugly reminder of something that he did only a couple of days ago. He hates thinking about it and knowing they know that about him.]

[galling]

says who?

[ reading between the lines, it's really not hard to figure out that there's probably some kind of incident that results from a lack of control -- that the higher power that's holding gojo culpable is not going to spare this guy either.

and it's pretty mean to just... ask, and yet: ]

you get someone in your blast radius on accident?

[laserguy]

[Scott cringes when he reads that, although somehow 'assault' wasn't part of the crime that was listed for him. They have to know about that still, right? Shit, maybe he shouldn't admit to that at all, in case they want to give him another parchment or something like that.]

No-- it's fine. No one died or anything, okay??

[Still working on the lying thing.]

[galling]

then it's like you said! that's fine, better than my first go at it

unless we're really measuring that thing by body count, in which case, i probably had your first time beat

[ ... but he is talking to a kid, and that kid's probably lying about the fact that no one's died because of an ill-timed incident. and it's never a good thing to talk so casually about what is ultimately murder, and being clinically insane is no excuse to scare a kid right out of his skin.

something like that anyway. ]

that said, how're you holdin' up so far? those glasses keep those powers of yours in check?

[laserguy]

[...Did this guy just admit that he killed someone with his powers?? Scott's totally not reading into that, right? He feels his jaw drop and he can't really stop himself from letting words just spill from his mouth--]

What the fuck.

I really didn't kill anyone!

[He's too focused on the whole murder thing to really answer any of his other questions.]

[galling]

[ yeah, on second thought, just dropping that kind of thing with no tact to a kid's probably incredibly tactless...

...

at least he's trying to fix that. a little. ]

that's what i'm saying

it could always be worse

the guilt you're probably feeling over whatever you did's gonna check you for now

that's why you're trying to be better

[laserguy]

[For a moment, he really doesn't know what to say to any of this. Like, guess it really could've been worse and he could've killed that other student. It doesn't do much to ease the guilt, but this guy also seems to be aware of that.

idk feelings are hard man.]

I. I, well, you're right about that. The trying to be better part.