Poor Coping Habits

Damn, this hurts... Dolores thought to herself, gritting her teeth against the pain and holding her bleeding hand; she hadn't been paying attention while working on the set for the play, and she had sliced her hand open pretty bad with one of the nails. Thankfully, crew was done for the day and so she was free to leave and head home to patch herself up. But this thing hurts now, and it's not gonna let up anytime soon... Her fingers twitched and she started breathing a bit heavier. She was barely outside of the school and she her mind already was drifting to the bottle of pills the side pocket of her backpack. She had already blown through the ones prescribed by her doctor, and was now onto the pills she was getting from some Mocca City jaggoff, but this was the sort of situation that they were meant for, right? And besides, she had a right to have some pain relief; she herself was a living painkiller for her friends and family, why did she have to suffer for that?
She smiled and laughed to herself; she knew it was just rationalization, this wasn't healthy. She knew full well the signs of addiction, and she knew she was exhibiting a lot of them, but in this particular moment, she didn't care. All Dolores cared about was getting rid of the pain in her hand. She rounded the side of the school building, out of sight of the other students and the street, and immediately slung her backup off her shoulder. Without looking around to ensure she was alone, she opened the side of her backpack, and pulled out her pain killers. She dumped two into her hand, downed them, closed the pill bottle, and sank against the side of the building into a sitting position, waiting for them to kick in.

School had long since ended for the day, but unfortunately Reid had nothing better to do than loiter around the school. He was around the side of the school leaning up against the wall and staring at his phone. He had open a time wasting game that he got for just such occasions. After losing track of time for a while, a girl suddenly came around the corner and frantically pulled off her backpack, seeming to pay him no mind. Reid just silently watched with a mixture of confusion and curiosity as she pulled a pill bottle from her bag and proceeded to down two pills, before sinking to the ground. Reid waited a moment, but the girl still didn't notice him. She certainly seemed distracted, and the fact that she went out of her way to come around here to pull that bottle out wreaked of suspicion. A smirk floated to Reid's face. Perfect. Reid returned his phone to his pocket and watched the girl while he was still leaning against the wall. "Whatcha got there, kiddo?" Based on the circumstance, he was sure to get an entertaining reaction, and if he pushed more this could get particularly interesting.

The meds didn't even have a chance to kick in before Dolores heard an unfamiliar voice talking to her. Her eyes bolted open, not in the direction of the voice, but straight ahead, wide eyed with the realization she had just been caught. She scrambled to her feet, awkwardly slinging her backpack over one shoulder and shoving the pills into her sweatshirt pocket as she got a hard look at who she was dealing with; he was a student, or at least of about the right age, but she didn't recognize him. She was sweating visibly and opened her mouth to respond. "M-my meds. Painkillers." She stammered out. "Nothing you need to care about. I can use them as I need to, that's what the prescription says." She held up her bloody hand. "I think this counts."

Reid's smile grew slightly.  Seeing this girl squirm was most entertaining.  How far could he push?  "Ah yes, your prescription.  I'm sure it is.  Why do you seem so tense then?  If you're not doing anything wrong, why so quick to hide it?  You wouldn't mind if a teacher heard about this would you?  Popping pills on school grounds?"  Reid eyed the gash on her hand.  The injury was legitimate, but she was acting suspicious.  Regardless of whether she was lying about the prescription or not, Reid was just enjoying her distressed reactions to his accusations.  Perhaps he could also use her cut to his advantage?

Dolores narrowed her eyes at him, trying to seem more confident than she was. "I'm tense because I'm in pain, and some guy I don't know is getting all up in my business." She snapped at him, her voice cracking slightly; she was tired. Crew was rough, and she was in pain and embarrassed. "I'm hiding it because in case you haven't heard, there are gangs in the city that kill over this kinda stuff, and I don't seem to recall seeing you around school that often." She leaned against the side of the building, catching her breath and waiting for the meds to kick in. She needed to calm down, and this guy was not helping.

Reid laughed, "Touche."  As unfortunate as it was, her explanation made enough sense for a pass, and he didn't know what to say to pressure her further on the subject.  Guess it was time to push a different direction.  "However,"  Reid walked directly in front of Dolores and slammed his left hand on the wall next to her head as if to make a point, "I've already seen it.  If I want it, what good is hiding it now?  I know exactly where it is in that bag of yours.  So if I told you to hand it over, would you?"  Reid looked down at her menacingly for a few moments before finally pulling back, taking his hand off the wall and taking a step away from her.  "As if.  I'm not some junkie.  I have no need for something like painkillers.  Go ahead, use them just as you like.  Just what your prescription says, right?  You need it after all."  Reid smirked as a red aura enveloped his right hand before a bolt of crimson struck the cut on Dolores' hand, amplifying her pain receptors.

Dolores's eyes went wide as the older boy got so close to her. Fear gripped her throat; she wasn't sure how to respond to his question. She opened her mouth and stammered out a choked sound before he pulled back. She deflated slightly, terrified but relieved at him backing down. She pushed off the wall and took a step back, about to just leave the situation, when she caught sight of the bolt of red as it made contact with her hand. A pained sound escaped her and she clutched her hand again; caught off guard and already in pain, she staggered back and dropped to one knee. "DAMMIT! What the heck, man?!" She cried out, looking up at him, a mixture of confusion and anger in her eyes. "What was that?!" The meds were starting to kick in, at least as far as making it a bit harder to think. Her thoughts were starting to slow down, like it was foggy... or muddy... or something. And she knew it was only going to get worse. In most cases, she'd view it as better, but right now, she felt that worse was a much better description for what was happening to her.

"Oh dear, I suppose you were telling the truth.  You really do need those meds.  Are you alright?  You suddenly collapsed."  Reid talked to her with mock concern, but the patronizing aspect to his voice was evident.  "Maybe you need to take more of those meds.  Or maybe head home.  Here, let me help you."  Reid offered up his left hand to her as if to help her up.  Regardless of whether she reached back or not another bolt would streak from his right hand, hitting the cut again and inducing the same amplification as before.  "See?  Look at how much pain you're in.  As a fellow Alabaster High student, we should help each other out when in need."  If she didn't already take his hand, he would move to grab her shoulder himself in an attempt to pull her to her feet.

She narrowed her eyes at him, and moved to push his hand away when he extended it to help her up. This move only put her cut hand closer to the bolt, and while it didn't increase how much the pain was amped up by, it certainly didn't help her situation either. She cried out in pain and recoiled again. She struggled slightly against his grasp, but he still pulled her to her feet. Using her good hand, she batted his hand off of her shoulder and staggered back a few feet. "Get your hands OFF of me! I'm not blind! I can see your... Your... The..." She shook her head, unable to find the words she was looking for, but vaguely gesturing in his direction; she saw the bolts of red, she knew he was doing this to her, but she couldn't articulate. Not after downing two pills. She wasn't supposed to take more than one, and now she could see why.

Reid smirked, "See, you're heads not on right.  You can hardly form a sentence and now you're seeing things. I'm clearly trying to help you out."  Reid stepped towards her and held out his hand again.  At that time Reid sent another bolt to renew the sensitivity on her cut.

"No.. I'm not... You're..." She shook her head again, and yelped as the bolt once again agitated her hand. "STOP IT!" She cried, registering his hand extended and bolting towards her. Instinctively, her cut hand bolted forward and grabbed his hand, gripping it tight, gritting her teeth against the sensitivity he was bringing upon her. "You wanna help?!" She seethed, the pain bringing her some form of clarity. "Fine. Then it's YOUR problem!" Gripping his hand tight so he couldn't easily pull away, she transferred the pain and the injury over to his hand; he would feel the skin on his hand split open, and all the stinging sensitivity he had inflicted on her would be getting transferred into him. She exhaled an immense sigh of relief as the cut on her hand sealed up and the pain melted away. After her power finished her work, she stumbled back against the wall, exhaling in relief, softly giggling to herself.

Reid didn't move when Dolores grabbed his hand, more interested to see what she was going to do than worried.  He didn't even try to pull away and let her do as she pleased.  Suddenly Reid felt a sting on the side of his left hand below the pinky.  It slid down the side of his hand and suddenly pain was shooting through him.  In the shock of this sudden and mysterious pain he wrenched his hand away and took a step back and released a sudden cry.  He held his hand at the wrist and looked at the source.  What he found was a cut on his hand had suddenly appeared.  Did she pull a knife on him or something?  He looked over to her and didn't see anything of the sort.  Then he noticed something strange about her hand.  There was no longer a cut there.  Reid narrowed his eyes at her.  "That's a cute little trick you've got there.  Didn't realize you were a super.  You must be a real sadist with a power like that.  Unfortunately for you,"  Reid held up his left hand with the fresh cut and suddenly a bolt of red squirmed across the cut, "that is nothing more than an inconvenience to me.  If your goal was to mark up my body, good job.  But if you are trying to hurt me, you're shit outta luck."  In the next moment Reid rushed up to Dolores with a red aura surrounding his right hand and grabbed her by the forearm.  After grabbing hold, Dolores could notice red bolts zipping across his hand where he was gripping.  Oddly enough, even with her arm plainly in his hand, she would not feel his grip.  "As you've already seen, I'm a super as well.  The thing with me though, is I can take away the pain," Reid repeatedly squeezed her forearm, however she could not feel him doing so, "or I can make it worse."  Reid greatly tightened his grip as more red sparks danced off his hand.  Dolores would suddenly feel a surge of pain from his grip on her now sensitive skin.

For a moment, Dolores didn't register what Reid was saying, but the word "sadist" made it through, causing her eyes to flutter open; she looked over at him, glaring with unfocused eyes. As soon as he grabbed her forearm, she tried to pull away, but in her state, she wasn't able to, so she decided to grab back with the same arm, ready to use her power in case he tried anything. Most of his speech was lost on her, but as soon as she felt the pain, she gritted her teeth, refusing to let it show that it hurt her, and she immediately began to funnel it back into him. It was drastically reduced compared to what she was feeling, which was already numbed from the meds in system, so it would likely come out more as just incredible soreness on his end, but nevertheless, she was free of the pain he was inflicting, and he was saddled with it. "Lessen it or make it worse, I don't really care. I decide who needs it most." She sneered, her voice soft for hard look on her face and her diction lacking. "And right now, it's you. Prick." With that, she stomped on his foot and forcibly pulled her arm free; she didn't exactly stomp hard, and she wasn't even the strongest to begin with, so Reid wouldn't feel it too much. Dolores staggered backwards, now back at the front corner of the building and in plain view of some of the other students. "Now, I'm feeling... MUCH better. My hand is at least. So I'm just... Gonna go now." She said, her face contorting to look confident, but it was undercut by her words shaky from the meds. "Unless you wanna keep trying your luck!" She stuck her tongue out at him and turned around, not bothering to wait for a response as she started to walk home.

"Nice try," Reid responded, "But not really."  Red electricity flickered across his arm.  He could not feel any pain she was trying to deliver to him.  However, he was constantly gripping her arm, meaning that if she wanted to keep from feeling the pain, she would need to be constantly sending it his way, not that he could feel it anyway.  When she stomped on his foot he felt no pain either, just the feeling of touch as her foot contacted his, so he didn't react.  However, it was enough of a distraction to allow her to pry her arm free.  She started moving away and taunting him to try his luck, "You'd be much more intimidating if you weren't turning tail, kiddo.  If you want to have a real fight next time, I'd be happy to oblige."  He saw her continue walking away, possibly ignoring his words.  He went back and leaned against the wall as he had before she showed up.  He brought his left hand to his face and examined the new cut that had not been there minutes before, as a red spark fluttered over it.  Reid clicked his tongue.