I promise I won't burn down our dorm room

[Admin Sydnee]

Dakota just kind of stood there numbly. The fire didn't affect him, and it didn't hurt, but his eyes widened as he looked at his sleeves that were on fire. It was an alarming sight and still confusing to him, as if he should be running around freaking out and in pain, but it did nothing.

He watched as Talon ran back into the bathroom to fill the bin with water and tried to protest. "You don't have to-" he began as his roommate came out of the bathroom, dousing Dakota too in the water. He stopped mid sentence and felt water run down his face, dripping from his hair. At least it cooled him off. "...do that," he finished, letting out a sigh.

He'd probably just made Talon hate him, burning him and all.

[Admin Courtney]

Talon now stared wide-eyed at the dripping-wet Dakota. The fires were all out. He dropped the waste bin and it hit the floor with a hollow clang as metal met wood. It would probably leave a scratch, but at least the entire room hadn't burned down. He moved to kick the bin aside, or to go to see if Dakota was okay now, or to sit down -- he could not remember what he had been moving to do, because as he did, his chest enflared with pain. Talon cried out through gritted teeth. Now that his adrenaline was calming down, he could feel the extent of the bubbled skin on his chest. And damn, did it hurt!

He had burned his hand on the stove and on pots and on a casserole dish the one time his mother asked him to take it out of the oven and he forgot about mitts, but never he been burned this badly. His blue eyes cast downward to look at the burn on his chest. It was disgusting. There was a hand-sized mark on his chest that almost looked plastic except that it was red raw and there were a few small blister-like bubbles. It hurt when air touched it.
"Fffff," Talon hissed, squinting his eyes shut tightly for a moment as if willing the pain to go away. He opened his eyes and looked down at the burn again, lifting a trembling hand to the burn but not daring to touch it. "Fuck," he finally said. What was he supposed to do now??

[Admin Sydnee]

Dakota merely stared at Talon, frozen in place. He still couldn't believe what he'd managed to do. He'd caused a lot of damage. Talon didn't seem like the kind of guy who would admit he was in pain, but he was wincing and gritting his teeth in obvious agony. He had caused this. He looked down at his hands for a long moment, cursing his power and his lack of control over it before gaining back composure. Deal with it, Dakota. You should have never gotten a power, but for some reason some higher power decided it would be a good idea to give it to you.

He took in a deep breath and looked up, slowly crossing over to Talon to observe the flesh on his chest that was red and blistering. The worst part was it was in the shape of Dakota's hand. "We need to get you to the infirmary or something," he told him, an apologetic, ashamed look on his face.

[Admin Courtney]

Talon closed his eyes. He couldn't look at the burn anymore; it only seemed to make the pain that much worse. His breathing was laboured as he tried not to move his chest too much. He knew he had to treat it, but he had no idea how to treat a burn that badly, and honestly it hurt so much that he didn't want anything touching it. When Dakota mentioned the infirmary, Talon's eyes flew open in a panic.

"No!" he protested, shaking his head slightly, his blue eyes wide. "They'll think I did this to myself somewhere. I'm not going there. I hate doctors," he added firmly and with malice. If he went to the infirmary, the incident would be reported to his therapist and she would only assume it was some sort of self-harm act of his own doing. And then he'd have to go to even more sessions and he was sick of it. "I'll just... deal with it myself," he said. "It's not even that bad."

[Admin Sydnee]

Dakota regarded him with a strange stare. "What do you mean no?" Was he afraid of going to the doctor? Seemed strange for a guy like Talon to be afraid of that. "Deal with it yourself? Are you insane? Talon, it's bad. I'll tell them how it happened...I mean, leaving out some of the details obviously." God, was his face turning crimson? "That burn is really bad. You can't just leave it and not treat it." That wasn't a good idea, especially with just how bad it was. Dakota felt horrible that he'd let himself get out of control. "We at least need to put some burn relief gel on it."

He let out a breath, shaking his head at himself. "I...I should have just....I'm sorry. Damnit, I'm a mess with this power."

[Admin Courtney]

"No, I don't even want to go there at all. Too many questions," he insisted. Even if Dakota did tell the school nurse what happened and she believed the story, she would still report it to Talon's therapist and she would insist in making sure he's okay and would ask what happened and blah blah blah. Talon did not want to extend his sessions any more than they already were.

"Look, I'll just... ice it or something," he said, but winced at the idea of anything touching his chest. "Or just leave it. Yeah, that sounds good. Let it heal on its own." He sat down on their absent third room mate's bed and looked up at Dakota. Talon blinked in surprise at the amount of guilt he could see on Dakota's face. Guilt and... self-hatred? Or at least dislike.
"Dude, it's fine," he said calmly. "No one can control their powers. I still have to shift naked, which is a bitch in the winter, let me tell you. And it doesn't last long. If I could be a bird forever it would be more useful, but..." he trailed off with a sigh, then perked up slightly as a thought crossed his mind. Would he still have a burn as a bird? He had never been injured enough to test that out. If he had more energy at the moment, he would try it, but he felt exhauted. Between making out with Dakota and then being burned, he felt drained.

"Hey, can you pass me one of my cigarettes?" he asked his roommate. "I need a distraction from this thing." He gestured at his chest.

[Admin Sydnee]

Dakota just listened to Talon continue to give excuses about why he didn't want to go to the infirmary. He wanted to let it heal on its own? He at least needed to apply a healing agent to it! You couldn't just leave a burn like that to fester.

And then he was attempting to comfort Dakota, trying to explain his power to show he could relate. All Dakota could do was nod. "It's not...." His voice was quiet at first as he trailed off. "It's not fine, Talon! I shouldn't be burning people to a crisp. I shouldn't have....I shouldn't have agreed to do this." He gestured between them awkwardly. "It can only end badly with a power like mine. I'm so afraid of the power I hold that I refuse to use it, so then it happens involuntarily and I have no idea what to do."

He'd only used it successfully a few times, but would rather pretend he didn't have powers? Despite the cool water Talon had dumped on him, he was still warm, way too warm in his shirt that was sopping wet. He took it off, crossing the room to grab a cigarette for Talon and tossed his shirt onto the floor.

"You're stubborn, you know that?" He asked, as he handed him the cigarette. "But seriously, I fucked this up. I need to help you somehow."

[Admin Courtney]

"You didn't do it on purpose, so I don't see what the big deal is," Talon argued. He frowned at his room mate. "So you regret kissing me?" he asked casually. "Well that hurts a little. But if you think about it..." Talon trailed off and shook his head. "Nah, never mind. Dude, you just need to learn control. Then you can kiss whomever you want without burning a hand print onto their chest." At that, he looked down at his burn. He wondered if it would scar in the shape that it was. "It's like you've marked me or something," he mumbled, not sure if he liked that or not. It was weird. Talon held his hand over the burn without touching it, wondering if he could pass it off as his own in the future, although he was not sure how to explain it.

"Help me by getting me some ice or something," he suggested, taking the cigarette from Dakota and ignoring the stubborn comment. "And what's that stuff that helps clean out wounds? Saline solution," he remembered, recalling the times his parents or therapist or a doctor had cleaned him up after a really bad day where he had self-harmed. The saline had never stung, which at the time was disappointing. But since he was actually having a decent day, he just wanted the physical pain lessened. He reached into his pocket for his lighter but only felt the rough cloth of his pocket. "Damn it. Hey, can you light this?" he asked Dakota, holding out the cigarette. "With your power?" It was then that he noticed Dakota was shirtless. Talon momentarily forgot his burn as he took in his room mate's tanned and sculpted chest.
"Damn," he uttered, wondering how bad it would hurt to press himself against Dakota again. Probably like hell, but man, was it tempting.

[Admin Sydnee]

"I know I didn't do it on purpose, but it is a big deal....that burn is serious and I caused it. I feel guilty, Talon," Dakota explained. "I don't...." Crap, he didn't mean it that way! "I don't regret kissing you, I regret burning you. Kissing you made me lose control." Man, was he talking to his roommate about kissing him? He had kissed his roommate, that was hard enough for him to accept. And he was a guy and....Dakota's thoughts were all jumbled. "I don't know how to control it. I feel like it controls me. I'd rather not use the power at all." He looked down at his hands, feeling stupid.

"Well, I still have to go to the infirmary for that, now don't I?"He sighed as Talon took the cigarette. He needed relief from that burn. The more Dakota looked at it, the worse he felt.

He looked up at Talon who was holding out the cigarette. "You want me to use my power to light that after I just burned you? Have you not noticed that I lack control over my power? Do you not see how much of a loser I am?" He was truly dumbfounded by how Talon acted towards him. That and now he saw Talon's eyes wandering over his chest.

[Admin Courtney]

"If losers kiss as well as you do, then I don't think being one is such a bad thing," he said with a cheeky smile. "You're too hard on yourself. Careful, or they'll slap you with a therapist like they did me." He treated doctors and therapists as if they were the worst thing in the world to have. Truthfully, he knew he had his therapist for a reason. He had tried killing himself on several occasions. He was clinically depressed and frequently went off the rails. However, he didn't want to be helped.

"Damn it, you're not really leaving me much room here to avoid the infirmary," he said with a sigh. "I thought you wanted to help." He looked at Dakota accusingly. Talon didn't care that his room mate couldn't control his own power. He didn't think anything less of Dakota for it. He lay on his back and closed his eyes, wincing as the movement affected the fresh burn. "If you won't get me saline, could you at least get me ice? And keep your shirt off," he added, lifting an eyelid to peek at his room mate's bare chest. Yeah. That made everything better.

[Admin Sydnee]

Dakota couldn't help but smile somewhat at Talon's compliment about him being a good kisser. He'd kissed plenty of people, just not as of recently. "I've already been to therapy..." he mumbled. "It was shortly after I developed my power and my bed at home caught on fire during one of my nightmares about fire. My parents were scared shitless and made me talk to somebody after I started having extreme insomnia issues. I know the fire can't hurt me, but I'm still afraid of it." It was hard to explain. He wondered why Talon needed a therapist, but then again, the guy did seem troubled, but it interested Dakota, made him wonder about the guy.

"Well the infirmary is where you go when you're hurt, correct me if I'm wrong." He sighed at Talon. He was frustrating. "I do want to help you. I just don't know how you expect me to get saline solution without approaching someone in the infirmary. Do you want me to steal it or something?" He looked over at Talon as he laid there though and nodded. "Yeah, I can get you ice...I'll just tell the nurse that I need some because my leg is swollen. I don't know." He was walking out of the room, when he heard the last thing Talon said. "If it makes you feel better," he said, shaking his head. "I'll be right back."

Getting ice wasn't difficult, and he even managed to get some saline solution from the nurse because he made up some sort of lame excuse. He was back a few minutes later, with a back of ice and saline solution. "Well, since you won't go to the infirmary, I brought the infirmary to you. Although I don't think I'm that great of a nurse."

[Admin Courtney]

Talon raised his eyebrows, surprised that his room mate had been to a therapist before. "Yeah? What was it like?" he asked. "Was he or she a total prick bitch who insisted everything you're doing wrong is your fault? And it's you who has to stop it?" He snorted, picturing his own over-bearing therapist. "Fat chance." Summer, as she preferred Talon to call her over Dr. and then her surname, was not actually as bad as Talon made her out to be, but he hated all she was trying to do for him. How many times did he have to tell her before she understood that he didn't. Want. Help.

He said nothing as Dakota chided him, feeling too tired to argue anymore. Lying down felt a lot better. It was easier to be still, and he still felt as if his chest was on fire. He lay there as Dakota left and closed his eyes, wondering if he could will the pain away. Without Dakota and his bare chest to distract him, he only had his cigarette and his burn to occupy him. By the time Dakota returned, Talon's cigarette was out. He held it over his face, staring at it with a pouty expression. A small pile of ash lay next to him on the bed. Their third roommate would be furious if he were to walk in now.

"Put on a nurse's costume and I'll be the judge of that," Talon joked without a smile. "Ice and saline. You're a gem." He extinguished the cigarette on his jeans and let it drop to the floor, then held out his arms for the ice. He wanted to bathe in a tub of ice, but moving right now did not seem like a fun option.

[Admin Sydnee]

"It was..." Dakota began, only for Talon to go on and on obviously about his negative experiences with his therapist. "No, she wasn't like that. She just didn't know how to help me. It's not every day that a guy wakes up with his bed on fire." He wondered what sort of negative experience with it Talon had, or if he simply just didn't want to be helped. Therapy never helped in that case then. In Dakota's case, he hadn't known what he wanted. Maybe he still didn't know.

He handed Talon the ice, before sitting down on the bed beside him and setting the saline solution on the nightstand before looking over at his roommate. "Sorry you got stuck with me. Let's hope that something like this doesn't happen again." He could barely trust himself as is. And now he was confused about another thing as well, why kissing Talon had seemed like such a good idea. Was it that Talon was oddly persuasive? Or because Dakota really wanted to? He still didn't know what to think of it.

[Admin Courtney]

Talon nodded slowly. Dakota had a point. Dakota hadn't needed a therpist -- he had needed Veritas. Luckily he had found it. "That's true," he said, glad at least that his roommate had not had a terrible therapist like Talon did. Then again, Talon only hated Summer because he didn't want her help.

He took the ice from Dakota and slowly placed it on the burn. He hissed through his teeth when the ice-cold plastic of the wrap first touched the burn and flinched, but then allowed his muscles to relax as his chest numbed. He closed his eyes with a satisfied sigh and felt his heartrate begin to slow from the coldness of the ice.
He opened his eyes again when Dakota spoke. "Stuck with you? Dude, everyone's powers malfunction. Sometimes I get lost inside my birds' heads. That just happens to be less painful to others than setting someone on fire." He shot his room mate a teasing grin. "Right, I know I've got to clean this burn and all, but I'm really rather satisfied that this ice is so cold I can't feel a thing."

[Admin Sydnee]

Dakota just shrugged about the whole therapy thing, he didn't talk about it much, but it felt like ages ago anyway. "Therapy can help or make things worse, I guess" was all he said on the manner before watching as Talon pressed the ice to his chest.

He sighed when Talon went on again about everyone's powers malfunctioning and how it was okay. "Look, I still feel bad. What if this happens again?" He knew that Talon probably thought he was acting ridiculous. "Don't you care that I just fried your chest?" His roommate's grin even as he held the ice to his chest was insane to Dakota. "I hope the ice helps."