chasing pavement !? [o]

[Annabelle Marie Westminster]

"All of this is so stressful...I don't know how I do it" and she honestly didn't know how she could handle so many classes and figure out how to turn in all of her work in on time. She was a good student and she knew how to get everything done on time. But otherwise, she didn't know how she was just completing all the assignments with all the stress she had on her shoulders right now. She had been having issues with her abilities left and right and she wanted to try and make things work but she wondered if this is how it was going to be for the rest of her life. She can control her weather manipulation powers, but her elemental ones were not so in control, they were the opposite and she does not want to try and even find out what happens if she was to go over board.

It was midnight and she decided to go into the art hall and finish up her drawing that she felt like finishing. She walked over to the door and open it and then turned on the lights. She would usually do this and sometimes she would get in trouble and other times she wouldn't. She didn't really care if she did or not, she didn't get in massive trouble anyways. She walked over to where her binder was and pulled out the sheet that she was working on. It was a forest with a river in the middle. She thought it might have been one of her bests. She sometimes came to work on her artwork when she needed time to think and breathe for a little while. She just liked time for herself, of course if someone stepped in she wouldn't mind, the place was still quite and she had a feeling someone was watching her and as she turned around to look, she didn't see anyone. Maybe she was just being paranoid, she's been known to feel that way when she is alone.

She inhaled deeply and started working again. She let her mind wonder again as she kept on drawing her beautiful black and white picture with her pencil. Although it was plain now, she was going to paint it later on. She knew it would come out beautiful and she might sell it to an art gallery. She was really tempted to do it. She used to sell her paintings all the time to the galleries, that's how she got good money from time to time. She would waitress of course but as a hobbie, she would be selling her paintings and gaining the money here and there. Usually she had drawn a lot of nature and flowers and such, other times besides that were rare but she tried with other things. She remember she draw her mom once, it was beautiful and she sent it to her father, she never knew what he had done with it. So she always wondered if he had thrown it away or actually kept it.

W O R D S * 512 ;;
T H O U G H T S * hope its okay;;
T A G G E D * open ;;
C R E D I T S * adele's chasing pavements ;;

template by RoyaLe of Caution 2.0

[Rex Matthew Carmichael]

"And that's a wrap!" Matt said happily as he stretched his arms in the air after a long day of checking paperwork. Sure, Matt does love teaching and all, but he never really liked paperwork. They're stressful and strains his eyes too much to the point of Mat feeling a bit dizzy every now and then. Even if he majored as a Journalist and all, Matt has always been a performer by heart and a damn good one too, despite him constantly underselling his acting skills. Speaking of acting, it was a good thing to be given the job as the head of the drama department of Anthem Community College. That way, he has got an outlet for all this stress he's having.

So far, his time here in A.C.C was a pretty good one. He may be new in the teaching profession, but he's getting quite the hang of it. The only awkward thing about it would be the fact that he's teaching students who are around the same age as he is. There's nothing wrong about it obviously, but Matt's got the feeling that some students and professors won't take him seriously because of his age is also a good thing since he understand his fellow way better than the good old farts. Although his age Good thing that he's teaching Literature, which can be quite one of the most subjective courses in the college. That in mind, Matt could say whatever the hell he wants and gets away with it.

Seeing as it was already midnight, Matt packed his things into his satchel bag and left the rehearsal room of the drama majors, which coincidentally was his office too. He didn't mind having his office as in the rehearsal room of the drama majors. But it would've been nicer if he had a proper office in the literature or communication arts department as he is a full-time professor and all.

Locking the room as he left, Matt was about to put on his earphones when he saw the lights in the art hall get lit up. Now normally, students aren't supposed to prowl around the halls of A.C.C at this time of night. They had better things to do. Matt knew that of course. There were clubs, bars and all the other fun stuff outside the college campus. The only reason why people would bother to come around this time at night would probably because they're up to no good. Judging from the recent turn of events, Matt placed his money on vandals. It was understandable of course. The Artists Society or whatever they called themselves initiated freshmen into their ranks by having the newcomers showcase their art on the walls of the college.

Curious to see what they're cooking up to surprise everybody the next day, Matt silently leaned by the doors of the art hall to take a peek into the room and saw a familar woman painting. Matt sighed and instantly saw that he might have attracted the attention of the busy woman. Matt hid himself from her sight and waited for a couple of seconds till he felt that he was in the safe zone. Confused at why he hid in the first place, Matt asked himself, "Wait a minute. You're a teacher Matt. You're not some student scared of getting caught by some prefect."

Matt walked out of hiding and silently approached the woman from behind. From his viewpoint, the woman looked familiar. Maybe she was a student of his in class. He'd figure that out sooner or later, but what caught his attention would be the lavish and brilliant painting before him. It was a bit clever and all now that he thought about it. Matt then decided to comment on the painting so that his presence would be known. "Nice painting. Now that I think about it, the only body of water in a forest is a river. "

[Annabelle Marie Westminster]

Painting was her passion among other things, she was an art major and when she placed her mind and body on something she would eventually get the hang of things. She loved writing and reading, painting and playing the guitar. She was really good at all those things, even when she was younger she liked to dance and cheer. She was an active child and she wanted to always keep going for the goal. Sure, she was good at those things but anything else really, she wasn't too good at. She tried computers and she tried accounting, and even business, but all those things didn't seem to stick to her. Anything that had to deal with the arts would be something that she was just born to do, anything outside of that and she would be doing a poor job. She loved it though, there was always more things in arts than with anything else. She always tried different fields and let her mind open up into exploring all the possibles. She was a good kid, a smart one too. But not all of her life was dandy like this, she had hard spots like other people. There was a time where she had no money and she was on the street. That happened when she ran away from her father because of her ex fiance dying. That changed her life, just like her mother's death had changed her as a kid.

"Nice painting. Now that I think about it, the only body of water in a forest is a river. "

She heard a male's voice and she got a little startled. She then slowly turned to look at the man, he seemed familiar. She recognized him, he was one of the Lit. teachers and she had seem him from time to time here with the film kids. Her classes were always close to his, but she hadn't had an encounter until now. She just hoped that she wouldn't get in trouble now for being here. She didn't really do anything wrong, at least in her eyes. She just came to the art room to work on one of her paintings. She didn't cause a scene or a mess. She wasn't loud or making a fuss at times. She was just here, and hopefully she wouldn't be in trouble. She cleared her throat and looked down at the painting that she was currently working on. He was right and she knew it. She used to go all the time in the forests close to her house. Of course this forest wasn't a projection of her past, but a new imagine created from her mind. But she knew how people tend to think that all paintings were something from the memory, not for Annabelle. She always liked to draw whatever popped up into her head. This time it was just a random imagine that came to her when she thought about it.

"Yes, rivers and ponds mostly and thanks." She said and she looked at her drawing. Although not finished, she knew she wanted to paint it and soon she would as soon as she got done with the drawing part. She looked at him for a moment, although she knew his face, she didn't know his name. She had only seen him around briefly here and there and even she didn't know his name. Although he was a handsome man and very close to her age, she wasn't leaning on picking up names, she knew that maybe she would have to move away again if she had another incident with her abilities. That's what always happened when she didn't have control and she hated it. She only wished for order and peace, but she knew that maybe some people have there problems. On the bright side, that was only one of her powers, the other power, weather manipulation, was much easier to control, but she could only cause thunder storms but it was pretty powerful. Her father used to call her the weather witch, because she always had control of the weather even if it was only part of it.

"I'm Annabelle Westminster and I hope to god I'm not in trouble for coming in here"

[Rex Matthew Carmichael]

Rivers, forests and ponds. The images in his head looked very European to him. Well not really, there were all these lush forests within the great big U.S. of A that contain rivers and ponds similar to what is depicted in the painting. Probably the European ideas running in his head had stemmed from his visits to the English countryside over the summers he had as a kid.

Even though he was half-Scottish and one of his ancestral homes were in Edinburgh, Matt always spent his summers in England because of the fact that it's usually overcast or rainy in Scotland. And so, Matt spent a lot of time as a young boy playing around in the English countryside. With those beautiful trees and freeflowing rivers, Matt's imagination for the magical and fantastical went wild as he played around with his summer friends. The cute girls became princesses, his buddies became the knights-in-shining armor who would save them, and everything else that stood in their way would be an imaginary army of goblins, orcs and a huge scary dragon that kept the princesses captive. Those experiences were all so memorable that a young Matt Carmichael was inspired to 'chronicle' the adventures he had with his buddies. In the end, those little adventures he had jumpstarted his interests in a writing career and later on, courtesy of the roleplaying, an acting career.

Going back to the present, Matt recognized the woman who slowly turned toward him. Matt smiled out of amusement at the woman's reaction. Something about that slow turn made him think it was kinda cute to see her caught off guard with his presence within the room. It was understandable though. If he was a student and he was writing a script in the dead of the night inside the school campus and someone just pops behind you, he'd probably fell over the chair, while expressing his shock with some squeal or any girly reaction. Matt knew that he was quite a screamer and he worked very hard for so many years to remove his voice's tendency to go all squeaky when he's excited or anything.

Now that the girl has turned around, Matt got a better look at her face. He admitted to himself that the lady in front of him was a woman of exceptional beauty. She was probably either of the same age as he is or two years younger than him at most. Speaking of her face, she looked a bit familar to him. Judging from her art work, the girl was probably from the art class beside his literature class. Yes, maybe that's where he saw her. He was never good at remembering faces. Funny thing though was that if he got the name of the person though, he could certainly match that name with that respective person's face. To Matt, that was something to be proud of. His colleagues and even teachers who have years of seniority over him have trouble of matching names with faces, so being able to match names with faces in the blink of an eye is no small feat for a college professor. So for one Matt Carmichael, that was definitely a plus.

"I'm Annabelle Westminster and I hope to god I'm not in trouble for coming in here"

So her name was Annabelle. Classy name. Well it does suit her as she is a classic beauty and all. Now that he thought about it, Matt wished he wasn't a teacher at this exact moment. Now that he was a teacher, it felt a bit awkward to talk to girls around his age since they were all students. One of the bad things about being a professor meant that he had to put on an air of professionalism between him and his students. So that included the very interesting women who were hot, yet awesome at the same time. Matt simply laughed heartily at her last comment and said, "Nah, it's cool. I mean, if you were one of those vandals I've heard about, then you'd be in trouble. But if you're just chilling around the art hall to paint paintings as gorgeous as you, you're pretty much good in my books. Just don't forget to turn off the lights when you go out will you? The headmaster is going to kill me if you don't since he knows that I'm the only living soul staying in this building around this time."

Matt then began walking out of the door when he felt that he was forgetting something. Out of the blue, Matt hit himself in the head and walked back to Annabelle. "Sorry! Where are my manners Anna? Well, you don't mind me calling you Anna right? Annabelle is a very beautiful name and it suits you, but it sounds a bit off for me. I mean, who goes around nowadays calling people with their names that sound a bit classy and everything. No offense if I offended you or anything-Oh wait I'm gabbling now am I? I'm sorry. Manners! I seem to forget them every now and then. I'm Professor Carmichael. Matt Carmichael. You're free to call me Matt though. Professor Carmichael makes me feel old. The thought of feeling a bit older than I am already gives me the shivers."

[Annabelle Marie Westminster]

The man was handsome, no shame in thinking that. But she was not interested in charming off the professors unless it was with her work. She was awarded that professors always tried to get something from her because of her looks, but she never gave them it. She always stayed quite after there "proposals" because she didn't want the bad kind of attention she didn't need. She remembered in high school she was mostly known for the silent beauty but no one, except one, would even come close to her because they thought they wouldn't be good enough for her. Except that one man that she had fallen in love with during high school. It was rare but it didn't last long and only because he died in a car accident. Anyways, she never got close to anyone including teachers, the only person that probably knew her was the Veritas leader and thats cause he had gotten her file from somewhere. Other than that, no one else knew her and she rather kept it that way. She refused to get too close to someone with her powers on the fritz.

She promised herself that she wouldn't try to be with anyone because of her uncontrollable powers. She had them under control now, but at times if she used them too much, she knew that she would have lost control depending on how much power she had used. Thats why she was taking a class for her powers because she felt like she needed to learn control. So far she hasn't made any progress, but practice makes perfect right? Thats the only reason she was going to stay here, was to focus on her abilities. She needed to do that now more than ever and she must learn it fast because she could die from her powers at any moment. Thats how powerful she was and she honestly hated how much power she could hold in her tiny body. She inhaled deeply and looked at him as he spoke, she smiled at him out of respect.

"I don't even think you would have known if I really was a vandal. I just moved here about a few weeks ago."

Which was honest, she did move here recently because she was invited in an odd way to. She had a letter in her apartment mail box, now she moved places every year so how could they find her so fast and how could they have known she was one if she really didn't use her powers, unless they somehow figured it out then she wouldn't have known how they did. Maybe it was her father or her grandmother and they tracked Anna down. Well, it wasn't hard to find her seeing as she used her name everywhere she went. That was just in case if her family wanted to find her and it wouldn't be hard to because she was using her name. Her father left her some money in her account and she notices every month he places money in for her. She loved her father, he seemed to be very understanding when she said she needed to find herself in the world. He seemed like he was supporting her with money and at least he didn't mind that she wanted to do art, unlike other parents, he was there for her in some ways. She earned good money, especially with her selling her paintings and being a waitress. It wasn't hard for her to earn about 300 a day and she felt like that it was more than enough.

"It's nice to meet you, Matt. If you were my professor I would have called you by your first name, but since your not then I guess its okay"

She spoke with a smooth voice and she turned around and placed the drawing back in the binder making sure it wouldn't fold. She then walked over and placed the binder away. She had more of her work upstairs in her dorm, which she currently was living in alone and it didn't bother her. She liked that she had her own place for now. As she placed it away she looked at him with a small smile and moved a strand of her hair behind her ear. She was wearing a tank top with skinny jeans and converse as her shoes. She didn't feel like being glam up herself cause she knew that it would attract all kinds of attention that she wasn't looking for. She sighed deeply but smiled at him. She fixed her shirt and she placed her hands in her pockets then looked into his eyes.

"I'll go just so you wouldn't get in trouble. I got more artwork to finish up in my dorm anyways. Just wanted to get ahead, you know?"

[Rex Matthew Carmichael]

"It is okay. It's better than being called Rex. I've actually considered the notion that my mum is a sadist. I mean, Rex Matthew Carmichael? Sure she wanted to make me feel kingly with the inclusion of Rex, but you've got to admit that it just sounds wrong," Matt complained to the woman in front of him.

To be honest, anything his mum decided on were actually non-negotiable. School of choice, his diet, sports, and even the color of his underwear till he was fifteen. Can you believe it? Fifteen! Sure she may have HAD the best of intentions, but she might have a sadistic thing going on. Even with all the non-negotiable stuff though, Matt always felt free to do whatever he wanted. He had fun in football, even though he sucked at it. He always looked forward to whatever his mum wanted for him to eat at breakfast, lunch and dinner. And he certainly had fun in high school. Wait, scratch that. He had LOADS of fun.

High school was a breeze for Matt actually. He was the star thespian and local celebrity of the drama club, he always was in the honor roll, member of the swimming varsity, and the best part of all was the fact that it was the time he learned of his powers and began to cultivate it. Thanks for the guidance of Mr. Smith and his best friend's undying support, Matt pretty much got the hang of his abilities. It wasn't particularly hard to absorb energy and everything. It actually feels like his entire body is being pumped with adrenaline and he just needs to find some creative way to expel it. That's the fun part actually. Converting all that energy into something else. In fact, he could be like the Hulk or the Cyclops when he's pumped up. The duration of having such abilities depends on how much juice he's got. So if he's got no energy to convert, then it's buh-bye kung-fu for him.

Also, thanks to Dr. Smith, Matt stumbled his way into being accepted as one of the part-time lecturers of A.C.C. It was nice to be teaching in a place where he knew he belonged. Well, he did feel like he belonged both in England and Sydney, but there was always that yearning within Matt that made him lonely. He yearned to meet others like him. He wanted to see all the impossible stuff they could all do. Finally, there was something brilliant about playing as the 'Xavier' kind of guy to his students. He may not be teaching them how to use their abilities, but he is certainly playing a role in their development as human beings and become responsible citizens of the world.

Seeing her pack her things alarmed Matt. Did he do or say something wrong that he discouraged her from finishing her painting? Crap. He didn't like people stopping others from expressing and unleashing their artistic mojo and Matt certainly did not like being blamed as the reason why Anna had to leave and not finish her painting.


"I'll go just so you wouldn't get in trouble. I got more artwork to finish up in my dorm anyways. Just wanted to get ahead, you know?"

"Oh don't leave on my account. I really don't mind you painting here. It's nice actually. Nice to know that there are others who have this passion to just express themselves. You should try your hand at acting. Not that I'm endorsing the A.C.C. Theater Guild, but we would certainly love having actresses posessing the same passion as you do"

Now that she was standing, Matt finally got a proper look at the obviously attractive lady in front of him. What got his attention wasn't the fitting tank top or the skinny jeans that hugged her curves, but the Converse shoes she wore. Matt loves Chucks. Wait, obsession seems more of a proper fit to it. In fact, he always wore Chucks with everything he wore. Well, the only times he wouldn't wear them would be on the beach or at his apartment, but he wore Converse shoes everywhere. Like right now, he was wearing one of those James Bond-ish suits and wore black high-cut Converse All-Star shoes to complete his get-up.Seemingly grinning out of nowhere, Matt looked at Anna with an excited, yet goofy look on his face.

"Surprise, surprise! Looks like I'm not the only one with excellent taste in shoes! Sorry. Just had a Converse All-Star-gasm right there. Wait, that sounded wrong. Too much information. How about this? What about we close up the Art Hall and I walk you back to your room? I mean, you're free to stay here and I could leave you to your own devices if my presence makes you feel uncomfortable, but that would mean taking out the stuff you just packed into your bag. So if you want to head back to your dorm, it would be a pleasure to see to it that you would be safe and sound when you head back to your room and continue painting."

[Annabelle Marie Westminster]

She looked down when he started to talk to his mother but then in the next few seconds she lifted up her head to look at him. Her mother was a different story, she didn't really like talking about it. It was traumatic for her as a kid to see her mother die. She felt like a jink, someone that always got people dead. Thats how she felt like when people got close to her and since James had died, she has never allowed for that to happen and she was going to make sure of it no matter what. She of all people refused to get close to someone feeling that she was going to kill them if they had gotten close. James didn't have to die, the same goes for her mother. Each had there own story to it and she was grateful for the stories but the last painful memory of them wasn't as sweet. She could remember both of there deaths like it was yesterday.

Her mother and her were best friends, they always spent time together and always did everything with one another. Her mother taught her home remedies for everything like cuts and even toothaches. As Anna was a child she was mostly curious about a lot of things and she always had a bright mind, so her and her mother had always done new things together. Anna could remember the time they baked cookies and done cakes with one another and placed it in competition, that was the best memory that she could remember. The cakes didn't win, but the time she spent doing it with her mother always made her smile. She could remember it right now as flashes were going through her head. But her mother didn't live after that, she had slept with a man before Anna was born, the man and her mother were in love until her mother left him for her father. The man was convinced that Anna was his daughter, and so came into the house late at night.

When the man came, she had woken up because her mother and the man were fighting. He saw her and he had came to her. Anna didn't even bother to move. Her mother had jumped on him and he had pulled the trigger. The life from her mother's eyes left and Anna was traumatized with the image of her own mother being shot. She could never forget those images and as she remembered them, it had grew dark and windy outside. The same kind of weather that had happened on the night of her mothers death. It was the saddest thing when she had to go to the funeral, because she realized that her mother was not there, maybe psychically but the mind and the soul were gone. She remembered her mothers face in the coffin, lifeless and still. She knew that this wasn't her mother and when she said that, people thought that she was crazy, but she knew what she was talking about. She snapped out of it and immediately the weather had cleared outside and she looked at him as he talked about acting. She frowned, thats one thing she didn't want too do. It was to many people and with her powers all crazy, she couldn't risk it.

"I would love to act but my abilities restrict me."

She was honest, she loved the arts, anything about it and it would become her passion. She was very artistic like that and it was really her passion but she knew there was only so much she could do because of her abilities. She stood there for a moment to look at him and she gave him a light smile. She was always smiling, that was a good thing about her because she didn't like to seem so down and out all the time. She wanted to be accepted at least and not hated on. Although she wasn't as social like she once was, she knew that she had to at least be nice that way she wouldn't have to hear it from people's mouths about her. She didn't like it when people would talk mess about her.

"Sure, lets do that. If you want you can see the paintings in my room. I sell them too, its a side hobbie."

It was a hobbie and she always kept pictures of her actual paintings that way she could always remember them. She placed them in a binder. She walked over to the door and pulled it open and held it as she reached over to the switch and flicked it down. The hall light filled the room now and she held the door open for him to make his way. She knew she would have to lead the way, so she started to make her way to the Olympus hall, her room was 3-a. As far as she was aware, she was the only one living there for right now so the room was filled with her paintings. She grabbed her key and open the door and flicked the lights on, she looked around and all of her paintings were on the walls and some of them were lined up on the wall.

"This is it."

[Rex Matthew Carmichael]

For a moment there, Matt thought mentioning his mother's sadist tendencies to Anna saddened the woman. He may not be a psychologist or anything, but he's pretty good at reading people. Well, he's good at noticing at those little things and quirks that seemed out of place. Like that glint in her eye. It isn't one of those usual I'm so inspired or the trust me vibes that those glints give a person. Beneath her beautiful exterior and nice personality, there was a genuine hint of sadness visible within those eyes for hers just for a bit. Just for a teeny tiny bit. But what he observed next made his curiosity grow even more. Not like "now we've got something going on kind of curiosity, but more like alright, "now this isn't coincidence" kind of curiosity.

What caught his attention the most was that the atmosphere of the room became a bit ghastlyl. Bit chilling one might say. It's a certain gloom had enveloped the entire campus for a bit there. True enough, when Matt looked outside, he saw leaves flying in the air, branches swaying violently and darkness seemingly covering the A.C.C grounds. Then after for awhile, everything went back to normal and Anna made a small comment about her not being able to act because of her restraining abilities.

Fascinating. Well, that's not a word that would appear in Matt's vocabulary, but something about this girl makes him think that she's got more than meets the eye. She isn't the typical hot, but shy girl who expresses her feelings through paintings. No, no, no, no, there had to be a grander scheme than that. There has to be. No, scratch that. There is always a grand scheme.

"Thinking your abilities could restrict the actress in you, puh-lease! It's all in your head Anna. Tell you what, try dropping by my office one of these days. I'll give you a script and make you part of a paper runthrough of production me and some of my co-actors want to stage. It's pretty fun and you're going to take back those words Anna. I guarantee it."

Matt smiled at Anna after telling her his offer and he looked outside again. Strange, nothing happened when she made mention of her abilities getting in the way of a possible acting career. It doesn't make any sense. One moment it did, then the next moment it didn't. But oh well, leave the conspiracies for those so-called "Hunters". Thinking up conspiracies aren't the reason why he's got a paycheck from the administration. Helping and protecting students is the main reason why he's here and he's going to stick with just that.

Matt laughed at Anna's attempt to inform him of her selling her paintings. It was cute on how she just popped it into their conversation. It totally removed all those conspiracies and worries into his head. Matt nodded in agreement with her plan and gestured her to lead the way.

"Lead the way Anna. Nice way of advertising your paintings. Very subtle. I like it. I've got to admit it that I'm not that much of an enthusiast for the visual arts. I mean, audio-visual yes, but my taste and sensitivity for paintings and drawings are kinda screwed up. I do love Van Gogh though. That Starry Night of his certainly is something."

Following her into the Olympus Hall and now standing just by her doorway, Matt took a sneak peek into her room and marvelled at the sight of the paintings around the room.

"You made all this? This stuff is incredible! You could be like the theater guild's production designer or something. And yes, I'm still going to harp on about a talent like you joining us. It's going to be pretty awesome if you're around though. But I want to ask you a question though, I'm just curious to what abilities you have that makes you hesitant to join us. I mean, I don't mean to pry and everything. You're free to not reply to my inquiries, but I just wanna know why such a beautiful and exceptionally talented person like you wouldn't wanna spread her wings on stage. We could try helping you. There's bound to be someone within the guild who could help you with your abilities. So, mind spilling the beans?

[Annabelle Marie Westminster]

She knew there was only a matter of time before her abilities would have taken over her. She could always feel her powers growing inside of her and she was always nervous when they had grown more and more out of control. That’s why she barely liked to use her abilities, because she felt like one day she would never be able to control them like she could right now. She just shook her head from side to side thinking to herself how it was very possible to lose track of her sense of control. She didn’t like using her abilities to much, like how others had. She just preferred not to use them at all. At times when she didn’t think about it, her emotions would have gotten in the way like they did with the weather, but her weather manipulation power is not the power that scared her, it was her other one. Her fire and water manipulation powers were the ones that scared her half to death every time she used it. She was getting better at control, but she still didn’t manage to have complete control yet, she still lost focus on it.

She had gotten her first power, the fire manipulation power when she was pretty young. She didn’t understand why she had more control over that power when she was younger than how she was now. You would have expected for her to never lose control the way she has been, but the truth is she seemed to never be able to control the power if she used a lot of it. As she thought about all of this in her head, she heard him speak about acting and she looked at him with a small smile. It seemed like a pretty sad smile, but it was small. She knew this teacher saw her passion in the arts, but he didn’t know what she had done and what she could do. She knew she was pretty powerful and pretty much unstable as well. She knew that if she was on stage something could happen, and it could be bad. She knew how to do Tornados of fire and drown a whole room of people. She was able to do that out of thin air. She wasn’t willing to kill people with how much power she held in her little body.

She looked up at him when he had asked her about her abilities. The smile that was on her face, disappeared in thin air. She frowned now and she didn’t know if she should tell him or not. She didn’t want to scare people and she knew her abilities were pretty scary. She inhaled deeply as she looked at him. Worry on her face, it was more like it was written on her face rather than just being there. She was hesitant to tell people about her abilities because she knew that its very intimidating to tell people. She looked into her room for a second thinking of all the beauty she had created and then she looked down at herself and thought about all the beauty that she could destroy with her abilities. She didn’t even know why Vertias wanted her to join then when she warned them about her unstable powers.

They placed her in classes to help her control her powers. She took it as her elective credit because she needed it and she needed to learn more control than what she knows. But the class did help her find what messed her up and why she has less control over her abilities. She knew all along why she had barely any control, it was because of the traumatic experiences when she saw her own mother die and when she saw her previous boyfriend die. They both died protecting her, and both left the impression in her mind that if she wasn’t here, they both would have been alive still. But there wasn’t much she could do. She had already lost them before she could save them. At times she was searching and moving around to see if she could find someone that could communicate with the dead or bring them back for a while. She never got the chance to say sorry and that she loved them once last time. She felt so guilty and that same guilt had affected her powers to the point of being unstable. As she thought of all this she looked at him and decided to tell him.

“I have two abilities. Weather Manipulation and Fire also Water Manipulation”[/b]

She inhaled deeply and she raised her hand up, a bubble of water formed and a bubble of fire formed. She watched as the twirl in circles and she looked at him with a small smile as the bubbles would spin slowly. She could create it, it was a grand ability, one that many wished they could have. She remembered saving people from droughts and fires even. She had helped a lot of people and she wondered if maybe that’s why Vertias wanted her. She looked at the bubbles and both of them popped and disappeared into thin air.

“If I use a massive amount of fire and water, I lose control of it. I once set a building on fire and hurt a lot of people. I’ve also drowned someone I hated by sticking water in their lungs.”[/b]

[Rex Matthew Carmichael]

He knew he shouldn't have asked what were her abilities. Seeing that smile disappear and turn into a frown brought back that worry that plagued his mind earlier. Probably she had something to do with what he just saw through the windows of the Art Hall? Maybe. But her hesitance and temporary silence says a lot. Being a journalist and a teacher, Matt could tell that Anna felt that her talents were bad news.

Well, that's natural of course. Being born having a different personality, accent and quirks could have one alienated by others in a certain community. Imagine being born with abilities that makes one even more alienated and possibly be even more vulnerable to abuse despite their talents. With the Gifted started to go public, the world was rocked to its core upon learning of such things. The religious sectors called some of the Gifted the soldiers of the Devil. Some jealous individuals called them freaks and monsters. Scientists heralded their existence as the next point of evolution. Others saw their existence as a threat to the general population at large. Even though a lot of headway was made in order for diplomacy to occur and for people to accept the existence of such talented individuals, there would always be those who misunderstood. There would always be those who would continue to persecute and abuse them. That's part of the package of being different really and that's why they're all here in A.C.C. to prove them wrong.

Matt would like to think the A.C.C is not only a training ground for Gifted students, but it would also be a place to prove themsleves that they, like normal individuals, could be contributors to society and not the cancers that others think they are. Sure, they may not be training these kids like the X-Men or anything, but they're doing the same thing more or less. In A.C.C., professors are asked to teach students not only the finer aspects of their abilities and when to use them, but also the finer aspects of human society. That's why they've still got philosophy courses, literature courses, art courses and all. Being a school for the special doesn't mean they'd have to go train themselves 24/7 like an army or whatsoever. It's the aim of an educational institution to mold its youngsters to be better individuals. With the proper knowledge on when and how to use their abilities and how the society works out through the various courses being offered in A.C.C., Gifted graduates could truly show the world that being different isn't a bad thing. But that's just some minor idealism that he would like to have in reality. Matt knew there would always be complications. He just hoped that the A.C.C prepares these kids for the complications to come.

While he waited for Anna's reply, Matt's mind drifted off to the paintings that were inside her room. Without asking permission, Matt walked into the room and looked at each of the paintings. Even if wasn't an expert of visual arts, he could tell there was a story that lay behind these paintings. There was always a story to be told about why the painting was painted this way, why were these colors chosen to mix in such vibrant clarity, and why was it painted in the first place. He could be wrong, but Anna's passion to bring these paintings to life could have sourced itself from her feelings and whatever she has experienced in the past. Well, those feelings and experienced were where he got his passion in performing scenes anyway. But still, consciously and unconsciously, the passion of a person to express his or her thoughts through art has always been drawn from one's respective past. He just didn't know whether Anna's passions were born out of the good things or the bad things in life. Maybe both? That's a good thing. Having both sides of the spectrum is healthy for concentrating on either good or the bad could lead to trouble more or less.

Then, he heard her abilities and Matt's face lightened up by a Chrismas Tree. Weather Manipulation and the ability to both manipulate Fire and Water? He didn't realize that this pretty face was a heavyweight. Not wait sorry, gorgeous beauty seems to be a better fit to describe her.

"Aha. I didn't know I was in the presence of a Warrior Goddess. Forgive me." Matt said to Anna as he gave her a little bow. He laughed at his little quirk afterwards. He was excited really, until he realized why she felt hesitant in the first place. His old friend, Dr. Smith, told Matt that abilities have a variety of triggers. They could be triggered by either focusing, feeling emotions, remembering certain events in one's life or being exposed to a certain environment. Matt's little ability required him to focus when it comes to doing the big league stuff. But for Anna's case, such powers she mentioned probably had to do something where she got her passion for the arts from. In any case, he could help her. Well partially, he's not that omnipotent afterall.

Matt saw those little bubbles Anna created and smiled upon the sight as they twirled around. He knew in the back of his mind that the bubbles were nothing but a facade to cover up the sheer weight of responsibility that Anna's abilities gave to the young woman. But still, Matt enjoyed the sight. It was a cute one at that. But then, his expression went from enthusiastic to serious when he heard of what Anna did when she lost control of her abilities.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but you're here in A.C.C. now. You've got people to help you master your gifts. And besides, when all else fails, I'm always here."

Matt took out his iPod and opened the battery application. He then showed to her that its batteries were at 90%. Then out of the blue, Matt began slowly absorbing the electrical energy within the device to show Anna through the iPod that he drained it of its energy. Upon feeling that there was no juice left in the device, Matt raised his left hand and produced a small fireball. He played with the fireball for a bit until he absorbed it by crushing the flames in his palm and transferred the energy back to his iPod. With its batteries back at 90%, Matt pocketed his device and approached Anna. He then took her hands and began to assure her that he was always here to help.

"And that was a little field test on what I could do. Buildings on fire? I'm your guy. Shooting lightning bolts from the sky? No problem. Well, you could still drown me or throw me like a ragged doll in the wind, but that's not the point. There are people out there Anna who are willing to help. You just need to get out of your shell and just let go of yourself. Relax. Have fun."

At this point, Matt let go of her hands and began walking around the room, while making his point. "Maybe that's all you need. You've probably tried this painting in seclusion and evading contact charade so that you're be able to restrain it, but is it working? Your powers seems to me like an outlet for that artistic passion. And right now, probably you're frustrated and sad and that's why your abilities could go haywire. But if you're constantly less stressed out, maybe you could handle it better. I don't know. I'm just shooting wildly at the dark. But the point is, this is actually me still trying to get you into the theater guild because I think you'd be an awesome addition to our group. Besides, your abilities could save us the money we'd use for special effects. Riiiight? Riiight! Do I spy a little cute smile on that face? Come on, you gotta admit that's awesome!"

[Annabelle Marie Westminster]

Art was a beauty, something she could do all day and just stare at the art work. She remembered when she was on the run how she would always go to the art museums and stare at the artwork for hours upon hours. She could look at it all day and it wouldn’t bother her. She adored the colors and sights and wondered what they were thinking every time when she looked at the picture. She wondered how they saw it or if it was something that they thought would never pop up in her mind. As she looked at her paintings, she saw something more than just plain art work. She saw memories, dreams, emotions, imagination, and so much more. She loved art and everything about it. She remembered sneaking into her room to hide away and she would sit on her desk just to draw all the amazing things that she had in her head. Some memories were made to be hidden, but mostly, Anna had drawn beautiful things, things that randomly pop in her mind. She always had such a vivid imagination. She mostly draws nature and things of beauty that she always had wanted to see. She even had drawn monuments because she thought they were always so pretty.

She smiled when he had cracked a joke; she always tried to place a smile on her face even if she wasn’t in the mood for a smile. It was hard to smile for her at times, because at times she would force it out and she hated doing that because she felt like she was lying. This wasn’t the case though. It was an actual smile. Something that had just came out of her lips that turned the corners up. She looked around the room and she noticed that she had a lot of artwork on the walls and she knew she had to sell it soon because it would only add more to the pile. Eventually she would, but for right now, she had to sort them. She stood there staring at the teacher and then she looked at the paintings again not knowing what to say to him. She was mostly speechless. Sometimes she could just draw a blank and wouldn’t have anything to say. This was one of those moments. She didn’t like talking about her powers because she knew she would just grow silent after that. She stood there then sighed gently. She looked outside and she noticed the wind blowing back and forth. She felt unease and when she looked at the window, she could see that she was. As she turned her head to look at him, she gave him a small smile.

She noticed him showing her an example of his powers and she watched the ipod level then the fire and then the energy going back into the ipod. She smiled softly as she saw that and she looked into his eyes. She thought that was pretty neat and she was pretty much impressed with what he could do. She chuckled a bit and she placed her arms around her. Although she knew she was in this school, she felt like she wasn’t safe here and that’s cause of the hunters were all around. She didn’t complain, she knew that she would have to help the Vertias out from all the evil clone guys, but she also knew that she had to protect her fellow gifted. People were in danger and someone had to take a stand. She knew she wasn’t one of the best people to ask protection for but she was willing to give her all to save them. She didn’t want anyone and she knew she meant anyone to get hurt. She had caused so many problems, she just wanted to make it better by trying to save the world a little bit at the time and because of her feelings like that, she wanted to save people from death.

She looked at him with soft eyes when he had grabbed her hands. She felt very uncomfortable and she turned away after she felt his hands slip from hers. She hadn’t had anyone touch her in a very long time and she wasn’t used to a man touching her in any shape or form. So to her, the touch was foreign, something that she hadn’t had in a very long time. It was years actually. She loved to be touched, but as for the moment, she couldn’t even like the touch without freaking out a bit. To her, she felt like she was betraying her ex lover, James. Although she wasn’t because he was dead, she felt like she was forgetting everything that they had if she dared tried something with another man. She hasn’t even laid eyes on another man ever since him. That’s how much she loved him and how much she just wanted him. She turned to look at him as he spoke again and a small smile appeared on her face. It wasn’t hard to make her smile, but it make it last was even harder. She looked around her room once again then she looked at him, her soft blue eyes glazing over him just watching his movements, curious as to why a professor would care so much about a student that wasn’t even his own student. She understood that she had the passion that the professor was looking for, but she didn’t know if she could find it in acting.

She closed the door though and walked over to the small coffee pot and turned it on. She figured she could use a cup. She knew her emotions were a big tie to her abilities but she wondered how much of a tie did she really have with them. She inhaled deeply as she could smell the coffee and she had taken out the sugar and creams and such and placed it on the small table. She got the pot and poured to cups, one for him and one for her. She looked at him for a long while trying to figure him out but she was coming up with a dry response. She turned back over and grabbed the cups and walked over to the sofa and placed it on the table that was right across from it. She also brought the sugar and cream. She started to pour some sugar and place some cream down in the coffee and she took a long sip from it feeling that it tasted wonderful and it had just the right stuff. She looked over to him then placed the cup down on the table.


“I’m flattered that you’re trying to help me. But the truth is, I’ve tried everything to keep my powers under control and it’s not working. The only way I know that it works is when I barely use them at all. The weather manipulation I have control over, it’s the other ability that I cannot control. So I’m not completely useless. I don’t have many resources left to know how to control them, lately I’ve been doing better but it’s still hard. My powers can kill me; I have come close to it. The best I can do for now is not use the dangerous one.”