arcanexelle:
Regardless of what her therapists said, Eleanor did not have a drinking problem. She just… needed alcohol to take the edge off, sometimes. It wasn’t a big deal as long as nobody made it one. The downside to frequenting bars, however, was the amount of people. Having spent the majority of her teenage years isolated in a cabin, crowds, or even merely prolonged company of anyone who wasn’t understanding of her needs, tended to overwhelm her very quickly. Thus, she took frequent, brief pauses to go outside and breathe in-between drinks.
This time, when she stepped outside, her hairs stood on their ends against the chill, the air came into her lungs cold and left in a cloud. A “What the hell?” escaped Eleanor before she could hold it in, and then her eyes set on the young man standing right in the middle of it, shivering and looking frightened, but not as surprised as Eleanor herself was.
“Did you do this?” she asked. Whoever had, was a mutant. One that wasn’t that good at controlling their powers, probably, which meant they were scared at best and dangerous at worst. If this guy wasn’t who she needed to find, she wouldn’t waste her time with him.
did you do this? jacob's instincts tell him to say no, to run, to get as far away from this place as he can ( something else tells him that he wouldn't get very far if he did that ). hands ball into fists, ice cracking around his knuckles, spiderwebbing up his arms as if threatening to turn his entire body to ICE. this hasn't happened in forever, this kind of loss of control--- what had caused him to lose control like this?
( you know, whispers something else inside him. ice BREAKS under pressure ).
" you con't prove it, " whispers jacob more to himself, fists gripping tighter, fingernails driving into the palms of his hands so harshly as if the pain will keep him grounded. ( futile, as he feels more NUMB than anything, somehow hot and NUMB ). " you can't prove it. " he says louder, gaze connecting with hers, trying for confidence but underrun too much by FEAR. " no one was hurt. " no one but him, perhaps --- still shaking as if frozen to the core, teeth clenched to keep them from clattering against each other.
