Liam's hands stopped for a moment at the sudden question, then continued to work as if nothing happened.
"Why do you ask?" he said as he folded one side of the hair that fell over Lisa's eyes and clipped it in place.
"Well, I'm curious of course," Lisa said as she patted her head, nodding in approval as Liam took a seat beside her on the rug, "We never figured out our powers as kids, and you also know about my power so..."
Liam saw his chance and took it. "About that. Why did you tell everyone about your power? Not only that, but your Status too?"
Lisa pursed her lips, falling silent and looking at Liam's closed laptop and the album. Liam waited for her answer, knowing it was best not to pry. After a while, she spoke up.
"...To be honest, I don't really like my power."
Liam's eyebrows twitched in mild surprise, then he pursed his lips in sympathy.
I can relate, he thought.
"Hypnosis is all about controlling people. Taking away their free will and putting them under your command. The base ability alone is convincing people to do what you want without them even realizing it."
Lisa pulled up her legs and hugged her knees. "I first noticed my Venma a month after we separated. I'd managed to make some friends, and there was this one really cautious girl, who I was super close with. We did a lot of stuff together, and she introduced me to her friends."
Lisa paused to smile, albeit a little sadly. "She was even the reason why I stopped pranks and stuff."
...This girl sounds like a legend, Liam thought with a straight face.
"Then one day, I'd woke up with a headache. I ignored it at first, but as the day progressed, it got worse and worse. Then I started noticing my friends acting weirdly.
Sometimes, I would bring up a controversial topic to spice up conversations, and they would always argue, with me as the minority. But that day, they agreed with me without question.
That's when I noticed it.
Teachers, fellow students, my friends. All of them would agree with whatever I said. I started to get angry, whether it was because of the migraine or not I don't know. Before the day was over I asked the teacher if I could go to the nurse's office. She accepted.
During lunch break, my friends came over to talk, and they brought snacks.
After eating, I asked them what was going on, and the didn't know. Then they started teasing me about it, and, and I was so frustrated..."
Lisa's hands balled into fists as she spoke, her voice cracking a little from emotion.
"I-I yelled at them to shut up, and they actually did. And when I looked at them, I... I saw it. Their eyes looked... clouded. They wouldn't speak no matter what I did. Whether I shook them, poked them, even lightly hit them.
It wore off after a while, and they acted as if nothing happened. But later in the day, when I told my parents about it, they carted me off to the hospital, and after several checks, questions, and reviewing my parent's Venma..."
Lisa looked at Liam with a sad smile and pointed at herself.
"They gave me this. After seven days of testing, my Venma was named 'Hypnosis', and the Denied label got slapped onto it.
I asked my parents if I could move schools, and they agreed. I didn't want to accidentally end up hurting my friends, but I also didn't want them to push me away in fear. So I left.
The reason I told our class my Venma is that I wanted them to be wary of me. And guarded people are harder to affect with my Venma. I hate the thought of taking away someone's free will, but since my ability probably won't hurt people during a Hunt, I decided to train up for the Hunter course."
Lisa sighed deeply, as if saying all that had taken something out of her. She stretched for a second, then turned to Liam.
"So, does that answer your question?"
She ended up staring into his eyes, getting a little lost in the bright swirl of colors.
Then liam looked away, scratching his cheek with a finger.
I did not expect her to say so much, he sighed internally, Now I can't really be dishonest after hearing that.
Liam wondered how he was supposed to go about explaining his ability, and Lisa narrowed her eyes at him, mistaking his silence for hesitation.
"Don't you dare say you aren't going to tell me," she growled.
"Calm down. That's not it, it's just... um... okay," Liam nodded to himself before pointing his index finger at the photo album on the table beside Lisa.
She frowned and turned to the notebook, "What are you-"
She jumped, eyes wide, as a red web like strand stuck onto the front edge of the book. She turned in time to see Liam yank his hand back-the red strand coming out of the tip of his finger- and catch the book as it flew towards him.
"What was that?!" Lisa exclaimed, "Webs? But why are they red...?"
Lisa noticed a faint metallic scent in the air as the red strand disintegrated.
"Well yes, these were designed to acts as webs," Liam said whilst scratching the back of his head, "I can't really do that much with them apart from pulling light objects-"
"What was that?" Lisa cut in, her eyes telling him to cut the long talk.
Liam smiled a little. "Well, be amazed," he said as he tilted his head and put a hand on his chest in a bow, "The name's Liam Paxton. Venma Status: Denied..."
Lisa's eyes widened even before he finished speaking.
"...and my power, is Hemokinesis," he said as he straightened up and rose a finger, a small ball of red forming above it.
"Otherwise known as Blood Manipulation."
Lisa stared.
And stared.
And STARED.
Then she spoke, her voice shaky.
"Y-y-you bastard!"
Liam reeled. "What did I do?!"
"You listen to me talk for several minutes on my past, then when its your turn you bow?! Who does that?! Where do you think you are you chuunibyou!"
Liam's lips drew a straight line as he grabbed Lisa's wrists to stop her from hitting him.
"I am not delulu thank you very much."
After several more minutes of arguing, they both finally calmed down.
Or rather, Lisa calmed down enough to speak normally.
"So you have a Denied Status too huh," she muttered as she lay on his couch. Liam, who was lying on the floor, replied: "Yep."
"Got any tragic backstory?"
"No."
Liam refrained from commenting further, knowing that calling her reasons a "Tragic backstory" and saying "Who's the chuunibyou now?" would be a major faux pas.
"All the bad stuff that has happened to me wasn't necessarily because of my Venma. I mean, except most of the bullying. That big kid in kindergarten was a Transformation type, so his sense of smell was high. That's why he called me stinky, because to a mixed primal and intelligent mind, blood smells a little annoying. Same with middle school, though it was mostly because I was weak."
Lisa pouted. "Now I'm embarrassed. You're acting all mature about it, whilst I'm here acting like a child."
Liam chuckled. "Well, we aren't adults yet, so you can act as childish as you want. And it isn't really maturity; it's resignation. I do as much as I can to hide my scent. Powerful deodorants, scented creams, they all work for at least half a day before my smell starts leaking through. Also, applying too much would create a worse smell that regular people can detect, so I'd rather not."
Liam sighed as he looked up at the ceiling. "And it's not without its problems. According to Dad, I smell like Mo bait."
Lisa shifted to look down at him, surprised. "Wait really?"
"Yeah. I didn't fully believe him till the first day, when a Ptera dive-bombed me on the way to school-"
"A WHAT DID WHAT?!"