Working Through the Cold (open)

[Alexandra Jacobs]

Grinning, she listened to the information about the twins. “That sounds so cool. I wish I could work my own computer most of the time, let alone a super one.” Imagining all the programs and workings of a supercomputer made her shudder. And, being halfway between the two always interested her, although she was never able to do it, partly in fear she would hurt herself or get stuck.

Swinging her legs slightly, she began fussing with her hair again. She should have put it up if she had known there was lots of walking to do. Who knows what it looks like. I hope I don’t come out with crazy hair… She thought, wincing as she ran her fingers through the orange tresses, wincing as she met a number of tangles on the way down.

Alex sat up abruptly, raising her eyebrows. Not many asked her of her powers, she was the more inquisitive one. “Mine? Well.” Sitting back, she swung her legs outward and wiggled her toes, composing an answer. “My power allows me to turn into any animal I want. I am able to talk in animal form , and communicate with them in human and animal.” Nodding in confirmation, her eyes met the picture.

She gasped and craned her neck to look more closely at it. “It’s amazing. It looks exactly like me, even though that sounds dumb talking about a portrait, but seriously! I could never imagine trying to do something as good as that. It’s like perfect.” Alex tried hard not to reach out and grab it. She noticed the daydreamy look and grinned. Was it that obvious? Well, at least her hair wasn’t messy.

Truly, Alex wanted just to fork out her pocketful for it was it is, but she leant back and thought about it. “I think it looks great black and white so, sure, I’ll have it just inked. Thanks, it’s really amazing. You should charge more.”

[James Zect]

"Yeah, they were rather amusing. One of them, despite being one of the most intelligent people you'd ever meet, met about 90% of the qualifications for being an airhead. The other one looked like she'd rather cut your heart out than talk to you," he said. "Don't get me wrong, they were both nice once you got to know them. They were just weird." The twins were a bit weird, but so was just about everyone else at the school, and how normal are two catgirls supposed to be?

"We have a few people that can turn into animals at the school. Including one that seems to like being a dog more than she likes being a person," he said. She was... friendly. Also didn't seem to be able to differentiate between restrooms in her dog form. Or chose not to.

James couldn't help but blush a bit, and brought the soda back down to him to drain the rest of it. He could always blame it on the cold. He wasn't used to getting compliments on his work. Although, occassionally Ms. Frost liked to sit in on when he was playing the keyboard. She hadn't wanted a sketch yet though, or anything else.

"Thank you," he said, draining the other half of the soda, and tossing it on the ground behind him, next to the half dozen other empty bottles. He nodded, and flipped it back around, careful to make sure none of the clips undid and the paper went flying. He reached into his bag and pulled out an inking pen, and gently started to trace all the details, being very careful not to mess up. You couldn't make this part up again. Not easily anyway.

[Alexandra Jacobs]

[[Aah. Sorry about the real bad post, my brain was still defrosting.]]

Alex couldn’t help but giggle. “Sounds pretty much like me. I was always getting told off for staring out the window. Cloud nine rather than earth y’know. But some lessons I prefered day dreaming than working out the missing angle with Pythagoras’s theorem.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust to just the word trigonometry.

She sat up quickly. “Really? Awesome. I’ll be able to fit in somewhere then.” Letting out a long breath she put her hand behind her head. “Finally. Is there anybody else with powers like yours, or are you pretty unique?” Though, not being the only one was a bit of a downer thinking about it. She was the only mutant at the school when Ty moved away. And the only one who could turn into whichever animal came to mind. But, who was she to complain? Now she had found people she could fit in with, both forms.

Out of the corner of her eye, Alex noted his face redden. “Oh. Sorry, was I going on about it too much?” She kind of felt her face heat up when she realized she had slightly overreacted by leaping up in her chair and babbling on about the quality of it. Yeah, overreaction pretty much there.

“So…What else do you do apart from the obvious?” Alex wasn’t really that great at conversation. She normally ended up with small talk and put people off.

[James Zect]

((I apologize for this taking an eternity >.< James is a rather fickle character when it comes to my muse))

"Not really what I meant. She had little to no common sense at all, and didn't even remotely understand the concept of sarcasm. It's like talking to the most stereotypical blonde in the universe, while at the same time she's writing quadratic equations out with her feet," he said. It was one of the first things he could think of at the moment. He wasn't the best at his classes, and didn't even go to most of them anymore.

"There are people that can shoot energy and stuff like that, but there isn't really anyone that can do what I do," he said. Unless you compare Phoenix and Reaper... he thought. It wasn't a fair compairisson to be sure, as he hadn't killed anyone yet. However, it was still something he thought about. How long would it take before his inner self took control again?

"I usually just get a 'thanks' and people shoving money at me. Not many people give me compliments," he added. About much of anything really. If he got a compliment, it was from Alessandra, or it was a really quick one that the other person really didn't mean that much. He actually didn't even get the thanks to much.

"I don't really know what you meant. I come here, I sketch at the school, play the keyboard. Unless you meant something about my powers? In which case I can fire blasts of energy too," he added. It wasn't the part of his power he liked to use. His pen traced expertly over the penciled lines so that he didn't miss a subtle line, or cause it to lose its look.

[Alexandra Jacobs]

“Really? Wow. Sounds pretty funny to watch to me.” She thought about it for a little bit. Alex was sure she should have been a blonde. But at the same time, her naïve and pretty dumb first impression let her down most of the time. Still. Instead of staying on the subject, she took to watching him work. This would definitely be the first thing shed put up on her wall.

“Ah. Do you like being unique?” Well, Alex did. It was cool being different. Scary even. Most people didn’t mess with you if you told them you had powers. And demonstrated them too, left people running with their tails between their legs. Still. There wasn’t anything that scared Alex more than spiders. She didn’t even want to turn into them she hated them that much, made her feel tainted.

“That shouldn’t be right. Too rude for the quality of what you do. But I don’t think a whim can change anyone.” That was a problem Alex often faced. Ignorance to mutants. Well, she was the kind of person to ask for it. Specially If they didn’t run away once faced with a huge animal. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t a bad escapist, either.

She sat up abruptly and raised her eyebrows. “You play keyboard? So do I! Do you play well?” It was unfortunate Alex wouldn’t be able to play anymore. The piano sat at the corner of the room and gathered dust on the lead up to Alex leaving for the school. Her mother was her teacher, but she soon went out a lot and the lessons finished. It was a shame.

[James Zect]

James was used to the twins, and while Love and been amusing in the beginning.... Well, it got a bit annoying after a while. It took a long time though, seeing her finish Trig. homework in seconds and turning the toaster into a disintigration cannon, while at the same time missing a completely obvious attempt at sarcasm by her sister. Doom had been a bit more normal.... If not rather creepy, even by his standards of the word. Which were pretty high....

James decided whether or not he should even attempt to answer her next question. Because he was a mutant his mother and he had to run and hide from his mother's boyfriend when James flung him out of the house. Because he was a mutant he had always been afraid of letting loose. For years he didn't do anything at the manor, afraid the explosive power wouldn't be able to be contained. He was right... partially.

He chose not to answer, waiting for a change of subject. "I'm used to it by now," he said. He didn't really expect praise from anyone really. He got some from his mother now and again. She was doing better now that she wasn't having to take care of him, and with her former boyfriend/stalker in prison, she was doing better mentally and physically as well as financially. He hadn't visited in a while though....

"I play... okay, I suppose," he said. James wasn't really one to mention his own skills or to brag. He was actually very good at playing the keyboard, but he didn't tell anyone or play publically often. Some students seemed to think there was a 'Phantom' at the school, playing music that came from everywhere and no where. "And you?" he asked, starting to put the finishing touches on the inking.