"Due to the… legalities of this testing, I cannot force you to participate," Sasha said to the child seated in his laboratory. "But I can offer you a small reward for your cooperation." The scientist drew in a breath to continue his spiel, but realized something felt off. He looked closer at the boy in his office chair.

Dogen's eyes were wide, vacant, and he picked absently at lint on the onesie pajamas he wore in lieu of regular daytime clothing.

Sasha's eyes narrowed behind his sleek rectangular glasses but his tone remained flat and clinical. "Mister Boole?"

Dogen did not respond. Instead, he crammed his unoccupied hand under the edge of his hat and scratched his head.

Sasha moved a pace closer, leaning over the boy. The sudden absence of the fluorescent lighting got Dogen's attention. He looked up at Sasha, confused.

"Mister Boole, did you pay attention to any of what I told you?"

"We…" Dogen's brow furrowed and his nose scrunched up with the effort of remembering. "We're gonna do some tests, and if I'm good I'll get a prize?"

Sasha returned to his initial position, folded his arms across his chest. "Yes, that's approximately what I was saying."

"Okay," said Dogen, hopping down from the chair. "What do we do?"

"We will be going outside," Sasha replied, taking a brown paper lunch bag from his desk. Fighting instinct, Sasha walked slowly up the stairs instead of levitating to insure that Dogen did not forget where he was going and wander back down into the laboratory. Once above ground, Dogen took a seat on an overturned log several paces away from the lab entrance. Sasha opened his paper bag, taking out one of the two large red apples it contained.

"Dogen," Sasha said. He watched the boy carefully this time to make sure Dogen was listening to his instructions. "You have a very rare talent. Very few untrained psychics can access powers as devastating as Blastokinisis."

"Really?" Dogen asked.

Sasha felt a twinge of frustration at the very edge of his consciousness, but did not show it. "Yes, Dogen, really," he deadpanned. "Anyway, what I want you to do for me," as he spoke, he held up the apple for emphasis, "is try to focus your Blastokinisis on this apple." He set the apple on a thick clump of grass, where the unruly plant life of the GPC area could not obscure it.

"Okay," Dogen said, sliding off the log with a bark-on-fabric sound that made Sasha grind his teeth. The boy stood there, staring at the apple, as absolutely nothing at all happened.

Sasha rubbed the bridge of his nose, Dogen continued to ineffectively look at the apple, and several small birds twittered loudly overhead. "Is something wrong, Mister Boole?" Sasha asked tersely. The child was behind most of his peers in terms of abilities, however, Sasha found himself unwilling to believe that he had no access whatsoever. "Try again."

And again, Dogen focused as much as he was capable on the apple. For a just a few seconds, it seemed to vibrate, and Sasha's heart skipped a beat. "Yes, good!" He crowed with uncharacteristic enthusiasm, but found immediately that he had spoken too soon. The apple fell to its side, and Dogen approached him and tugged at the leg of his pants.

"Mister Nein, I don't think I can do it."

Sasha stooped down to Dogen's level to better make his point. "I believe that you can, Dogen. You just need to keep trying. I saw the apple move, Dogen. You almost had it."

Dogen frowned, but turned back toward his designated Blastokinisis target. "If you say so, Mister Nein."

The third attempt was identical to the first, except that Sasha found the lack of results just a little more annoying this time. He rubbed his chin and watched as Dogen continued to do nothing to the apple. "Focus, Boole," Sasha commanded. Dogen jumped at the sound of his voice, the glare from the summer sun reflecting harshly off his hat as he moved.

"I really don't think I can do it," Dogen said, turning back to Sasha, with whom the statement barely registered. The gears were already turning in the scientist's head, and he would see progress.

"Nonsense," Sasha said, closing the gap between the two with one long stride. "We're just not approaching the situation correctly." With one fell swoop, he unbuckled and lifted Dogen's hat from his head.

The boy squealed in surprise and flailed at Sasha as he lifted the headwear up and out of reach. "Give me my hat back!" Dogen whined, terror clouding his normally vacant expression.

"No," Sasha said. "I believe that it is inhibiting your abilities."

"Please," Dogen said, voice quivering. "Mom and dad say I gotta wear that hat. I gotta."

Sasha was unmoved by the child's pleas. Giving in to base emotion and returning the hat would highly counterproductive. And perhaps… Perhaps evoking a turbulent emotional state in the boy would kickstart his blastokinesis?

As he thought, time passed, and Dogen became increasingly agitated. Sasha began to notice a sound akin to mild tinnitus. "Focus on the apple, Dogen!" He said, gesturing at the fruit excitedly. "Focus!"

The soft buzz in Sasha's ears grew into a horrible, obnoxious ringing. "Aim, Dogen!" Sasha shouted over the noise. It felt like there was a jet engine taking off inside Sasha's head, spots danced before his eyes. This was all wrong, there was no way that he, as a bystander, should be bearing the brunt of the ability. Unless he was Dogen's target. The spots grew in size and number and a horrible flash of pain shot through Sasha's skull. He didn't hear himself scream at Dogen one last time to target something else as he fell to his hands and knees.

The hat dropped from Sasha's grasp, and flopped to the ground near Dogen's feet. Having his hat within reach broke Dogen's trance. Sasha felt every hair on his body stand on end as Dogen released his accumulated psychic energy. It tore through the area in invisible waves, and the last thing Sasha heard before losing consciousness was a series of wet popping noises.

The feeling of a small, pudgy hand patting him on the shoulder brought Sasha back around. "Hey Mister Nein?" Dogen asked, mouth full of apple. Sasha pushed himself up into a sitting position. His head was throbbing, he could feel a warm trickle of blood running from his nose, and the stink of organic matter burning hung heavy in the air.

Dogen gazed at Sasha expectantly as he finished munching on the fruit. His hat was back atop his head, securely buckled into place. "Mister Nein? Can I have my prize now?"

Sasha steadied his shaking hands just enough to dig through his jacket pocket and procure several small lollipops he'd taken from the pantry in the main lodge. He held them out to Dogen, who took the candy happily. "Thanks, Mister Nein," Dogen said cheerfully before he began his trek to the Boys' Cabin, stepping carefully around the smoldering corpses of several songbirds who had been unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire.

Once he was out of sight, Sasha took a deep breath to steady himself. He fished a cigarette out of a different pocket, and lit it, taking long drag while he watched thin wisps of smoke rise from the mangled bird remains.

That was almost me, he thought, and shuddered.

this fic came about after several conversations with chloe-barge on tumblr. except for the exploding bird(s), they were sincerelymendacious' suggestion.