Julian Keller (fameandfortune) wrote in marvel_united, @ 2009-04-15 09:12:00 |
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Current music: | ooc: not that there's anything wrong with kinky sex chemicals |
Log/Thread: Wallflower & Hellion
Who: Laurie Collins and Julian Keller
NPCs: Random students
When: January 10, 2009 [backdated]
Where: Xavier's School
What: Laurie and Julian meet and... actually don't hate each other. Who knew?
Rating: PG
Due to Laurie's nearly phobic avoidance of social contact with others, it was only the fact that the rec room was having an 'off' hour (and was thus quieter than normal) and that Laurie was exploring the grounds that had her anywhere near the place. Left to her own devices, she would likely hide in the library the moment she found it, never to be seen again.
But she hadn't found it yet. So one early afternoon found Laurie peering into what she thought was an empty room. The size of it caught her attention first, followed by the sheer amount of ... well, toys. Then the fact that it wasn't as devoid of people as she'd though. Laurie froze, staring at the boy because at the moment her legs weren't listening to her command of turn-around-and-get-out.
Julian had turned from the television when he heard someone enter the room. There wasn't much on to begin with, just some bowling, a bunch of infomercials, and a couple of televangelists. Same ol', same ol'. At least having someone to complain about it with would be a nice change of pace.
However, Laurie looked less like a bored teenager and more like a deer trapped in headlights. Julian had seen her a few times in the hall. She was pretty new and fairly cute. He would have remembered someone like that. "Hey, you're new right?"
"Um, yes. Hi." Laurie paused for a long, long moment. Should she introduce herself? Just wave and walk off? Would that make her a freak? She'd already said hi. That was part of a conversation opener right? "I'm Laurie."
Did she want to talk to this guy? Who was he anyway? Was he nice? He was kind of cute. He had this... air, that she didn't quite understand though. Confidence? Arrogance? Both?
At the moment, it was interest. "Hey, I'm Julian."
Okay, she was kind of shy but Julian could work with that. Most of the new kids were out of depth when they first showed up at the school. Some were self conscious while others were overwhelmed by the variety of the student body and a few were even away from home for the first time. Everyone had to start somewhere and now Laurie happened to be here.
Julian gestured to the couch and nodded in Laurie's direction inviting her to take a seat. "You just got here, right? How do you like it so far?"
Ok. he was being nice. Friendly. She could do this. Interacting was good. Making friends was good. Oh lord that was an awful sentence. But still, she smiled, even if it was a slightly shaky one, and went to sit near Julian. Well, she sat on the couch. Technically. She sat on the armrest.
Ok. No pheromones. None. No. She could interact with people like a normal person. Laurie was so caught up in her thoughts she almost lost what Julian had asked. "It's... massive. I keep feeling like I've gotten turned around, even when I haven't." And she hadn't really spoken to many people so she wasn't really sure what most of the students were like because the idea of approaching a massive group was horrifying.
Julian raised an eyebrow as Laurie sat on the armrest. Weird. He gave a mental shrug. Oh well, to each his own. But hey, she smiled. That was progress.
"Yeah, it's pretty big," he responded. "Just wait until the snow clears and you can check out the giant hedge maze in the backyard."
Hedge maze? Laurie perked up slightly. A hedge maze! Like the Labyrinth! "Is it closed in the winter?" Laurie's curiosity briefly overcame her desire to either faint or run, which was progress as far as she was concerned.
Ok. This was going well. She wasn't affecting him apparently, and they were making small talk! That's what this was called right? Small talk.
From the television the preacher gave a little shout of, "Praise Jesus," that went unnoticed. Small talk was definitely progress.
"Uh, yeah." Julian gave Laurie a dubious look. Okay, there was the possibility she was just messing with him. "I don't think they put a fence around it or anything. I mean, if you had some awesome ice melting powers you could go probably go check it out."
And that was a singular you. Laurie was cute but not cute enough to get bundled up and move snow just to stare at some hedges.
Laurie wilted slightly. She didn't know what had just happened, but she'd said something... off, apparently. "Um, I don't." She said quietly, looking down and fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
Quick, change the subject! "How long have you been here?" Ok, that was lame.
Julian had been about to ask her what exactly she could do since snow melting powers were out and it wasn't as if she had wings or any other sign of a physical mutation but her next question derailed that train of thought. So that made for shy and awkward.
"Going on three years now," he answered. "Some of the teachers are boring but most of them are pretty cool. So what grade are you in?" There now. A direct question shouldn't be too hard.
"I'm a junior." Ok, this was a nice, neutral subject. School. What could possibly go wrong with school. "You?" He said he'd been around three years. That made him a junior (like herself) or a senior. ... she'd never talked to the seniors before. Not voluntarily. They were usually pretty nasty pieces of work at her old school.
"And which are the 'cool' teachers?" Did that mean they were lenient, or that their classes were actually interesting?
"I'm a senior," said Julian. He'd put in his freshman year in California then started brand new at Xavier's for his sophomore year but the school had become a second home by now. He'd been around long enough that the hedge maze had lost it's charm. The same could be said for the rec room.
And some of the teachers... "Let's see, Mr. Summer's can be pretty boring. Ms. Munroe's more of a stickler but Ms. Frost is pretty cool. Professor Xavier's... well, he's Professor Xavier but he's fair."
Hopefully Laurie wasn't finding all the different names too overwhelming.
Not yet. Laurie knew of Xavier, but she figured she'd pick up the others once she had taken their classes and had a face for the names. "None of them make it a habit to call on students during lectures do they?" Laurie had hated that in one of her old history teachers.
She'd read the coursework. She didn't like speaking in front of people though.
"Sometimes?" Julian raised an eyebrow. What type of question was that? "The school has pretty small classes. It happens."
Xavier's might have had students from all around the world but it wasn't exactly the type of boarding school that kept a waiting list.
Ok. So that meant that there weren't any sadistic teachers. ... except now Julian probably thought she was weird, if he hadn't already. Plan Make-Friends was not going well.
At least her pheromones were remaining under control. "Ok." Crap, she was running out of things to talk about. Why couldn't she be interesting or something? Maybe she should just go. Say thanks, and cut her losses. Maybe it wasn't just thepheromones that made her rather sucky. Oh god what if she just sucked in general? Ok. Calm. Insecurity was not endearing.
Or at least, was endearing to all the wrong sorts of people. "I wasn't sure. I mean, I had old teachers who thought calling on someone who didn't know the answer was funny or something." Ok. Maybe that was a step in the right direction. Teachers-From-Hell. Except he said...
Julian nodded slowly in agreement and clicked his tongue once. "Sounds like your old school kind of sucked," Julian offered in way of sympathy. If there was anyone who believed that sometimes teachers were really out to get you, it was Julian. He'd run into a few of them over the years.
Still, the awkward silences weren't making for the best conversation. Strange, he would have figured a girl like Laurie would have had a lot of friends. "Do you want a tour or something?" Julian offered. "After we can grab lunch and I can introduce you to some of my friends."
So she hadn't weirded him out enough to be considered a pariah! Yes! She could do it! She could make friends and not disappoint her mother! She would not be that lonely freak that nobody wanted anything to do with!
"That sounds good." Confidence renewed, Laurie smiled and sat up a little straighter. Maybe she could be friends with Julian. Didn't hurt that he was kinda cute. "If you'll lead the way? I constantly feel like I'm turned around here."
Ok, none of that. This was not The First Guy Wins after all. He was just being nice. And... and... friends? How many friends did he have? She wasn't going to meet them all at once was she? Oh dear.
"No problem." Julian gestured casually and snagged the remote as it floated into his hand. He clicked off the television just as the pastor started talking about "fire and brimstone andeternal damnation" and dropped it back onto the couch. "I'll give you the tour."
He gestured towards the door, letting Laurie exit first and into the hallway.
It didn't take long before they were standing outside of the cafeteria. Even from outside there was an audible hum of indistinguishable noise. Julian reached past Laurie to grab for one of the doors. "You'll know Cess if you've seen her," he explained. "She's kind of hard to miss."
With the door opened the conversation trickled out into the hallway becoming a bit more distinguishable.
"--three page paper! Can you believe it?"
"--keep your tongue off my--"
"--still up for the movies on Friday?"
Laurie felt the familiar trickle of dread down her spine at the prospect of being around so many people, especially at once. But... once properly in the cafeteria - and keeping close behind Julian - it wasn't so bad. She got a few curious looks, but nobody commented and the few people that waved seemed to be doing it at Julian.
She could do this. The cafeteria wasn't nearly as big or as crowded as the one at her old school. But... was that something about a tongue? "Who's Cess?" Laurie was assuming Julian's friend - girlfriend? - but Laurie wasn't seeing anyone who was 'hard to miss.'
Meanwhile, Laurie's pheromones - which had been behaving up until then - decided that break time was over. Julian likely wouldn't notice anything too overt just yet - just a light jitteryness.
"Cess is..." Julian started, he turned his head looking around the crowded room for her. She had to be here, didn't she? Where else would she be? But if she was here then why couldn't he find her. Unless something had happened to her. Everyone else was at the table but Cessily was absent. She was probably doing homework or talking with a teacher or getting food or... "not here," Julian finished. "She's made of metal though. You can't miss her."
Shrugging off the odd feeling, Julian went to make introductions. "Guys, this is Laurie. Laurie, this is the guys." He gestured at them each in turn and ran down their names. "And has anyone seen Cess?" he asked.
Why the hell was he so fixated on that?
Laurie stared at the assembled people at the table, and felt her throat run dry. Oh she'd been wrong, she couldn't do this. They'd eat her alive and Julian was freaking out-
Julian was freaking out. Oh crap. Unfortunately, far from getting herself under control and calming down, Laurie only became more agitated. She had to get out of there!
And unfortunately, her flee response communicated itself through her pheromones. Only moments later was Laurie standing alone in a circle roughly twenty feet in diameter as the students dropped everything they were doing and fled in a panic.
It wasn't until Julian had almost made it to the doors that his head started to clear. It didn't help that some of the other students were already intent on making a mad dash through them. What the hell was going on? The doors swung back and forth and a bunch of students began to get their bearings in the hallway. There were a lot of confused looks and even more food splatters.
Julian pushed open the cafeteria door and took another look inside. Cessily still wasn't around but Laurie was there standing alone in the cafeteria. And now half of the student body was staring at her.
So much for making friends. The cafeteria was now mostly empty, the now confused student body peering in through the doors and trying to figure out was had just happened. Laurie swayed side to side, looking around trying to find an exit that wasn't filled with people who were staring at her.
There weren't any. Laurie hung her head, trying to hide behind her hair as she at first tried to pry open a window to get out through - she couldn't manage the locks - and eventually she gave up and ran "through" a group of students. Her desire to flee sent those nearby scattering and cleared the way for her as she left to hide.
Julian watched as Laurie ran past another group of students leaving them running for their lives. Dealing with hysterical crazy wasn't really high on his list of things to do but he was the one that'd brought her here. And besides, it wasn't like she could kill someone just by looking at them. "I got this," he said to the students around him, before heading off in the same direction.
Laurie hadn't gone too far. She hadn't fled back to the rec room or gone outside. And she hadn't nearly had time to go back to her dorm and lock the door shut. Stopping about ten feet away from her, Julian called out. "Okay. Hey. What exactly did you do back there?"
Laurie slowed slightly, looking over her shoulder and biting her lip. "It was... it was an accident." She quickly turned away again, shoulders curved and looking very much like she wanted to sink into the floor.
She didn't really like calling them 'pheromones,' even though that's what they were. Most people associated pheromones as some sort of kinky sex chemical. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be around people right now," was all Laurie said as she broke into a run again.
Accidents, Julian could understand. That was the whole point of the school, but before he could say as much Laurie was already running away leaving him feeling mortified in the hallway.
The feeling of embarrassment faded away as Laurie got further away leaving Julian dumbfounded in the hallway. It was pretty hard to help someone out if they kept running the hell away from you.