"Oh why thank you very much." Anna's smile grew wider as her happiness grew. "So what sorts of fun things can you do? I'd bet that you're really powerful!" Anna looked Sidnee over before staring deeper into the woman's eyes. "Oh yes, you are gifted. I'm sure of it!" The small woman had spent far more years than any human spent alive searching for people with unique gifts. Sidnee reminded Anna of several heroes that Anna herself had escorted and looked over as they were tested time and time again. Sidnee would be no different. The child would be tested, and even Anna with thousands of years of experience couldn't tell which champions would succeed and which would fail.

Sidnee gulped. That was a pretty loaded question. The confidence in Sidnee's "gift" was both flattering and concerning, since she never really thought of herself as very powerful. Her other half didn't count in her mind. "Well, I..." She paused and looked down at her own shadow. It started to move back and forth before becoming a semi-solid form of matter. It rested on Sidnee's knee. "I can control shadows. To a certain extent, anyway." The material faded back into a shadow. That was about the extent of what she could do. No super strength, no super speed, none of the cliche things people always assumed. "I wouldn't really call myself powerful, though. What about you?"

"Oh wow! I knew someone once that could do all sorts of neat tricks with shadows. I'm sure if you keep practicing you'll be able to do things you never thought you could do!" Shadow magic has always really been thought of as being the instrument of demons and devils, but Anna knew that a person can't be judged solely on the instruments they are given. A person's true character comes from how they choose to use their abilities. As far as Anna's abilities went, she took a long moment to think about exactly what she wanted to tell Sidnee. They could never know exactly what she was. "Oh I've got stories. I could tell you a story about anything really. I've seen it all! As far as things that I'm capable of..... I can disappear and reappear at will! I can sort of move through objects and stuff too. I've even had some people tell me how hard it is to get rid of me, which I think is a rather valuable skill!"

"It's... it's fine." Isaiah didn't realize by plasma the teenager had meant the same element the sun was made out of. What a powerful ability, the applications as far as he could conceive was endless. Especially defensively, if the plasma inflicted no harm upon him, he could theoretically create an armor made of plasma. Isaiah's grip tightened and he disassembled his crossbow, the boy's power was much more impressive than his own. "I am not obsolete... I am not obsolete..." He whispered quietly to himself. First there was Naomi telling him that ten seconds wasn't as impressive as it sounded, now there was the growing possibility he was the weakest member in the team for this job. He picked up the rifle and went back to firing at the dummy, he just had to prove it, just practice what he did well and make it better. "You're a lot more impressive than you give yourself credit for Theo... your power is very powerful." Isaiah released the magazine and spun it to insert the next. "So how did you end up in the institute? Decided to become a hero?"

Sidnee wondered who Anna was talking about. As far as she knew, only her father was able to use shadow magic--then again, she hadn't really gotten out very much. She appreciated Anna's enthusiasm, even if it was about something that wasn't so pleasant. "That seems super useful..." Sidnee eventually replied. She wasn't sure if the last thing was really a super power, but it seemed like a sort of valuable skill, regardless. "Especially being able to phase through objects. It--It makes you a lot less likely to be hit, I guess..." Sidnee wasn't used to holding this long of a conversation with anyone. She had managed to go more than a year in the Academy with only a handful of conversations. She was running out of things to say.

Theo shrugged nonchalantly at the compliment. They didn't feel very special. "Yeah, I guess I'm pretty alright." When Isaiah asked the question, they sighed. "Well, long story short, my dad is fucking crazy and I killed people. The court said it was either the Academy or prison, and honestly, I didn't feel like being someone's bitch in prison." They shrugged again. They tried not to think about it too much; it was a depressing thing to think about. "What about you?"

He killed people? Isaiah glanced back from his shooting. The teenager didn't look like a killer, but granted, nor did he. He wondered if Theo was also repulsed by his reflection, if he kept mementos, or what his coping mechanisms were. He wondered if the boy would understand him because they were birds of the same feather, murderers. "I..." Isaiah could feel the words get stuck in his throat and he coughed. "I... I-I wanted to keep my mom and dad safe." He wanted to keep his delusion safe. The boy walked back and put down one rifle to pick up a bolt-action. "Why did you kill people? If you don't mind me prying?" He aimed down the iron sights, looking at Theo before spinning around, pulling back the bolt to slot the bullet in place, and firing.

Theo looked sympathetically at Isaiah. He didn't need to say anymore. Unlike Isaiah, Theo didn't mind talking about their past. It was their way of acknowledging that it happened.

Theo waited until the boy finished shooting before answering. "I had some anger issues back in the day and some people really pissed me off and I ended up killing them. My old man wasn't exactly dad of the year, and he fucked my brain up. Thank god for government mandated therapy, though." He did finger guns and smiled weakly.

"So, did you kill him then?" Isaiah slid the bolt back and heard the bullet click into place before shuttering it close. He aimed down the sights then fired, staring at the bullet hole that exploded across the target's face. The boy looked at Theo. "So what do you fight for? Just aiming to stay out of prison?"

"Hmm?" Angel raised her head to look up at Francene, the usual surprise present on her face, very soon replaced by a wide smile. "Oh sure, go ahead... I would be stuck on the ground more than ever, were I to eat all that by myself." Angel stuck her tongue out for a second, and then briefly winced looking back down, the technopath still within her peripheral vision. Looking from above, although seeing it pretty much upside down, Francene could tell that Angel in fact was writing down quite a lengthy note, with a rough sketch of silhouettes sitting on a blanket underneath it, all in red ink. By few words the girl was able to pick up from her position, it seemed as if Angel was describing the 'picnic' scene almost in technical detail, although Francene wasn't able to spot a single name being used. There were some numbers however.

Angel's gaze suddenly shifted diagonally upward and the winged girl abruptly closed the book and clicked her pen, putting both aside on the blanket. Once more she smiled, reaching for another sandwich and her eyes locked with Francene's, "So..." and then they moved elsewhere, in direction of where Fran came from. "What's this little guy's name?" Angel's gaze has rested on a drone the technopath had brought with herself, and the girl took a bite of her food. Obviously Angel wasn't aware of Francene's power full spectrum, but probably even without her around for this mission, she would've given the drone a name herself. She just saw that adorable little flying machine as worthy of one.

Francene took a snadwich from the pile and sat herself down gently. On the mention of the drone, she perked up.

"A name?" She blinked and then looked over her shoulder and saw the drone. "I.. I haven't thought of one yet."

Its been common for her to name the programs she's encountered with, it helps cope with the fact they don't have names at all and it seemed rude to just call them what they were. The technopath fidgeted and looked to Angel again, who had closed the book. Francene guessed she'd see more of it down the road. "I guess I'd name him...S- Specs? The camera on him makes it look like he has glasses bit I still need to ask him if he's fine with that name."

Theo once again waited for Isaiah to fire. "Yeah I killed him...and the other guy, and the other guy. Three in total." They didn't wanna talk about murder anymore and were happy that Isaiah asked a different question. They shrugged. "I mean, staying out of prison is always a plus but..." They trailed off. Thankful for the change in topic, Theo thought for a moment. What did they fight for? Humanity? Probably. They cared way too much about other people. "I guess I fight because I have to. Y'know 'cause most folks can't fight for themselves. I've got a responsibility I guess? I dunno, I sound dumb."

Only three people, Isaiah had to hold in a strange chuckle. An awful reaction but Theo now wasn't a fellow monster in his eyes. He turned around, propping the rifle against the stand as he smiled at Theo. "No, not dumb. I would say that's a good goal, a proper one. Better than running away from a different reality." He wondered if he could say that was what he was doing. Trying to explain away the monster he was made into with fake antedotes and memories, trying to wash the blood of the innocent off with the blood of monsters to somehow cancel the negative out with the positive of trying to save the world as if it even worked like that. "You shouldn't let the past hang over you Theo. It wasn't your fault." Isaiah wondered if he was trying to actually comfort Theo, or himself. But it wasn't like it would help. He's been feeding himself those words for years, and it still tastes bitter.

"So I've asked a lot of questions about you, anything you want to know about me?" Isaiah took out the rifle's cartridge and the bullet in the chamber before putting it away and sat down next to Theo, using his crossbow case as a backrest of sorts.

“Yeah I suppose it does, doesn’t it? I’m rather confident in my abilitis and being able to protect myself, so don’t worry about having to watch out for me or anything when we’re out there! Naomi is a nice lady but she worries too much. I had this friend once who said I talked a whole lot so he let me try this herb of his and it really calmed me down. It also made me rather hungry. Has Naomi eaten? I still have some that my friend gave me, should I go see if she wants some?”

"I'm...not sure if Naomi's eaten yet," Sidnee replied eventually. She agreed that Naomi did worry too much, but she was the leader of this rag tag team, after all. That was a lot of weight on one person's shoulders, especially considering that the group was possibly the last chance of saving the world. She racked her brain around for a while, yet still didn't know what herb Anna could be talking about. If it caused her to both relax and be hungry, though, it couldn't be too bad, right? She shrugged, "It's w-worth a try. If she says n-no, it's more for you."