Welcome to Gaia! ::

Though Retsu wasn't in need of accommodations presently, he realized that it could be useful to have a living space where his new allies were staying. Besides, he wasn't the type of guy to turn down free board when it was offered. Heh, maybe he would shift over to this place if it worked out well enough. It was true that he didn't get as much... social interaction as he probably should, as he tended to avoid people. This could prove to be a nice change of pace.

He smiled at Leo, having picked up the boy's name earlier, and answered in a polite tone of voice. "I'm Suhikaru Retsu. But please, just call me Retsu." He grinned as he extended his hand to the boy, offering to shake the boy's hand in greeting. He was actually feeling somewhat comfortable and relaxed, which was odd. This wasn't a good time to let his guard down, not when someone else had just arrived.

On that note, the new arrival seemed to be full of uncertainty, his emotional spectrum flickering wildly. Retsu almost felt concerned for whoever was at the doorway, a strange feeling for him. He'd been alone for so long, he had almost forgotten what it meant to care about other people. Heh, maybe this experience would work out for the better after all. He could probably use some mellowing out...

NO! Stop that! he thought to himself angrily, shaking off the feeling of complacency that had started to wash over him. He couldn't afford to relinquish his anger, not now, not ever! He could afford to get close to these people, become their comrade, hell, he could even afford to grow attached to them if he wanted to. But he could never, EVER, relinquish his anger. He couldn't forget that...

All the while this inner struggle was occurring Retsu barely changed, maintaining a serene exterior for the others. Being an empath, he was constantly fighting with emotions, both his and others. But that didn't mean he had to show it...

Retsu followed Leo to his new room quietly, keeping an eye on his surroundings as he went so that he wouldn't get lost later. The comment about the former owner being a Greater who had died and left the place to Storm actually got to him a bit, not that he'd ever show it. So, he wasn't the only one who'd suffered through another Greater's death. Perhaps, if the situation arose, he could talk to Storm about it later. He was always curious about potential information, one might go so far as to say that he was obsessive when it came to knowledge.

As Leo showed him into his new room, Retsu looked about appreciatively, glad for the emptiness of the space. It gave the room a sense of tranquility, and also gave him the option to remodel it later on if he so desired. His attention was brought back to Leo at the boy's question, making him smile, albeit a bit awkwardly. "Heh, curious?" he said teasingly before continuing. "Nothing too impressive I'm afraid. I'm an empath. I can see and manipulate people's emotions to some degree." At this the room seemed to brighten imperceptibly, as Retsu conjured a wave of positive emotions and then let them flood the room. A simple trick that dispersed quickly, but one that he hoped Leo would appreciate.

Retsu smiled, though there was a touch of sadness there. It was too soon to get into his past with these new acquaintances. He wouldn't tell the boy about how even his powers had caused him to garner some unpleasant attention at one point in time. Nor would he ever mention his bouts with insanity, having almost lost himself more than once. Smiling to himself in order to shift his thoughts to a more positive spectrum, he nodded to Leo at his question.

"Well, perhaps you could fill me in on who lives here and what they do? I want to meet them all of course, but I'd hate to run into an intruder and not recognize him as an enemy." He paused for a moment, thinking to himself, before continuing. "Also, knowing about your goals could be useful. What do you guys hope to accomplish, either in the short run or the long run? What do you want out of this? Sorry if I'm prying a bit too much, but I find it helps me focus when I have a basic understanding of the people around me." This was actually true, as the more he knew about an individual the better he could react to changes in their emotional spectrum. How useful such information would be on the other hand, he didn't dare say. Still, it couldn't hurt to ask.

Back downstairs, Zap was starting to feel a bit more comfortable, new people always made him feel at odds with himself. So far Leo was pretty much the only person in the house he felt completely comfortable around.
He considered powering the game back on for a moment, but decided he wasn't really in the mood anymore, and so started setting a few old cellphones in a circle around him. Once he was ready, he sat cross-legged in the middle of the circle, closing his eyes and taking a few deep breathes. Zap hadn't managed to determine exactly what he reached out with when he used his ability, so he simply dubbed it as an extend-able part of his subconscious. Reaching out to the cell directly in front of him, Zap felt around inside it, then moved some of the stored energy in the battery, shaping it's flow through the resistors until the device powered on, and then moved on to the next cell, and the next.
Once all five cell phones were on, He opened himself up to take in the "feel" of all five at once, making sure to not reach too far. One of the main reasons he preferred to do this in the basement was that there was much less solar energy to interfere with the process. Too much energy could be disastrous if tapped and not checked. For the next few minutes, Zap practiced moving energy from one cell's battery to another, never bringing them together, or even touching them. He had no idea how, or even why, it worked. But he was able to take energy from one thing and almost instantly transfer it into something else. Even his own body.
After ten minutes, Zap cut the connections, then checked the remaining power in the phones. For the most part, the phones had about the same energy as if he had just left them on, but the fifth one was definitely much lower than when it started. There had been some waste. Sighing to himself, Zap went and powered on the game console.