Limitations and Exploits

The first thing Alan heard on arriving home was his sister’s voice.

“Well, look who’s making the walk of shame,” Selena had a shit-eating grin on her face as she looked over a bowl of cereal at her brother. She was dressed sloppily in an old tank top and the sleep shorts she normally wore to bed.

“Good morning to you too, listen can we not..make a big deal out of this? I didn’t come home, the reasons are obvious… let's not dwell ok?” Alan pleaded with his sister

“Mmm Well, you asked so nicely, fine. But you know if you’ve got a new girlfriend you don’t need to go out on my accord you know, I’m not gonna be embarrassed.” She said mouth half full of frosted flakes.

“That’d be fine, but there is no girlfriend to speak of-” He was cut off

“Woah! Big bro out being a big ol slut, never thought I’d see the day!” Selena's whole face contorted with laughter “Shit, after all that talk all your life about needing “a connection”

Alan grabbed a pillow from the couch and tossed it at his sibling “Shut up! Can’t a guy blow off some steam without getting the third degree? Fuck, yeah obviously I prefer seriously dating someone but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy myself.

Selena catches the pillow before it knocks over her bowl “Sure, you can do what you want. It just doesn’t sound like you…”

“Fuck it,” Alan stormed to his room “, as soon as I change I’m heading out”

“Fine! Fuck Alan why don’t you cool off the attitude”

Once in his room, Alan slammed his hand against his dresser. What was the big idea? Sure he hadn’t done anything like this before, but did she need to make a big deal out of it? Why can’t he just be left to do what he wants as long as he wasn’t hurting anyone? And what was she thinking walking around dressed like that fucking showing off her legs and ass-

Alan gagged and nearly threw up right then and there in his room, had he seriously just checked out his sister? Fuck he REALLY must be frustrated if his mind is going there. Also, he had to pause, was he really not hurting anyone? Now more than ever he knew he needed to get out and figure out the extent of these abilities.

He quickly changed out of his clothes and grabbed his coat. He needed a place with a lot of people, where interacting with people wouldn’t be strange. The local coffee shop was probably as good a place as any. He double-checked that he had his keys and wallet and headed out, careful not to look at his sister as he left the apartment.

The nearest coffee shop was within walking distance, and it had a decent sit-down area with books and chairs. He made his way over, ordered a plain latte and sat. He then began his testing. His findings were helpful, and although they were based purely on observation, he felt pretty confident on their accuracy.

The first thing he learned was a confirmation of something he knew but needed proven. He couldn’t just MAKE anyone do anything. He learned this when he initially made his order and used his power on the barista making his drink. He had tried a similar signal that he had used on Caroline the night before, the feeling of arousal as he paid. Her expression did not noticeably change as she had worked with him other than possibly being slightly pink in the cheeks.

This made sense, how many times did people get aroused out of nowhere? Or beyond that have intrusive thoughts period? They certainly were not going to act on everyone and even if someone chose to act on it, that’s what it would be a choice.

Coupling with that he learned that he could not actually stick multiple feelings at any given time, contrary to what he had attempted to do last night. He had tried to input multiple feelings into several people, but the most telling result had been with a flirty couple. He had tried to place several negative feelings: anger, distrust, envy paired with one positive feeling: joy. The result was always one emotion winning out, and it was always the emotion that matched what they were currently feeling.

Conversely, he could still change someone’s mood. By applying a singular emotion repeatedly he could shift a person into it, as demonstrated by a moody college student who left chuckling to himself. This made sense because the repetition, he reasoned, took it out of the realm of intrusive, made it more real.

All in all, this satisfied Alan and he felt like he understood his abilities better now. He also quickly lost any guilt he felt over the previous night. If his results and reasoning were accurate, he had not made Caroline do anything necessarily. Just nudged her in a direction, it had been her choice to act on it.

But her could control people if he wanted to. Those little nudges used repeatedly over time could easily shape a person and their thoughts. So he decided to set some rules, because being honest with himself, now that he had used the power he couldn’t see himself stopping.

First, he would only push people into doing things he could envision them doing themselves. Just a plain old helping hand. Two, to prevent abuse he would only ever use his powers once on a person per conversation. Three he could not use the same suggestion on a person in 24 hours unless it was absolutely necessary.

Anything else he felt might muddy the waters more than necessary. He checked his phone, it was already closing in on the evening. He had spent the bulk of his day in a cafe running tests. The results had been well worth it, but as he stretched, he wished he had more day left.

Nothing for it now, he decides to head home.