Let's Get Back To Work

[the_civilian]

Who| Tadashi and you!
What| Trying to learn not to light everything on fire
Where| Training gym
When| After diplomacy/disaster mission
Warnings/Notes| PTSD, pyrophobia, will update as necessary

You'd think a guy who was as afraid of his own powers as Tadashi clearly was wouldn't be experimenting with them outside of training. But for all that he'd spent their training sessions thus far failing to control the flames he generated, there he was, sitting cross-legged and concentrating on a target less than a foot away from him.

It did explain, however, why he was dripping wet and the target was in the middle of the pool. Legion flight rings meant never having to balance on a floatie while trying not to have flashbacks to being trapped in a burning building.

"Okay," he muttered under his breath, dialing down the juice on his power suppressor and extending his hand toward the target. "Test thirty-seven. Let's not dump ourselves in the water this time."

Comments

[the_civilian]

Tadashi sighed and dialed the power back up on his suppressor.

"True," he agreed, "but there aren't very many other places that I can think of where, if the fire I generate gets out of my control, it will immediately put itself out."

Hence the pool, and why his uniform was soaked through.

"Did you need to use the pool? I can cut this short if you do."

[notwithoutafight]

Videl shook her head in answer. "I wasn't planning to swim. It's just not everyday you see someone floating above the pool instead of in it."

She shifted her weight from one leg to the other. "I get what you're going for here, but wouldn't all the water make it a little hard to make any fire in the first place?" She quirked an eyebrow. "If you have a lighter in your pocket, it's not going to be making any fire if its as drenched as you are."

[the_civilian]

"I wish I needed a lighter," Tadashi said, running a hand through his hair. "I generate it just fine on my own. That's why I'm wearing this."

He tapped the wide cuff on his right forearm with the index finger of his left hand.

"Brainiac 5 made me a power suppressor because I kept accidentally lighting things on fire. I'm still figuring out how to control it. So: experimentation in the pool."

Perfectly respectable logic.

[notwithoutafight]

The other eyebrow jumped up. "You can create fire? That's amazing!"

Awestruck by the idea of creating fire from nothing, Videl only half-heard what Tadashi said about the power suppressor and his lack of control.

"How does it work? Show me."

[the_civilian]

"It'd be amazing if I was doing it on purpose," Tadashi said with a shake of his head. "But right now, it's more "Oops, I'm mildly distressed and now the bed is on fire". And I'm not immune to fire either, unless I'm using my power to push it away from me, and that just increases the amount of distress going on."

He sighed. "If you really want a demonstration, I'm going to have to ask you to step back and be quiet. I really don't want to accidentally hurt you."

[notwithoutafight]

Those expressive eyebrows went back down, furrowing as she took a step back to scrutinize the demonstration Tadashi was about to give her. "Whenever you're ready," she said, the playful edge dropping from her voice.

It was clear by his explanation that his power was heavily influenced by his mental state. While this was true of most any ability to some extent or another, it sounded more like the fire and his emotions were directly connected in a way that Videl's powers were not. Videl's ability to dodge effectively required concentration, but emotional distress didn't make her suddenly run up a building.

[the_civilian]

Tadashi rolled his shoulders back, taking a deep breath and letting it out again to center himself. Then he raised his arm again to turn down the power suppression on his gauntlet.

He could do this. The fire wasn't going to hurt him. He could control it. He could--

FWOOMP!

--He could completely destroy the target by engulfing it in flame. Sarcastic yay.

"Not exactly what I was going for," he muttered under his breath.

[notwithoutafight]

Videl's eyes went wide at the sudden burst of flame. (She was admittedly grateful that Tadashi had told her to back up, even though the fire didn't come close enough to be threatening.) She put her hands together and applauded as the fire devoured the target.

"That's amazing!"

[the_civilian]

"It's impressive, yes," Tadashi agreed, after taking and releasing another deep breath. He might not be able to control the fire very well, but he could control how he responded to people who weren't the ones struggling with it. "Not what I'm going for, but impressive."