☀ The Sanctuary ☀ teens with powers ☀ Closed!

[artemis,]

Mallory leaned against the doorframe, the wolf pup still at her feet. She smiled down at it, and crossed her arms. These people were taking quite a while. She then noticed Rowan. She bit her lip slightly, and felt upset that she couldn't do anything. Maybe this was why Lily had been crying. Mal scooted over to Cilan and asked, "Do you know what happened?" She picked up the wolf before it could cause any more trouble.

[Azaline]

Jaai smiled as she stood, glancing around for everyone. Lily, Ari, and Mallory were talking, and Lily looked quite emotional. She made a face and dissapated the clouds above. She regreted that she couldn't leave the awesome flurries in the air. How did the clouds even work?
She helped Cyprian up, and flung her backpack over her shoulder. "You mean you don't have any changes of clothes?"

[Lonely_Dream]

Erion glanced at her curiously. "Shouldn't you be flying a little higher? You're going to injure your wings if you fly so low." He weakly reached forward, barely able to grip the tree branch and propel himself to the next. He winced when he felt something digging into his hand, but ignored it and kept forcing himself to keep moving, reminding himself that the faster there the faster he'll get healed up.

Laurel shook her head absentmindedly, silent tears trailing slowly down her face. "I can't. I know it's hard to face someone, but if I tell her your apologies, I'll only make things worse. I can only support you from the sidelines. It's a horrible feeling, knowing someone won't say something to your face. Besides, any guilt you have won't go away, and any sadness or anger in Lily will only increase. Don't avoid each other, please." She rested her chin lightly on his hair, not noticing that she herself was crying.

[Shinceon]

Olivia

She shrugged as she narrowly dodged a branch, "I feel as though that risk is better taken then the one of you falling and breaking your back." She saw the cabin start to come into view, "we are almost there so things should be fine."

[SunnyJustice]

[Rose can jump in any time! *wink wink hint hint*]

When he saw Mallory coming towards him, Cilan was already walking towards her too, moving closer to the doorway. She seemed to be concerned over whatever happened between Rowan and Lily. "I have no idea. Bet there's a curse on this cabin making everyone in a bad mood."
He smiled at the pup before moving into the doorway. In the distant trees, two figures were just in sight. "There they are," Cilan said with a sigh of relief. "Everyone! It's time to go. Get your stuff and meet me on the front porch!"

Cyprian was pretty dim witted, and he hadn't even noticed the upset people. He wasn't naturally in-tune with things like empathy, even though he did try. He had to try, since he didn't want to become like his disgrace of a father.
"No change of clothes," he admitted and looked away. He was a teenage boy. Stereotypically their hygiene was the worst out of everyone. He hoped he didn't, like, smell bad or anything. "And... no deodorant. Sorry."
He scowled at Cilan, who was hollering like some crazy old lady. He was serious. Cyprian's math teacher was this tiny, elderly woman who hit kids with her enchanted cane when they misbehaved. Her cane had the power to make kids grow unwanted animal appendages... Cyprian thought he would never live down the toad warts that sprouted from his face that one class! Fortunately the warts had disappeared overnight, and now he was far from the Capital City.
"Can you keep it down, Antboy?"
"Aw come on. Think of a more creative nickname," Cilan said. "Or one that makes more sense. How about... The Phoenix."
"Sounds like some superhero movie. No way." Cyprian shook his head and turned to Jaai. "Can you freeze his mouth shut?" There was the hint of a grin on his face. These people were starting to grow on Cyprian. He didn't even hate Cilan anymore. As annoying as the Adamson boys were, Cyprian was still stuck with them... they were his companions.

Rowan nodded slowly. What Laurel said did made sense, and he needed to calm down. Guilt was the most difficult emotion for him to handle, but breaking down and doing nothing might hurt Lily more. It might also hurt his other friends. He couldn't just push his burdens on other people, that was wrong.
"You're right," he murmured softly. He could feel the emotion coming off his friend, and he didn't even need to look to realize she was crying. Look what I have done.
He rose from his seat when Cilan yelled from outside. "Thank you, and I'm sorry," he told Laurel before lightly hugging her. Rowan was sure to channel his power through her too, breathing slowly and deeply and hoping she would follow his lead. He wiped his eyes before leading the way outside. Rowan didn't want anyone else getting upset.
Once he was on the porch, it seemed like Cilan and Cyprian had just gotten into an argument. Rowan couldn't sense any real negative emotions from either though. In fact, Cilan looked pretty amused. His smile fell when he saw Rowan.
"You look like a disaster," Cilan told him with a concerned look. "Don't accept any tea from my dad."
Rowan had no idea what that meant, but his legs were trembling and he had to lean against one of the cabin's creaking walls. He just nodded obediently and didn't say a word.
"You want to know something creepy about my dad?" Cilan said, continuing to talk. Rowan appreciated it since his cousin's words took his mind off the Lily incident.
Cilan also leaned against a wall, but it creaked even more. "So, you know that my mother Solara basically ran Hesenia all by herself. You can imagine how tiring it was. People would never give her a break either, there were constantly people trying to assassinate her, and she would have to deal with them every single time. You're good with emotions, Rowan. You know what I mean when I say my mother was always calm, but she never could relax."
"Auntie was like that," Rowan agreed, trembling a little less. He just wanted to hear the sound of someone else's voice (although he would prefer it to be Lily's).
Cilan nodded. "Anyway. My father Luno just wanted her to relax, but the way he went about doing it was... pretty terrifying, and hey, I'm a phoenix saying this."
"What did he do?"
"After dinner every night, he would serve her tea..."

Many years ago...
"Please come to bed," he murmured from the doorway. He was dressed in white pajamas with a light violet bathrobe, but his wife was still in her work clothes. She tended to wear bold, warm colors. Today it was black pants and a dark red dress shirt. Her red tie was noticeably lopsided, but she didn't pay any regard. She was looking through files of criminals who had requested a pardon, or who could be given a 'pardon'. Those were two completely different things.
Luno wished his power could affect her more, but he knew her natural resistance was for the best. Just like how Luno could stare into her eyes without having a blue afterimage burned into his retinas, and how he could hug her for a prolonged time without having to wear sunscreen.
"Sunny?" he ventured, approaching her with the teacup in his hands. After tending to his garden, Luno had carefully prepared a special cup of tea for his wife. She needed to relax. Luno wondered if he had overdone it. The sunny garden, like the rest of the Parliament building, was bathed in clear sunshine every day. Storm clouds covered the rest of the country, but they cleared just overhead from here. This entire city didn't need electricity from Adam Lin. After Solara tampered with them, the solar panels atop Parliament could support the whole Capital City without difficulty. There was enough power to last all night long too, until the next sunrise came. The lights would only flicker minimally throughout the city on the night of the winter solstice, but no other time.
For the rest of the country, Adam Lin was the sole supporter of power. His gift of electricity was highly developed, and it was a family talent. But recently, he had come down with the flu, which explained the thunderclouds everywhere. He needed to be constantly grounded so he wouldn't electrocute anyone around him. His daughters had taken over his job, but they weren't nearly developed enough to maintain all of Hesenia's power supply. Today, Solara had called a meeting of every provincial and municipal leader, and ensured that every emergency generator was in use. The generators were motion-powered, so anyone with super-speed, super-strength, or super-endurance was needed for the job. Other people could use their powers creatively to turn the wheels too.
Solara had demonstrated how to operate one. It was easy with her sheer strength. It had been dark in the generator area, so one of the mayors had brought a flashlight, a standard national model that charged with solar panels as usual. The flashlight had begun working after the mayor got Solara to stare at the panel. Not one of the gathered governors had made eye contact with the Queen for their entire meeting.
They had now left, and Solara was doing more work. Luno wasn't even near her, and he could already sense the tension in her muscles, the fatigue behind her nearsighted eyes. Some of the judges had small handwriting, because they disregarded Solara's request for larger text. She couldn't wear any kind of lenses because they would act as magnifying glasses, and magnifying glasses were used to fry ants under direct sunlight. Frying documents wouldn't be good.
Solara had just noted the last one when Luno sat beside her. He couldn't lift the burden off her shoulders, but he needed to help her somehow. He just wanted her to relax and smile, and for that smile to be genuine. Vulcana was stern and stony-faced too, but sometimes she would show sincere happiness, often after a hard day's work at her forge. At least the blacksmith's smiles reached her eyes. Solara hadn't smiled like that for a long time.
Only now did she notice him. Solara leaned back on the couch and wrapped an arm around him. Immediately, Luno felt her comforting warmth flowing through him, and he had to fight the urge to sleep. She was just so nice and warm. It was like basking in the sun on a day at the beach.
Luno held out the cup of tea to her. "Here, my sunshine. I made it just for you," he said with a sweet smile.
"Thank you." Solara smiled that calm smile, the one that never reached her eyes. Luno was the only person who could tell whether her eyes smiled or not. Nobody else could look that long.
After she took the tea, Luno leaned his head against her chest. He could hear the calm, steadfast heartbeat that lulled him to sleep at night. It was also soothing to hear her voice. There was something comforting about her deep, rich tone. Even the steady rhythm of her breathing seemed to lull him.
This wasn't Luno's time to sleep though. It was Solara's time, and he would ensure she slept very well tonight.
Luno watched intently as Solara drank the tea he made for her. He considered himself a careful herbalist, and he had added just the right amount of his secret ingredient to her tea. Roughly twelve times the deadly dose. It was a plant that appeared in his garden and grew nowhere else, which he called the Umbralace. Although it wouldn't grow outside the garden, it also didn't like the extremely bright conditions. Luno had sheltered it under a canopy of elderberry vines, somewhere his wife wouldn't visit on an evening stroll.
The flower itself was a dark purple with lighter violet veins running through about twenty-four petals. The plant's leaves wouldn't do anything, but the flowers were lethal. Just two petals would easily kill even the toughest person. But anything, anything that might help his wife relax. He would even try poison. He knew what he was doing, though.
Solara set the empty teacup on the table and lay down on the couch. "I should have waited until I was in bed before drinking that," she chuckled as Luno massaged her shoulder gently. "Your tea is... different tonight."
"Do you like it better?" he asked with a smile.
"Very much," she told him. Luno smiled because he knew his wife couldn't lie. It was part of an Adamson's nature; dishonesty was strictly refused.
"That's good. I made it because I wanted you to relax," he said and ran his hand through her short hair. "You've had a long day. I know how much you love the people, but I am almost your equal. I can take over some of your duties whenever you need me. It hurts me when you're stressed out."
"I do not know what stress feels like," she murmured drowsily.
"That's because you're always under such an extreme amount." Luno placed a hand on her cheek, the way she did to criminals sentenced to death. "You're so used to it, but I can feel your tension. Sometimes, it's good to just unwind."
She was fading now, her eyes taking on a hazy expression as she regarded him, as if in a dream. She seemed about to say something, but decided against it and simply smiled faintly. Luno watched as she drifted off, with her eyes still half-open and her expression frozen in that contented smile, even as her strong heartbeat was replaced by silence and the last breath left her body. Luno simply smiled down at his motionless wife.
Hopefully she felt relaxed now.

After Cilan talked about what his father did, Rowan simply stared at him, stunned. That was his sweet, innocent Uncle Luno who wouldn't harm even a mosquito. Cilan seemed completely unfazed though.
"... When I was twelve years old," Cilan continued, "I didn't even know dad's tea was poisoned. I just wanted to know why I wasn't allowed to have it, so I tried just a sip. Next thing you know, I'm on the ground, out cold. Anyway, now that I think about it, maybe that was the first time I used my power. You think so?"

[darcy_jensen]

watching as the distant pair of figures whom she assumed were Olivia and Erion, lily sighed gently; her opportunity to leave for a moment now dashed. rolling her eyes in irritation, she placed her hands on her hips and observed the people around her. Cilan was engrossed in telling a story to his cousin, Cyprian and Jaai stood close to each other, with Mal nearby, and Laurel, whom she really couldn't be mad at, was inside the cabin. alright girl, there's going to be some rough patches ahead but you're going to get through them, she told herself in an attempt to build on her confident facade. cupping her hands around her mouth to form a makeshift microphone, she yelled out "Hurry up you two, we need to leave."

[artemis,]

Mallory rolled her eyes at Cilan and Cyprian. Could they be any more juvenile? She decided to try and round up her pack. Mal transformed into a wolf and ran out the door. She trotted into the open field, and howled. She watched as all of her pack mates filed in. She turned back and sat outside, her wolves piled around her. She leaned against a tree, still twirling an arrow with her fingers out of habit.

[Lonely_Dream]

Erion was surprised by the sudden shout from Lily, causing him to smack harshly into a branch, causing a large cut on his bicep. He groaned in frustration as he jumped down and ran instead, his arm limp as he had severed a muscle.

Laurel looked at Rowan curiously as he left. Sorry for what? It was then that she noticed the tears flowing from her face. Oh. She wiped her tears and put on a smile before walking out to meet Olivia and her twin.

[spicy,]

Ari also jumped when Lily shouted, but unlike Erion, she didn't hurt anything. When ARE we gonna leave? They said we would leave almost an hour ago, Ari assumed. She checked several times go make sure she had all her belongings. When she had everything she took (Which wasn't much), she waited, trying to be patient as everyone wasted daylight.

[darcy_jensen]

frustrated at the lack of anyone doing helpful things, lily stomped inside, placed a hand on Rowan's shoulder and teleported to where Erion and Olivia were. "stand still," she growled at Erion, taking in his scruffy, injured appearance. "Rowan," she muttered, placing his hand on the twin's chest so the healing process could begin. "I'm sorry for how I acted earlier, it had nothing to do with you," she said softly, hoping her gentle actions would help Rowan feel better and forgive her, and speed up Erion's recovery.