Picture Perfect Training [Yue]

[Kelly Thompson]

Early in the morning's the best time to go out to the training field, especially in the summer. When the sun gets high up in the sky it's heat can really beat down on a student in the open field. The morning had a light breeze that made being out there pleasant for now. It was just late enough for the dew to evaporate but the temperature was still comfortable.

Kelly was out they to make the best of the weather. He was sure he wasn't the only student doing so. Just standing out there he could see a few others scatter around working on mastering their powers. While they were here for the same general reason, Kelly wasn't going to train. He sat down on a drier patch of grass. He looked around. Not too many students, but they were in view. Kelly pulled out his sketch pad and a took a pencil from behind his ear. It may be a stereotypical place to put it, but it stayed well.

Three circles forming the head, chest, and pelvis were drawn onto the paper. A long curvy line resembling the spine connected them, and two short lines connected by dots made each limb. Slowly line after line, Kelly began forming the people out in the field. The people started to fill out, look more like the people Kelly was watching.

He looked back up from his sketch book to get another glance at the few out there and back down. Back up, yeah, a double take. Another student was out there. He wouldn't've bothered with the double take, but he couldn't quite tell the gender of them. They didn't quite have the rectangular torso of a boy he'd expect, but there weren't any feminine curves that proved otherwise. He sat there examining the kid for a while trying to figure it out.

[Yue Hirai]

Unlike many students on the field, Yue wasn't there to practice her abilities - that, she could do anywhere, really, as long as she had a place to put the caterpillars once she created them. She pretty much had hear ability mastered anyway, considering there wasn't much to it; all that she really required now was to study different species and learn about them so she could be more accurate when she thought of a specific type.

Instead, she was training her body as usual, deciding it was a perfect morning for conditioning. After doing several warm-up laps around the field, she had begun more intense training, switching between v-ups, push-ups, squats, and other arm, core, and leg drills that made her body burn deliciously. She was getting to the point where her muscles were starting to cramp up and not work as fast, but she was determined to work until she nearly collapsed.

Dressed in a loose tanktop and athletic shorts, she was sweating quite a bit, and as she finished her last round of jump squats, she wiped a strand of short black hair from her brow. After a few more minutes, she could no longer push herself off of the ground, and so she let herself lay there for a while, taking in deep breaths until her heart began to slow again and her breathing evened.

She stood, and, looking around, caught the gaze of another student nearby, one with bright red hair and a sketchpad in hand. Yue felt a wave of deja vu - only a few days ago, she had met Lin on the track, who had also been sketching her. Curious and just a little bewildered at the coincidence, she approached the guy, taking a swig form her water bottle as she did so. "Can I help you?" she asked, her high-pitched voice betraying her femininity more than anything else. "I have to say, this isn't the first time this week I've caught someone drawing while I was working out."

[Kelly Thompson]

Kelly watched as the kid did various exercises that would've left him tired in a heart beat. He was a little envious, and wondered if the kid was working on some sort of enhanced endurance or just training for track or crap. There gaze met.

Oh crap... That was the first thought that ran through his head as the student made their way over. He's had a rough time explain he was only figure drawing before, and didn't want to go through the 'no, I am not stalking you' routine. He brought his attention back to the picture to finish up the details on the clothing of a student playing with their powers.

Looking back up, the student that caught gaze with him was practically standing over Kelly. The voice was higher pitched, and didn't sound too strained. Female. "Hi. Sorry, if you don't want me drawing you that's fine. I haven't started on your figure yet. You see, I like drawing people than those little wooden mannequins with joints. People have a line of motion, you have to pose a mannequin correctly to get one." He explained himself before he started getting blamed for being a creep.

After a bit of rambling explanations, Kelly smiled. "I'm Kelly by the way."

[Yue Hirai]

Yue blinked as the guy began to explain himself, not expecting him to apologize so quickly. It really was like Lin all over again - his explanation was almost exactly the same. A smile crossed the athlete's face, and she let out a chuckle. "Nah, it's fine. I'd be flattered, really. Would you believe that I met a girl earlier this week on the track that was drawing me and other athletes, and she gave pretty much the exact same reasoning?"

Her legs were practically wobbling with fatigue, and she flopped down next to the red-haired guy, glancing more closely at the sketches. What was it with her and finding talented artists? "Those look good so far," she told him, motioning to the unfinished works. She looked at the artist as he introduced himself, and determined that he was pretty easy on the eyes, not that it really made a difference to her; she didn't typically judge on appearance. "Yue," she replied, offering a hand before wincing and pulling it back slightly. "Er, I'm kinda drenched in sweat, sorry," she chuckled, scooting a few inches away so she wouldn't offend him with the odor she was certainly giving off from her workout.

"How long have you been drawing?" she asked curiously, taking another drink from her water bottle. "I'm sad to say I don't really have any artistic talent myself, but apparently I'm great at finding those that have it," she added with a grin.

[Kelly Thompson]

Kelly chuckled. "Really? I'm not too surprised actually. Most artists try to draw from real life. The track is a great place to find natural motion anyways." He was more intrigued that the girl ran into two people doing the same thing in such a short amount of time. He was also curious to know who this other girl was.

He watched her as she sat down next to him. Her features were now more obviously feminine. Her shoulders weren't as broad and her torso not as square as most males. Granted, she wasn't hour-glassy like a fully developed grown woman either. He looked back up to his paper when she complimented it. "Thanks." They weren't finished, and they weren't quite how he wanted them to turn out, but she was right, they were pretty good so far.

The boy was about to take her hand to shake when she pulled back and apologized. "Don't worry about it. I'm a bit waxy right now myself, and I definitely would be covered in sweat if I did all of that exercise. Hell, I wouldn't even be able to do the whole thing." He chuckled at how pathetic he was athletically. He wasn't good at gym class, and running was a bit of a pain for him. He had to admit he was a bit envious of her for being able to stick it out. Kelly was good at art, and that's what he was going to stick to. He was also waxy at the moment. Earlier he had to redye his hair, and the feeling on his palms hadn't gone away yet.

"Today, oh, since about 9:30-ish. In all.... Years. I never really kept track." He looked at her. "I have one thing to say about your 'lack of artistic talent.' If you can make a line on a paper, you can draw. Anyone can draw, they just may not be good at the same things. I draw people and still life, but ask me to make a pattern and I can't to save my life." He didn't want her to feel bad about art, well, as long as she didn't think a canvas painted one color was a masterpiece.

[Yue Hirai]

"Yeah, that's what she told me," Yue agreed with a nod. "It makes sense; why use a wooden model when you could get better movement from the real thing? Granted, I'm assuming drawing from life is more difficult," she added, smiling faintly. Though, she couldn't draw either to save her life.

Yue liked to appear as androgynous as possible most of the time, which was why she was pretty much never seen in anything but some sort of loose athletic attire. Sometimes she dressed even more masculine, just to mess with people. She had her moments of femininity, but growing up with two very competitive brothers had given her certain qualities that not every girl had.

She did like boys, though. But she tended to be quite picky.

Yue glanced up at Kelly again as he spoke, grinning at his words. "It's a hell of a workout," she agreed, wiping her brow again. "I have to keep it up, otherwise I lose a lot of it a lot more quickly than I can build it back up." Fitness was difficult that way, but she relished the pain and sweat that came with working out. It was almost an addiction. Still, she knew not everyone was that way, and she had a lot of appreciation for other talents, drawing among them. "If you're ever in need of a fitness trainer, though, I'm your gal," she added with a wink.

Yue stretched her legs out in front of her and leaned forward to grasp her feet with her hands, pulling the muscles of her legs to prevent cramping later on. She listened curiously to what Kelly said, her brow furrowed in thought. "I guess I just kinda stopped drawing when I was a kid," she replied. "I've always thought about getting back into it, but I just haven't really had the time between school and track." Meeting two people with artistic talent so close together seemed like some sort of sign, if she believed in fate. "I'd like to see some of your work, though" she told him, smiling again. Even in the short amount of time they had talked, she already liked Kelly's personality.

[Kelly Thompson]

"Exactly," he smiled. "It is a bit harder, but it's definitely worth it." It was true, if you wanted something realistic draw from life, it's that simple. From watching her earlier, Kelly had to admit she'd be a good person to draw by the way she moved.

"Looked like it, that's for sure!" He listened about how she has to keep up the exercise or she'll fall behind quickly. It was the same for drawing. Even a little sketch each day kept Kelly from getting rusty, not that it would be a problem seeing how he doodles during classes when he should be paying attention. It was interesting for him to hear how sports and art had it's similarities. It was something he hadn't really thought about before. Kelly gave a smirk. "I'll keep that in mind."

He began to add shading to the kids on the page. They slowly showed depth. "Well, school's something we all have to sadly live for, but if you're happy with track then there's nothing wrong with you not drawing." Kelly liked to encourage drawing, but he didn't want to force it on people, especially when they have their own talents and skills. It's like Kelly in gym class being forced to run, torture.

"Oh, sure." He said with a smile. He left a loose paper over his current drawing so it wouldn't smudge. Kelly flipped through a few pages to show her some of his drawings. A good amount of them were quick sketches of other students sitting at their desks looking utterly bored (Like so.). It wasn't anything special, just a bunch of figure drawings.

[Yue Hirai]

"Well, you're welcome to use me as a model if you need it," Yue told him cheekily with another wink. Appoline seemed to have enjoyed drawing her, so maybe she just had some sort of build or appearance that artists liked? Or maybe it was just coincidence. She didn't really know.

She nodded happily as he agreed with her, glad he could appreciate her hard work, like she could appreciate his. It was true; though very different, she supposed art and athletics could have its similarities. Too bad she couldn't keep her stamina by sketching, though... Although she supposed if it was that easy, everyone would do it.

She watched as he continued his drawing, curious to see how it would turn out. "I'd like to do track over school any day," she mumbled, brow furrowed. "Once I'm done with Hammel, I'm definitely following my brother and getting into college athletics." Granted, she would still have to take college classes, but at least she could focus more on what she loved doing. Still... As competitive as she was, she did like to try her hand at other things as well to see if she could be a natural at other activities.

She scooted a bit closer and eagerly watched as he flipped through his sketchbook, oohing and aahing at appropriate moments. "Looks like you sketch all the time," she told him, grinning as she recognized what she assumed were classroom-located drawings. "That's really neat! You definitely have talent." As she spoke, she was unaware of the bright-colored caterpillar inching its way out of her hair, as they had a habit of doing after she worked out. She didn't know why, but it happened sometimes when she wasn't paying attention.

[Kelly Thompson]

Kelly smiled. "Thanks, I'll be sure to remember that in mind then." She was a friendly girl that wasn't taking Kelly's drawing the wrong way. She was athletic too, she moved naturally on the field like she knew what she was doing, unlike the reluctant kids in gym class. He wouldn't mind drawing her.

"I'm sure almost everyone rather do something over school." School was not a fun thing to do. Period. End of subject. There are some weird kids out there that enjoy learning, but he couldn't understand why some people liked such dull subjects they had to learn. "So, you have an older brother then. How much older?" He asked for conversation sake, he was a bit curious about Yue though.

Kelly smiled at Yue's little 'oohs' and 'aahs.' He felt a bit awkward showing his drawings off, he was never one to brag about his talent. Still, it felt good to get positive attention to his work. "Yeah... I really don't pay attention in class like it should." He chuckled quietly. "Thanks, I try." He looked up at her. His eyes went straight to a little long thing crawling about her hair.

"Uhhh...." He pointed to his own head relative to where the caterpillar was on her. "You have a.... uhh... caterpillar? on you...?" He wasn't quite sure what was going on, but it sure was confusing. He didn't want to say it wasn't normal, he was in a school for meta-humans for crying out loud.

[Yue Hirai]

"Yeah, no kidding," Yue chuckled in agreement about school. Some subjects were interesting, but others.... She didn't quite get why they needed it. That, at least, was something they had in common. "Oh! I actually have two older brothers, but one is still here at Hammel," she told him with a smile. "Ju-long is twenty, four years older than I am. Zhuang is eighteen." He was a year behind at Hammel, but it wasn't too big of a deal. "Do you have any siblings?" Like Kelly, she was curious to know more about him.

"If I could draw, I'm sure I'd be sketching more than paying attention," Yue laughed. Even now, she did doodle on occasion. Anything to do to make time pass when it felt like it every minute was an hour. She took another sip of water, letting out a soft breath. "It shows," she told him with a smile.

She blinked as he seemed to notice something strange, and she immediately looked up, as though she could see the top of her head. "Oh... Oooh," she sighed, looking to see where it was he was pointing before reaching her hand up to coax the creature out of her hair. "That's embarrassing," she mumbled, waiting until the caterpillar had crawled onto her hand before lowering it and resting it on her knee. "Funny story - while my brothers got physical powers that help them with their athletics, I got stuck being able to make caterpillars in my hair." It was something she would never get used to telling people because it just sounded so silly. She sent Kelly an embarrassed look, biting her lip. "Terrible, huh?"

[Kelly Thompson]

A twenty year-old brother who was four years older. With simple math that came out as her age being sixteen. Just a year younger than Kelly. That wasn't much of an age difference. With her petite stature, Kelly would've guessed Yue to be fifteen. "Yeah, Cary. She's fourteen, three years younger than me." He'd let her do that math to find out his age. It's not like she had to use algebra to figure it out after all.

"C'mon, you heard what I had to say about drawing earlier." He shook his head with a smile on his face. He didn't know what he was going to do with her.

Curious, Kelly watched as she let the caterpillar crawl onto her hand. So she made caterpillars in her hair. That was a first in Kelly's book. He honestly have never met anyone with caterpillar related powers, let alone manifesting them from their hair. "I wouldn't really say terrible...... Weird is more like it." He shrugged. He didn't really want to make her feel bad, but his choice of words probably weren't the best. "On the bright side it is unique." He offered to her.

He ran his fingers through his hair instantly changing it from red to a vibrant orange. "That's the best I can do with my hair." He shrugged and chuckled. It wasn't much as far as he was concerned. Though it did have it's perks when he ran out of a certain color paint.

[Yue Hirai]

It wasn't uncommon for people to think Yue was younger than she was. She used to wish she was taller, and had longer legs to help her run, but she had eventually gotten used to having a very small stature; it just meant she had to work even harder to prove herself, which she was fine with. "Does she go to school here?" she asked curiously. So Kelly was seventeen - he looked his age, at least.

Yue had never met anyone else with an ability even vaguely similar to hers. She thought she had heard about an insect communicator, but that was about it. It made her feel even more left out when it came to being a meta-human. "Weird is another word," she agreed with a small laugh. "I mean, what's the point? All that I can really do is wait for them to become butterflies, which is kinda neat, but... Not exactly awe-inspiring." She had slowly gotten used to her ability, but that didn't mean she had necessarily fallen in love with it. "Yeah... Unique is right." She shook her head and chuckled.

She made a small sound of interest as Kelly ran his hand through his hair, and it instantly changed color. "Is it chromo... chrum... Ah, what's it called..." She thought for a moment before the word hit her. "Chromakinesis? Color manipulation, right?" Or maybe he could only do it with his hair? Whatever the case, it was pretty. "That seems like a pretty handy ability for an artist to have," she added, twirling a strand of her own hair in her fingers as she gently placed the caterpillar on a stalk of grass.

[Kelly Thompson]

Kelly took a deep breath of fresh air in. "Nope, she's back home in Montréal." Cary had turned out to be a normal human. Kelly kind of wished she was a meta too, so he could have some family around. It wasn't too big of a deal though. If she did attend Hammel she would probably end up telling their parents about Kelly punching his roommate. His father would have his skin for that.

He realized he probably just touched a nerve of Yue's. He didn't mean to, and wanted her to feel better about her power. "You could always put them on someone you hate. Even if they aren't bothered by bugs, having a bunch of caterpillars crawling on them would be a bit creepy especially knowing they came from your hair." He tried to think of things she could do with it, but not much came to mind.

Kelly nodded. "Yep, at least that's what I've been told." He shrugged. "It has it's ups and downs like any power. It fades back pretty quickly though." He wiped his hand of the thigh of his jeans. His palm got waxy after doing that, and like the color it had to fade. He assumed it would be about mid afternoon until the feeling was gone. It was something kelly learned to live with much like Yue learned to live her powers.

After deciding to change the subject to a lighter topic than how much their powers could really suck, Kelly smiled. "So, do you do other sports than track?" He asked curiously, she was very fit and could probably be good at a lot of sports. Kelly only did basketball and soccer for fun with friends. He's never really been competitive enough to play on a team.

[Yue Hirai]

Yue raised a curious eyebrow. "Canada, huh?" she asked with interest. She was glad she had had her own brothers go ahead of her to Hammel - at least they had been able to tell her what to expect, and had been a wonderful sight to see when she arrived herself. "I'm originally from Xi'an, China, but most of my life was spent in California," she offered. She had never really felt like a true Californian, though - she hated the heat, the beaches didn't really interest her with their huge crowds of people, and the whole valley-girl cliche irritated the hell out of her. Vermont actually felt more comfortable to her, even though she had only been at Hammel for a few years.

She had to laugh at his suggestion. "That sounds like torture," she agreed playfully. "Fortunately, I don't think I have anyone I hate that much, to make them suffer through larvae crawling all over them." She wiggled her fingers in a "spooky" way before chuckling again. "So, don't get on my bad side," she added with a grin and a wink.

"It's pretty," she offered, then belatedly added,"Er, I mean... Sorry, I know some guys don't appreciate that word..." She gave an embarrassed laugh and rubbed the back of her head. It was something she didn't really care being called either, although 'cute' was worse, because she got that way more often.

Yue did appreciate the change in subject matter. "Pretty much all track and field events in general, although sprints are my specialty," she replied, tilting her head back to stare at the sky. "A bit of martial arts on the side too. I'm not really a team sports sort of person... I tend to get too competitive with my own teammates," she added with a small smirk. There was a pause, and then she added quietly,"I dance sometimes too, but no one should know that." She glanced over at Kelly and her smirk widened into a playful smile. "So don't tell anyone."

[Kelly Thompson]

"Yup, the big space above the US that everyone forgets about." He answered jokingly with a nod. It used to bother him that some kids forgot about Canada or asked what state it was in, but after a while it sank in and became easy to joke about.

He listened to Yue's talk about being from China. She may have lived in California mostly, but Kelly was still interested. He wondered why someone would want to move to America. Sure there were some great cities to see (which Kelly still has yet to go to), but he didn't find too many reasons to settle there. He didn't find much reason to stay in Montréal either. He figured it was just a matter of opinions, and decided not to keep lingering on the idea.

"Having no one to truly despise is a good thing. At least you know how to handle on if they come along." Having caterpillars crawling around did seem something Kelly didn't want to experience. A couple he could handle, a bunch? No thanks. "I'll be sure not to irk you then." He chuckled quietly.

'Pretty'

That was not a word used for Kelly everyday. It was feminine word used to describe females, their attire, pictures, and so forth. It was the kind of word that'd be used to humiliate a jock or real tough guy. Something about it was just not wanted for males in general. Kelly would've expected to feel a rock drop in his stomach. Instead, it kind of just settled on his brain like oil on water. It didn't interact with him. It didn't really bother him. He would've preferred a different word, but he didn't mind it.

"It's alright. Describe it how you want." He shrugged it off. Better to just move on than linger over little things. After all, Yue started explaining the sports she did. Running and martial arts. She got around. "Since you're competitive, how about some one on one soccer sometime? I like to just play for fun, and it'd be nice to have a challenge." Most of the kids he played with also played for fun, so they saw no reason in trying. Winning most of the time got old, and Kelly was ready to give it his all.

A chuckle came out at the 'don't tell.' "If I tell, may I wake up covered in caterpillars."