Interview (open)

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

> < I’m kinda attached to this brain. Don’t really fancy having it re-arranged today. >

Don’t worry. If a fight breaks out, I shall fight and die valiantly for your cause. That’s what the student is for, right? He eyes Jake, amused. But it’s something he needs to know. I won’t tolerate him doing it if I catch him, even though it seems innocent enough. But I also don’t want to have to play astral hall monitor. Josh understands that he’s flirting with disaster… but making sure Rasputin doesn’t run around the Institute dipping into everyone’s craniums whenever he likes seems more important.

> "I zid not know, I am veing very sorry. I vill try zhis on own"

Once again, the crazy and sudden mood shift makes Josh worried. What exactly was up with Rasputin? Or perhaps Nikkolas was more appropriate, since that appeared to be his first name. His brief peek into his mind earlier hadn’t afforded any revelations about the young man’s apparent psychological problems.

“Aaah, I’m sorry… it’s okay. I mean, it’s not, but…” Josh stumbles over his words. It was obvious that he was rather upset about the faux pas. He awkwardly pats Nikkolas on the shoulder.

> <I don't understand what I did wrong, truthfully. No one informed me of 'rules' of using my powers, it's not like I attacked him.>

This one I can handle. <Right, you didn’t attack him. And I understand wanting to be able to communicate, but think about this one. My primary mutation is telekinesis. Is it okay to use you to practice my abilities without asking? I mean, I’m not hurting you. Just tossing you around a bit.> Josh shrugs good-naturedly. <Just a thought.> Ugh, telepathic puns…

<In general, just be sure to ask before you do. I think that will put people around here more at ease. They’re comfortable with me and Jake, because they trust us not to invade their privacy, but it takes awhile to get used to someone new.>

> <I understand, and apologize for my intrusion, and I know I have to learn English...eventually.>

<How much schooling have you had, anyway?> Josh tilts his head in question.

[Nikkolas Blagetovich]

Josh was more understanding then what Nikkolas had originally judged. So using my powers on others, even if they don't know, is wrong. He took a mental note, he wouldn't let that happen again. He would prove that he could be 'good' student...until he was set over the edge. He smiled to himself, even though the thought of loosing himself wasn't very pleasant, in a way it was.

Josh patted Nikkoals on the shoulder, solidifying that Josh just had Nikkolas' best interests, and the Institutes interests in mind. A little bit of ease seeped into Nikkolas' head.

<Right, you didn’t attack him. And I understand wanting to be able to communicate, but think about this one. My primary mutation is telekinesis. Is it okay to use you to practice my abilities without asking? I mean, I’m not hurting you. Just tossing you around a bit.>

That was a very absurd scenario, but also very true. He'd never thought of it in the context of another using their power. <I understand what you mean, it's just hard to break the habit I suppose. I've done what I needed to for so long...it will be hard for me to change.> Sad but true, old habits do not just fade away, but he'd try.

<How much schooling have you had, anyway?>

Nikkolas felt very embarrassed. He hadn't really had any school besides minor Russian elementary skills. He taught himself what he knew, power-wise anyways. His language were acquired from his parents. <I've had no education since elementary school.> Education wasn't something that was a priority to him when he was on his own, he just tried to survive.

[Warren Worthington III]

Warren takes the opportunity, while all the telepaths' attentions are focused on one another, to ensure that none of the tears and scratches on him or his clothes are especially dangerous or embarrassing, and pick the last few bits of gravel and glass out of the odd places they ended up.

He can’t really tell whether this little entrance interview is going well or not… it’s a little strange to be “listening” to it conducted in utter silence, though he has to admit it’s more efficient this way than forcing Nikkolas to stumble through the discussion in a foreign language he barely speaks. And Nikkolas and Josh seem to have worked out their initial conflict over Warren’s brain, which is reassuring.

He can, in a way, see Nikkolas’ point… enhanced senses don’t necessarily raise the same kinds of ethical issues as enhanced effectors. Warren himself has been privy to all sorts of supposedly private information around the Institute thanks to his exceptional hearing, and does his best to disregard it… but he hasn’t exactly volunteered to walk around with earplugs, either. In principle, passive telepathy ought to be the same kind of thing.

In practice, though… well, it just isn’t. Or at least doesn’t feel that way. And in Nikkolas’ case it’s even more of a problem, since buried in everyone’s concern about his passive abilities is the fear, which everyone is politely avoiding articulating, that he might use them as a cover for his active abilities.

> <I understand, and apologize for my intrusion, and I know I have to learn English...eventually.>

Apology accepted, Warren tosses in quietly, trying not to interrupt the conversation. Even with Jake’s simultaneous close-captioning for the telepathy-impaired patching him into it, he knows he’s probably a few moments out-of-phase with the conversation, but it seems as good a way as any to close out the issue and move on.