[Deleted]

her shiny bmw parked two blocks down, mattie had finally reached her destination - she would never park so close as to risk anyone see her come to the small, run down looking store. though that was, of course, not the reason she was here. she was on a mission to find a particular someone – she had a craving for knowledge for some unknown reason today, and only one person could help her. she made her way passed the register, waving at the clerk – who she was pretty sure was either paid to keep his mouth shut or somehow one of the most clueless people on earth. she entered a backroom through a simple door, which only blackstorm members knew existed (and again, possibly the clerk – mattie was still undecided on that).

mattie locked her eyes on the two as soon as she entered the space. the red headed, scrawny one must have been a newer member, mattie frequented the little hideout about once a month and she had yet to meet him. the other – tall, broad, dark haired – was the reason for her visit today. she sighed as she pushed the door closed behind her and walked to join them in the center of the room. “noah, will you please leave him alone?” she stated the words calmly, yet with a sense of demand – though she already knew this wouldn’t help.

she expected to be greeted by some sort of smart remark, or even an outright laugh. noah st cloud was not afraid of anything, much less a tiny thing like mattie, and he certainly wasn’t going to answer to her. he had been the one to recruit mattie into blackstorm, and while she greatly admired his knowledge, skills, and passion; she could use without his attitude and lack of care – literally. mattie could feel everyone’s emotions around her, and use her siren powers to manipulate them – except she could rarely, if ever, feel anything coming off of noah. he either had it zoned in so well that he was evading her gifts, or the man truly cared about such little things – mattie hadn’t decided yet.

noah continued to pester the new recruit – as expected – so mattie threatened the only thing she knew she had. “if you don’t stop I will come over there and poke you in the shoulder.” she knew it wasn’t the touch that noah wouldn’t like – it was what followed. mattie had figured out when he met her that noah’s gift was to borrow the gifts of others. he had come down to the hospital pretending to be sick to find mattie and recruit her for blackstorm, and when she touched him to take his vitals during his rouse, he had absorbed her empathy powers through touch. however it hadn’t taken much for him to give them back, noah was not a person for wanting to feel the pain (or, seemingly to mattie anyways – happiness) of others.

mattie really only kept him around as a mentor (maybe a weird, awkward older brother for herself to look up to in a way) on all things blackstorm – and she was hoping to ask him for some self defense and combat lessons on top of that. “well, what’s it going to be?”

Noah St Cloud • words: 544 • notes: if you'd like changes, let me know!

[Noah St Cloud]

“Just relax, alright? Tell me what you’re seeing.”

Noah loved gifts. Loved borrowing them and figuring them out. But Chester – Chester was sapping the fun from it. The redhead refused to answer Noah’s questions, opting to be extremely difficult and whiny about the whole exchange and freaking out from the moment he realised he couldn’t summon his usual tricks. He’d stopped yelling now. Resigned himself to standing still. But he remained visibly distraught; jaw clenched and skin blotchy. Noah was unsympathetic. He’d been minding his business, just walking into the hideout, and Chester thought it would be fun to grab him and plant an illusion in his head; made him see a trashed room as if Blackstorm’s hideout had been raided.

Putting illusions in Chester’s head was proving to be quite the puzzle. Noah held onto the other man’s wrist, simply picturing a forest (the intended illusion wasn’t even scary – Chester was being dramatic) and the redhead’s irises had turned cloudy and grey. When Noah had waved his free hand in front of Chester's face and asked him how many fingers he was holding up, he hadn’t answered correctly, so Noah assumed something was happening even if it wasn’t quite right. He’d know if only Chester would tell him.

He sighed. Usually Noah would be a lot more genial about the matter (he had a friendly, good-guy reputation to maintain, after all), but no one else was around and he’d woken up on the wrong side of the bed, and though his mood was not quite bad enough to warrant a certain sweater, it did lower his patience. The gift wasn’t even that interesting. Not when he couldn’t see the results for himself. “I suppose if you’re not going to cooperate, this can at least be a lesson to never try ‘it’s just a prank, bro’ on me again. I don’t know why you thought it would be funny –”

The sound of the door opening drew his attention away. A familiar woman stepped into the room, slender and dark-haired. Her eyes quickly found the two men occupying the space and abruptly appeared unimpressed by what she saw. She closed the door behind her with a sigh. “Hey, Mattie-blue-blue,” Noah greeted, content to return his gaze to Chester and let her do whatever she came to do. But unfortunately, it seemed she wasn't simply there to pick something up. Mattie deemed it necessary to approach, and he casually stepped in the opposite direction in the hopes she’d keep her distance enough to keep her empathy gift to herself.

And that had been a shock, hadn’t it? All that digging he’d done to make sure she was safe to recruit, all that research to confirm her talents of persuasion were as true as they were rumoured, and yet she’d still managed to keep her empathy powers under the radar, springing it on him out of nowhere. It hadn’t been pleasant. All his flirtatious, easy-going charm had dropped in an instant as he struggled to rein the gift in and pick apart his own feelings from the vast spectrum of those around him. He tried not to think about it. Preferred to ignore the implications her powers presented. The only person whose emotions he might be interested in was unlikely to be nearby when he took on Mattie’s gift, and even then, the thought of knowing how she felt made him uncharacteristically nervous.

Mattie’s threat was acknowledged cheerfully as if it wasn't a threat at all. “Oh great! You remember how my powers work, so you should also realise he started it.” It was a little childish, he knew, but absolutely the truth; Chester did start it. However, Noah expected Mattie wouldn’t be placated by this. What a shame. He usually enjoyed people with saviour complexes but sometimes it could be a real drag.

He let his head fall back with a groan, turning to face her with a chiding smile as if she were the one in the wrong. “C’mon. I have a soft spot for redheads y’know. They’re my secondary ‘type’; I wouldn’t do this to him for the Hell of it.”

Maybe it was just her expression, or maybe it was remembering her profession (goodie two-shoes always wanting to save everyone), but he sensed she was going to be stubborn about this and follow through on her threat if he kept testing her. He rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine.” He released Chester’s wrist and mentally pushed the illusion gift away, watching cooly as the other man’s eyes cleared. Chester blinked rapidly, stare darting between Mattie and Noah until finally his shoulders sagged and he spun and strode from the room without a word. Noah tutted, raising his brow at Mattie. “See? Not even a ‘thank you’. Rude.”

With an airy sigh he sat on the edge of the main meeting table, leaning back on his hands as he gazed thoughtfully at the closing door. “Who even recruited him? He’s way too fresh to know where the main hideout is, which reminds me –” he drew his stare to Mattie, grinning as he quirked a brow – “I’ve been thinking of how your gift can be used to increase the security around here. You could swear everyone to secrecy, y’know? Make them unable to tell anyone. It could keep us all safe.” He cocked his head. “Wasn’t that a thing in those Harry Potter books? Something about coins and that secret club? I don’t know. It’s been so long since I read them. Personally I never ‘got it’ enough to buy my own copies but – anyway, maybe you could start by hypnotising me. A warm up for your vocal cords. And we could test for loopholes.”


@mattis

[Deleted]

Mattie scoffed at Noah’s teasing, but smirked at her petty victory. Poor Chester spinning out of the room like a tornado as soon as Noah released him. “Hmm, I’m surprised he wasn’t one of yours. Borrowing his gift to plant simply nasty illusions and thoughts about themselves into someone’s mind,” she raised her brow at Noah, and knew that she had to keep his attention if she wanted him to teach her anything, “First of all, not a chance. So you can use it on me and convince me it’s a good idea to walk into the street naked or something, but nice try…the empathy gift is still up for offer though,” she winked playfully.

Mattie thought it best to not waste time – she knew the man was no fan of such things, Noah was all business, all the time. Unless it included cruel jokes, of course. She jumped immediately into her agenda – “Actually, you’ll probably much enjoy why I came to find you. I need some help with, uh, violence, you could say?” She paused, deciding exactly how she wanted to approach the situation. Not that she wanted Noah to find enjoyment in fighting her – lord knew he would – but she had recently run into a situation where she had offered to help a man after a bar fight. Which led her to thinking if he had turned his anger or aggression onto her, she would have been nearly helpless – normally she could calm the mood or ‘convince’ a violent opponent to walk away, however, she wasn’t so sure it would be such a simple task if they came upon her with no warning, and she wanted to be sure she could protect herself.

She shuffled her weight a bit, nervous what he would say or think of her – she did have a sort of image of being a ‘goody goody’ and assumed the request may come as a surprise to Noah. “Now don’t get too excited, I’m not asking for you to explain how to beat someone to a pulp and leave them for dead,” she shot a half unimpressed, half teasing look towards him, “but I was just in a situation the other night that made me realize that my gifts may not work as effectively if someone ambushes me. Therefore, I am needing to learn some moves for protection, and I figured you’re just the guy to help me out, if you please?”

Noah St Cloud • sorry it is a bit short - after the holidays wanted to get you a reply so you weren't waiting too long xD

[Noah St Cloud]

OOC: it’s all good! Take as long as you like and write however much you’d like c:


Noah feigned a hurt frown and sighed, lowering his eyes to the floor. “I don’t know where you got all these nasty ideas about me, Matt. I’ve only ever been nice to you.” Maybe so, but his suggestion had been bait; an encouragement to use her mind control on him so he could play with it for a while. She didn’t fall for it, only raising a brow as she called him out.

He might have pushed and prodded a little further, tried to tempt her into making some sort of trade, but apparently there was something she wanted from him. His gaze lifted to study her, equal parts wary and curious. Violence? Sure, she was probably right about him enjoying whatever it was but – he was on his best behaviour, trying to limit his flirtations with such things. And why would Mattie of all people be asking for it? She shifted her weight, definitely nervous, and the sight sparked a hint of amusement within him. Had she mistaken him for some sort of hitman? Was one of her beloved patients in trouble and she thought she could send him after whatever thugs were bothering them? Maybe she had an ex who was giving her trouble, and she wanted him to put them in line.

Her request, however, was much tamer than his theories. He snorted, shaking his head at himself. Although he had the instinct to refuse her, to point out that her gift meant fighting was entirely avoidable, she raised a good point: if someone ambushed her – if an attacker were to cover her mouth or grab her throat – telling them to stop might not be so easy.

“I’m just the guy you need, huh?” He rolled his neck, watching her all the while. Presumably she had limited options but, even so, it was sweet that she trusted Noah enough to approach him, and a nice bit of fluffing for his ego that she’d deemed him up to the task. A coy smile lazily curled across his lips. “Is this your way of flirting with me? Like asking your high school crush to help with your math homework?” Probably not, but Noah wasn’t going to let an opportunity to tease slip by. If she only wanted to learn a few things, why not sign up for a public martial arts class? Or spend an evening watching self-defence videos?

He stood from the table with a thoughtful hum. “I’ll be honest, it’s not that simple to teach you ‘some moves’ and send you on your way. If you’re being attacked, you’re not going to be calm enough to think through the steps you should take.” Someone could know all the theory in the world, but it would be useless if they weren’t in the state of mind to remember any of it. Maybe she'd already realised that. Maybe that was why she'd asked him. “It needs to be instinctual. Muscle memory. We’d have to practice a lot for something that might never even happen to you.” He imagined she wouldn’t be willing to commit to it. Her busy shifts at the hospital likely ate up a lot of her time, and when she wasn’t working, she would probably be too tired to think about throwing punches.

He shrugged. “My advice? Just get a taser. Keep a hand on it if you’re going anywhere sketchy and don’t walk too close to alleyways.” He folded his arms, smiling again. “Otherwise, you’re going to have to set aside some time in your week for us. And you’re gonna have to give me something in return, of course. I'm not here for you to use however you wish.”


@mattis

[Deleted]

she sighed - of course nothing would be as simple as 'yes' or 'no' with Noah, not that she had expected anything less. it was like he enjoyed making things as difficult as possible - unless it benefited him, obviously - there was not a selfless bone in his body.

"ugh, of course i plan to pay you for your help...if you can call it payment," she would hate herself for weeks for what she was about to say, but mattie had no other resources. and unfortunately for her, noah was probably the best in this area - a stone cold killer. "i will let you experiment with my siren gifts, as long as you promise to give them back in a timely manner, in exchange for your 'tutoring'." she knew the offer would be too enticing for him to pass on, though she worried of the consequences. siren gifts were very powerful and if used in the wrong way, or without the knowledge, the intended subject - or even the user, for that matter - could be seriously hurt. mentally and physically.

"better yet - trade knowledge for knowledge. i'll show you how it's done if you show me how to kick some ass," she figured if she was going to sign away her soul, she may as well give the devil some pointers. at least they both may live through it in that case. "so, what do you say, do we have a deal??"

Noah St Cloud  

[Noah St Cloud]

Noah’s eyes brightened, pleased she understood what he wanted to trade his time for. He expected they’d only have a few sessions before she became bored with it or else too tired by her job to keep it up, and by that time, he probably would have had enough fun with her gift to let it go with a cheery wave. “Sure. Deal.” He didn’t ask for clarification on what she considered a ‘timely manner’; he’d use his own definition of the phrase. “I’ll even promise not to use your gift on you, if it makes you feel better. Scout’s honor.” He briefly held up the three-finger salute, placing his other hand on his chest. And yet – he wondered if she would accept his promise. Maybe she would want to offer herself up, being too selfless to stand by and watch him test on others.

His hands fell back to his sides as he strolled closer to her. “Kindly keep your empathy to yourself, please. Turn it off.” He wasn’t absolutely certain she could, only knowing that teaching her would be a little difficult if he got stuck with an existential crisis mid-session. Perhaps it wouldn’t be as bad when it was just the two of them (certainly it would be less chaotic than when they were in the hospital, surrounded by people experiencing all sorts of misery), but nevertheless, he was ready to send the gift straight back to her should he pick it up involuntarily.

“Hm.” He circled her slowly, making an assessing sweep over her frame. Average height. Slim. Good posture, but no noticeable muscle. Not intimidating in the slightest. An easy target. “I don’t think we’ll get you buff enough that no one would dare approach you, but there’s a couple of things you could do to your appearance that could affect a fight – or rather, your chances of escaping.” That would be the aim of their lessons; for her to get out of a hold and run away. Maybe he’d show her the correct way to throw a punch eventually, but for now it seemed stupid to encourage her to fight anyone. “Your hair makes you easy to grab. If you’re trying to run and it’s flying out behind you, I could easily get a hold of it and drag you back. Wear it up – not in a ponytail, obviously, that makes it even easier – or cut it shorter. Most criminals are lazy and look for things like that. They want everything to be as simple as possible.”

He tsked and shook his head. “If you’re wearing shoes with laces, double knot them and tuck them in. You do not want to make an impressive escape only to fall flat on your face a second later because you tripped on some string. That’s just embarrassing.”

He stopped behind her, sighing. “Actually, let’s save Safety-101 class for later. I’m gonna grab you now and see what you’d do.” His arms shot out, one wrapping around her middle. His other hand came up to clamp over her mouth and – bracing himself for a struggle – he started to drag her backwards.


@mattis
OOC: it's midnight again woops, sorry if there are any mistakes I can't see x3 and let me know if you'd rather Noah not do that~

[Noah St Cloud]

OOC: I took some liberties again, let me know if you'd like anything changed or if this isn't enough to work with c:


The plan was to release her if she couldn’t escape after ten seconds, but as her hand reached up to grab at his, Noah wondered if she already had an inkling as to what she should do. Maybe she’d be able to wriggle from his grasp without his help, or at least free her mouth enough to speak. Good for her. Except – rather than try to pry his hand off, he felt teeth dig into his palm. Yikes. Not so good. With a slight frown he yanked his hand away and backed off, releasing her completely before she could bite deep enough to draw blood.

On her part, Mattie seemed to realise she’d done the wrong thing. She sighed and threw her hands to her sides with an exasperation that dislodged his scowl, lending an amused curl to his lips instead. “Hey, hey, it’s okay – no need to get frustrated. I understand why you did that. It’s instinctive, might surprise them and, well, biting –” he chuckled, shaking his head – “it’s just fun, isn’t it? God knows I like doing it but, seriously – I don’t recommend it as your first move. You don’t want to be getting strangers’ blood in your mouth if you can help it, and the biting tactic's not going to work so well if they're wearing gloves; your teeth aren’t gonna cut through ‘em.”

He glanced down at the teeth marks in his palm – a neat little ring of dents – and snorted as he smoothed his fingers over them, trying to speed up the process that would return his skin to normal. “Didn’t have you pegged as a biter,” he mused quietly, more to himself than to her. Maybe she was a bit more wild than she let on.

He lifted his stare back to her, grinning. “I’m gonna grab you again, but don’t do anything until I say.” He moved towards her, reached for her waist, and spun her around, pulling her back against him with one arm locking around her middle as he had before. His right hand lifted to cover her mouth and he tapped his little finger against her jaw. “You’re gonna reach up, grab my pinky – just the pinky – and bend it back. Sorta like you’re ripping duct tape off your face, you understand? Maybe not so hard and fast though. We’re friends here, no need to break it. Just gotta get you used to finding it and performing the motion.”

Though Mattie was a doctor and would probably be able to set them back in place, that didn’t mean he was comfortable with her snapping his bones for practice. He’d release her at the first hint of pain, before she could do any real damage, because otherwise he might have to track down one of Blackstorm’s gifted healers, which was always more difficult than it should be. They were elusive little creatures who, he suspected, were starting to get tired of his penchant for turning up at their regular haunts with cuts and bruises (and sometimes fractures) for them to mend. Their services were meant to be ‘emergency only’ and usually Noah’s wounds weren’t life-threatening but… he couldn’t resist. Instant pain relief plus a chance to feel their magic under his skin? Why deny himself of that?

“Doing this doesn't need much strength, will usually get them off your face, and you can use the time window afterwards to order them to stop or (if you’re still against using your gift) scream in the loudest way you can to draw attention. Now – do it to me.”


@mattis

[Deleted]

Mattie took everything noah said in with careful listening. she knew if she didn't pay attention or strayed, that he would immediately just ask for his payment and be ambivalent towards hosting their training sessions again. she nodded her head at his instructions, and waited for him to grab her.

as soon as he twirled her around - again one hand near her mid-section and another covering her mouth - mattie grabbed his smallest finger and pulled back, as she was told. she did so hard enough that he released his grip on her, but soft enough to be sure not to inflict any real damage. she turned towards him and smirked, "how was that, teacher?" 

mattie rolled her eyes and added, "i suppose it's my turn to teach you something then," she knew what noah was after - anything to get her gifts of hypnotic persuasion. "you have got to be careful with these things though - and it's not necessarily ordering...more of a hypnosis with a lot of persuasion. kind of...tapping into something you knew your target would already do, you're just giving them that extra push." 

in all honesty, mattie was a little nervous to hand over her gifts so willingly to noah. she was afraid of what he'd do - and if he would be so inclined to return them.

Noah St Cloud  
sorry this is not my best lol - I have been struggling to write Mattie, words do not exist for her very often rn lol 

[Noah St Cloud]

[nospaces]

[break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostname"]noah st. cloud

[break][break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostlyric"]Just as a flower does not choose its color,[break]
we are not responsible for what[break]
we have come to be.

[break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostingbox"][break]

Mattie did as instructed without a hitch, and Noah nodded his approval to her when she turned back to face him. “Good. Simple, right? We can practice that – and some other moves – while we talk about your gift.”[break][break]

She rolled her eyes, blatantly exasperated with him. Nonetheless she gave a brief explanation of how her talent functioned, and since his previous attempts to assuage her worries hadn’t appeared to work he decided to set aside promises and soothes for the time being. Instead, he would try to inspire trust by listening attentively and asking questions. He licked his lips. “So… it’s kind of like… egging someone on?” he checked. “As though they’ve mentioned doing what you want them to do – or looked at something in a way that you know they want it even if they didn’t say so – and you’re just giving them the encouragement to go ahead?”[break][break]

It sounded simple enough. He figured he could do that without too much trouble. Except – “Does that mean it won’t work if you know there’s no way in Hell they’d want to do it?” He resisted the urge to pout, only a slight frown giving away his disappointment. While it was way too early in their transaction to do some really risky experiments – the kind that involved tasking strangers with hurting each other – he thought there was potential to do that sort of thing further along the line, once she was lulled enough by his initial harmless tests to assume he wouldn’t do anything daring. He wouldn’t even make her watch; he’d leave to have fun by himself and she could remain blameless and guilt-free.[break][break]

Regardless, her warning to be cautious piqued his interest. He’d already figured as much, intuiting that he would need to be mindful of his word choice to avoid any especially disastrous consequences, and she was probably only telling him because she thought he was exactly the kind of person who would be reckless with it, but it made him wonder…[break][break]

He regarded her carefully, doing his best to keep his features soft. “Have you ever persuaded someone to do something you regretted?” The question was posed far more gently than his last. He couldn't help but pry, too curious not to ask, and he hoped she wouldn't clam up and back out on their deal if she had done something unfortunate and the reminder made her emotional. Perhaps that was part of why she was so hesitant to use it. Knowing from first-hand experience that her gift wasn’t always as helpful as it appeared to outsiders.

[break][break]

[attr="class","NoahLPostTag"]Tag: @mattis

[newclass=.NoahLpostingbox]background-color:#fff;color:#8d9295;text-align: justify; width:450px;padding:25px 45px 45px 45px;font: 400 13px Roboto;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLpostingbox b]color:#6f80a3;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLpostingbox a]font: 400 13px Roboto !important;[/newclass]

[newclass=.NoahLPostTag]float:right; margin-top:20px;width: 195px; background: #4c5884; background-image:url(https://i.imgur.com/tEQLti3.jpg);padding: 20px 15px; color: #fff; text-align: center; font: italic bold 10px/100% 'Times', sans-serif; letter-spacing: 5px;overflow:hidden;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLPostTag a]color: #fff !important; font: italic bold 10px/100% 'Times', sans-serif !important;[/newclass]

[newclass=.NoahLpostlyric]font-size:8px; text-transform:uppercase; text-align:right; letter-spacing:5px;color:#8d9295;margin-right:20px;margin-top:40px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLpostname]position: absolute;font:400 60px mr dafoe; letter-spacing:5px;color:#6f80a3;margin-top:5px;margin-left:110px;[/newclass]

[googlefont=Mr Dafoe:400|Roboto:400,400i,700]

[Deleted]

Mattie could feel the excitement oozing off of noah - though she tried to focus on something else, per their particular arrangement. she, on the other hand, was saturated with disgust. mattie was fully aware of noah's intentions - probably making someone beat someone or hunt them down, so he wouldn't have to do it himself. thank god i'm a doctor, she thought to herself with a tiny smirk.

his questions intrigued her - she was curious as to why he hadn't directly asked her to use her persuasive powers on him so he could take them into his possession as quickly as possible - and she listened diligently before answering. "no. they'll still do whatever you ask, it just may take a bit more control and effort for them to do it. it's almost a state of hypnosis you're putting your..." mattie trailed off, offended at the word 'victim' but finding no suitable substitutes - "victim, for lack of a better word, into. if they're not inclined to do what you're asking, they could start to pull out of it, so to speak. once you have enough practice, it really won't matter, though. you'll know how to take control of their mind again and get them to do anything." she paused, shooting a skeptical glance over at the man - afraid of what anything meant to him.

mattie rolled her eyes, his follow up question confirmed her suspicions. however her natural answer was that her body grew visibly stiff, her jaw clenching at the memories. "only a few times, but we won't discuss it."

Noah St Cloud  

[Noah St Cloud]

[nospaces]

[break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostname"]noah st. cloud

[break][break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostlyric"]Just as a flower does not choose its color,[break]
we are not responsible for what[break]
we have come to be

[break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostingbox"][break]

For only a moment, he felt her use her gift. It curled around his wrists, tried to slither up his arm and into his chest, and for half a breath he could feel her disgust with him – unfriendly and disapproving and far too noticeable beside his own quiet emotions. He barred it out. Expelled the empathy and hastily retreated, repressing a shudder as he sent her a warning glance. It was unnecessary; he’d sensed her rein her power in without him having to ask.
[break][break]

It was strange, though, to think he’d evoked such a feeling in her. He’d noted her many eye rolls and sceptical glances throughout their talk, but he wasn’t quite sure what he’d done to warrant them. He’d never been violent in front of her. Never spoken about such things apart from perhaps one or two instances when he’d mentioned being in bar fights and being able to fight and shoot in general. And he’d never had to commit a crime to help her like he had for other members (and he doubted they would go around gossiping about his help either – not when they were the ones who’d accidentally killed and needed help covering it up). Was her distaste simply because he showed interest in her gift? Did she hate it that much? And why did she seem to think he’d use it to do bad things?[break][break]

He felt inclined to ask and sat on the room’s table again with every intention of doing so. But first he listened to her elaboration, and hummed thoughtfully as she confessed that a target could start pulling out of their hypnosis if they were truly against it. Good to know – for his own protection. He wouldn’t think she’d compel him to do anything particularly egregious – anything that would threaten his body or his lifestyle – but then, at the beginning of the day he’d thought she liked him more than she appeared to now. With enough practice, could a person build up some sort of immunity to her? He liked the sound of that, but doubted it. Not when it seemed that he’d have to loathe a single command with every fibre of his being in order to resist it.[break][break]

Mattie refused to answer his other question, though the refusal was almost an answer in itself. She did have regrets. Had it been accidental? A careless arrangement of words that led to a horrific thing? Or had she ever had a moment of spite or rage, and used her gift with the intention of harm? Curiosity burned within him, yet he allowed the matter to slide. “Of course. I’m sorry for prying. Why don’t we talk about things you don’t regret, then? Commands you’ve given to do good, that you feel made someone’s day – or even the world – better.” He smiled, waggling his brow invitingly. “C’mon. Favourite moments. Lay ‘em on me. Your gift can’t all be doom and gloom. There’s got to be some positives.”


[break][break]

[attr="class","NoahLPostTag"]Tag: @mattis

[newclass=.NoahLpostingbox]background-color:#fff;color:#8d9295;text-align: justify; width:450px;padding:25px 45px 45px 45px;font: 400 13px Roboto;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLpostingbox b]color:#6f80a3;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLpostingbox a]font: 400 13px Roboto !important;[/newclass]

[newclass=.NoahLPostTag]float:right; margin-top:20px;width: 195px; background: #4c5884; background-image:url(https://i.imgur.com/tEQLti3.jpg);padding: 20px 15px; color: #fff; text-align: center; font: italic bold 10px/100% 'Times', sans-serif; letter-spacing: 5px;overflow:hidden;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLPostTag a]color: #fff !important; font: italic bold 10px/100% 'Times', sans-serif !important;[/newclass]

[newclass=.NoahLpostlyric]font-size:8px; text-transform:uppercase; text-align:right; letter-spacing:5px;color:#8d9295;margin-right:20px;margin-top:40px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLpostname]position: absolute;font:400 60px mr dafoe; letter-spacing:5px;color:#6f80a3;margin-top:5px;margin-left:110px;[/newclass]

[googlefont=Mr Dafoe:400|Roboto:400,400i,700]

[Deleted]

lots of fake in this space

CAN YOU MAKE IT STOP?

She took a brief moment to ponder Noah's inquisition - did he really want to know or was he teasing her, only later to lure her into divulging her deepest secrets? Had she had any regrets? Certainly. Her first attempts at managing her powers when she had discovered them initially were anything but helpful or graceful. Mattie had learned the hard way how important her wording was - no matter if they tried to break away at first, they would eventually end up back under her hypnosis, completing whatever it was she had asked.

She smiled, though, and remembered all the good she had done. Or at least in her own eyes, it seemed good - well intentioned at the least. Gotten drug addicts to commit to rehab, given those with horrendous diseases the will to fight - simply convincing people that it was possible to become "better".

"Of course, I try my best," she smiled again, "I try as much as I can to use my gift to install hope in others, convincing them that fighting their cancer could be worth it - or giving up meth, those sorts of things. My favorite is probably the children - they're so stubborn, present so many challenges...from a medical standpoint but also they tend to argue with any sort of persuasion, but are most rewarding in the end." She paused, watching him listen. Possibly he wasn't as ill intentioned as his reputation had made him out to be - and after all, Mattie did think of Noah as a sort of twisted "big brother" figure at the end of the day - he had been the one to introduce her to Blackstorm. "Just remember - words are the most important. The target will do whatever you ask of them in the end. You have to be sure you ask them specifically...or it can cause many mistakes."

Noah St Cloud

[Noah St Cloud]

[nospaces]

[break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostname"]noah st. cloud

[break][break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostlyric"]Just as a flower does not choose its color,[break]
we are not responsible for what[break]
we have come to be

[break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostingbox"][break]

Mattie perked up, much more open to sharing her good experiences than her bad ones. Turning people into optimists in the face of illness, making addicts quit their poison… Noah wondered, briefly, if she'd commanded those addicts to stop being addicted altogether, or if she'd simply told them not to take the drug again and left them with cravings they would never again be able to scratch. Such a unique way to torture a person…[break][break]

“So, more than just making a person do things, you could change their very nature.” Her admittance to using her gift to ‘instil hope’ confirmed what he'd previously surmised. He pursed his lips and studied her as she watched him, mulling over the concept until he settled on a verdict: “Freaky.” Hilarious, if the gift were in his hands. Disturbing, in someone else’s. The idea of being forcibly and fundamentally changed as a person was somehow even creepier than knowing she could control his bodily actions. [break][break]

He beamed at her despite this, unwilling to divulge the extent of just how unnerving he found that, nor how relieved he was that he at least had somewhat of a defence against it. “But that’s great! It really sounds like you do some good with it. I know a few guys trying to quit smoking who’d probably love to meet you.” [break][break]

Unable to think of more questions for the time being, Noah supposed he had enough information for a test-drive. The prospect excited him as it always did, yet his expression settled into something decidedly more sombre. He recognised the need for rules. Rules for both of them. While he knew she was wary of him abusing the gift, he was wary of her doing the same thing. [break][break]

Presumably (hopefully) Mattie would be nice and simply command him to stand up or bring her something from across the room. But part of him worried she would try to change something intrinsic to himself. His soul – if such things existed. The small chance of being able to resist an order and the emphasis she gave to being specific was a comfort. Hypothetically if she wasn’t precise enough he supposed he could interpret her command in a way that would lead to a more favourable result. But a command that targeted who he was? That, he imagined, would be far harder to disobey.[break][break]

“One final check before we give it a go – any rules you’d like me to follow? Any absolute no-no’s that you don’t want me to ask of you? Obviously I won’t ask you to do anything that could cause harm to yourself or others, I won’t change your morals or whatever, and I won’t ask you to do anything… creepy.” He grimaced. Disturbed that he even had to give such a reassurance. “To me or to anyone else.” As much as he’d daydreamed about all the chaos he could create with such power, that was one thing he wasn’t willing to use it for. One line he wouldn’t cross. Free will in that area very much mattered to him. [break][break]

“And of course, I would ask you to extend that courtesy to me.” He held her gaze, hoping she understood and appreciated the trust he was placing in her and how seriously he was taking their whole deal. “You only get the one command, but still, please don’t ask me to do anything that could endanger my body, my reputation, or my identity.” He was half-tempted to throw in a threat. A reminder that whatever unpleasant thing she did to him, he would then have the power to do something similar to her. Yet he held his tongue. She was a smart woman and they were on tentatively friendly terms; he imagined it would be unnecessary.



[break][break]

[attr="class","NoahLPostTag"]Tag: @mattis

[newclass=.NoahLpostingbox]background-color:#fff;color:#8d9295;text-align: justify; width:450px;padding:25px 45px 45px 45px;font: 400 13px Roboto;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLpostingbox b]color:#6f80a3;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLpostingbox a]font: 400 13px Roboto !important;[/newclass]

[newclass=.NoahLPostTag]float:right; margin-top:20px;width: 195px; background: #4c5884; background-image:url(https://i.imgur.com/tEQLti3.jpg);padding: 20px 15px; color: #fff; text-align: center; font: italic bold 10px/100% 'Times', sans-serif; letter-spacing: 5px;overflow:hidden;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLPostTag a]color: #fff !important; font: italic bold 10px/100% 'Times', sans-serif !important;[/newclass]

[newclass=.NoahLpostlyric]font-size:8px; text-transform:uppercase; text-align:right; letter-spacing:5px;color:#8d9295;margin-right:20px;margin-top:40px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLpostname]position: absolute;font:400 60px mr dafoe; letter-spacing:5px;color:#6f80a3;margin-top:5px;margin-left:110px;[/newclass]

[googlefont=Mr Dafoe:400|Roboto:400,400i,700]

[Deleted]

lots of fake in this space

CAN YOU MAKE IT STOP?

Oddly, his sentiments comforted Mattie. She became less skeptical of him wrecking such havoc with the gifts of her persuasion. She took a deep breath, nodding her head, "But of course - nothing the either wouldn't do - baby steps at first. You'll notice you have to focus quite hard, the easiest way is direct eye contact - not necessarily needed, but makes it quicker and more effective...the eyes lead to the soul, sort of thing." She paused, turning to face him. "Alright," she paused once more. 

The thought suddenly came to Mattie that she wasn't sure what she should actually task Noah with. The best she could come up with was comical, and she couldn't even contain a small laugh. "For lack of anything else," she chuckled once more before staring into his eyes, "let's dance for a moment," she spoke the words with obvious intent, but also softly. Noah's eyes went into a hypnotized state that Mattie was all to familiar with, and he raised his arms, grasping her hands and spinning her around, as soon as she had him under her 'spell' - Mattie relinquished her gifts, "Ok, now, take my abilities and instruct me to do something." The short spin stopped immediately, Mattie practically felt her abilities jump from her body to Noah, reigning in her empathy powers as much as possible, all her hairs standing - she was more than slightly nervous of what he would compel her to complete.

Noah St Cloud

[Noah St Cloud]

[nospaces]

[break][break][break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostlyric"]Just as a flower does not choose its color,[break]
we are not responsible for what[break]
we have come to be

[break]

[attr="class","NoahLpostingbox"][break]

After agreeing to the terms and reiterating how to use her power, Mattie turned to face him and gave a small laugh, momentarily stoking his wariness again. But her command was soft and inoffensive and he reached out to take her hands without hesitation, leading her in a slow spin.[break][break]

It was a little weird (disconcerting) to know she’d forced him into it but to feel as though he’d chosen it of his own volition. If not for his own gift he imagined he’d constantly be questioning himself around her. Second-guessing his actions, debating whether she’d played around in his head and manipulated his decisions.[break][break]

He stopped their dance, abruptly free of the compulsion, and noted the slightest weight to his tongue – or maybe it was a lightness? He couldn’t really tell. He simply knew his tongue felt peculiar and he rolled it around in his mouth for a moment, amused by the sensation, until Mattie prompted him to use the gift.[break][break]

“Okay,” Noah breathed. It was time. Nothing the either wouldn’t do – but it would be fine to calm her down a bit, right?[break][break]

Releasing her hands, he held her gaze even as he stepped away to give them both their personal space back. When he spoke he tried to follow her instructions: to pour intent into his voice and to believe she would do what she was told. “Relax,” he said gently. A simple, one-worded command to start. But... perhaps she would only calm down for a second. He needed to be more specific. “Relax while we’re here together. You’re safe with me.” Truly, his first use of the long-awaited power could have been achieved with her other gift. However, commanding her to be calm sounded far more palatable than feeling her emotions and sculpting them into something else, and Noah had always been a fan of doing things 'the easy way'.[break][break]

His stare didn’t waver from her, eager to note any change in her posture that would indicate success, yet his mind was quickly distracted by other suppositions he couldn’t hold back from speaking aloud. “I wonder if you’ll snap out of any of this when I give the power back.” Would she always be calm and relaxed when with him in the hideout? Or would that sense of security snap away the instant her power flooded back to her? [break][break]

He sucked a breath through his teeth, his brows raising. “Yikes. I wonder if the people you hypnotised just snapped out of it. Since, y'know, you don't have the gift right now.” All those people she was so proud of helping… would they now be distraught and hopeless? Scrambling to take up the addictions they’d once had the willpower to quit? He shrugged, his expression easing into its usual pleasant smile. “Ah well. Nothing we can do about that.” He really didn't care. Hopefully his command would stop her from caring too much either.[break][break]

Crossing his arms lightly across his chest, Noah's grin widened as he mentally prepared a list of more commands to give her. He'd start with drawing some truths from her, and later move onto some (unfortunately harmless - they'd made a deal) dares. “Tell me a secret you wouldn’t mind telling me.” It wasn't quite breaking their rules; he figured if there was no secret she felt comfortable informing him of, she simply wouldn’t say anything.




[break][break]

[attr="class","NoahLPostTag"]Tag: @mattis

[newclass=.NoahLpostingbox]background-color:#fff;color:#8d9295;text-align: justify; width:450px;padding:25px 45px 45px 45px;font: 400 13px Roboto;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLpostingbox b]color:#6f80a3;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLpostingbox a]font: 400 13px Roboto !important;[/newclass]

[newclass=.NoahLPostTag]float:right; margin-top:20px;width: 195px; background: #4c5884; background-image:url(https://i.imgur.com/tEQLti3.jpg);padding: 20px 15px; color: #fff; text-align: center; font: italic bold 10px/100% 'Times', sans-serif; letter-spacing: 5px;overflow:hidden;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLPostTag a]color: #fff !important; font: italic bold 10px/100% 'Times', sans-serif !important;[/newclass]

[newclass=.NoahLpostlyric]font-size:8px; text-transform:uppercase; text-align:right; letter-spacing:5px;color:#8d9295;margin-right:20px;margin-top:40px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.NoahLpostname]position: absolute;font:400 60px mr dafoe; letter-spacing:5px;color:#6f80a3;margin-top:5px;margin-left:110px;[/newclass]

[googlefont=Mr Dafoe:400|Roboto:400,400i,700]