Fumbling (Ella)

[Oliver Seabrooke]

Oliver stifled a yawn as he blearily made his way down the stairs, keeping one hand against the wall and walking slowly so he didn't trip between the dark and his limited vision. He had gotten called up to investigate some unusual noises in one of the student's rooms - at one o'clock in the morning, no less - and was in a very grumpy mood at having been woken up for what had turned out to be nothing more than a student's pet hamster escaping its cage and going into another room. At least it hadn't been anything worse.

He fumbled his way through the dark common room towards his own dorm, blindly making his way as he attempted not to bump into anything. Ollie managed to stub his toe against a table and hit a couch on his way through, though, and by the time he reached what he thought was his door (he was terrible at telling directions even in good lighting and fully awake), he was in an even more frustrated, bitter state. So when he turned the knob and found it to be locked, he let out a frustrated huff and hit his fist against the door, not realizing that he had the wrong room - he was trying to get into Ella's dorm, which was close to his own.

He rested his forehead against the door, wrangling his hand through his pockets hoping that he had brought his key with him.

[Ella Robbinson]

Every so often, Ella had to drag herself up and walk the halls. Just to be sure nothing was going on, and that she didn't hear anything out of the ordinary. Last time she'd had to do that, she'd been scared to the point of a nosebleed in front of an attractive co-worker. To say it'd been embarrassing was likely the understatement of the still very new century. After an uneventful walk, Ella had returned to her dorm and practically fell into her bed. Sleep. It was so necessary, and without realising it she was clinging to her pillow like crazy and curling it under her head.

But there was someone wandering around, and she could hear it.

And they'd... Stopped at her door!

She flew up out of bed and stared at it briefly. No one was going to break into a dorm monitors room, right? She couldn't be sure of that! Some of these kids were crazy for pranks, and she really didn't want to be another victim of that. For a second, Ella wished she had a bat. Or something else threatening. And then she remembered - she was threatening! Well, not her. But her powers were.

As Ella pressed her forehead against the door, she could feel the flow of blood from someone right up against it. So she pressed her hand to the door, using her abilities to significantly slow the circulation, making moving quite difficult. "I think you have the wrong door." She said, wavering as if she were unsure of herself.

Truth be told, she totally was.

[Oliver Seabrooke]

Where were they? Oliver couldn't seem to find his damn keys, and he was getting more frustrated until he paused as he heard shuffling from inside the room. What the... Was someone in there? Had they locked him out? "Fucking..." he hissed, rattling on the doorknob again uselessly. "If yo-"

Before he could get out anymore, he felt his body suddenly get very sluggish and stiff, and the shock made him pause, until a feminine voice that he recognized spoke out. "Ella?" he mumbled, trying to process what had happened.

Oh, bollocks.

"Oh, sh... I'm so sorry, I thought I was at my room," he mumbled. "It's just me, Ollie. I... I don't get around very well in the dark." He still was a little freaked out at what had happened to his body, though. "Um, if you could uh... I don't know what you're doing, but it's quite uncomfortable, so I'd appreciate it if you stopped." His cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, and he cursed himself over and over for being such a failure at life.

[Ella Robbinson]

Ella quelled her racing heart as best she could with her own ability, but she was definitely feeling something. Like she was wedged somewhere between annoyance, frustration and terror. She just didn't like the thought of someone breaking into her room! Where the hell was security! Jesus, did they suck at their jobs or what.

But then she heard a voice. A familiar voice that knew her name. And she froze. "Jesus, Ollie!" She quietly shrieked, her voice breaking as she instinctively let her hold over him go. Her hands fumbled for her own keys before she opened the door to look at him.

"Ollie! Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Haha, that rhymed.

But this was no time for jokes!

"I'm sorry," She repeated quickly, "I thought you were a-a, I don't know, I thought you were a kid trying to prank me or something! Are you okay? Do you feel okay? Can you move? Can you breathe okay?"

[Oliver Seabrooke]

Oliver let out a breathless chuckle as he heard Ella say his name. Suddenly the strange sensation gripping his body disappeared, and he was able to move again, pressing a hand against his chest as he felt his heart pick up in tempo. "Thanks," he replied in a small croak, hoping he never had to experience that uncomfortable sensation again.

He heard her fumbling with the door, and stepped back as she opened it, looking panicked. "It's okay, it's okay," the Brit reassured her, holding up his hands calmly, apart from the fact they were shaking slightly. "I didn't mean to startle you..." He still felt like an idiot for getting the wrong freaking door!

"It's fine, really, I understand," Ollie told her, instinctively placing a soft hand on her shoulder. "You never know what these kids might do." At her questions, he moved his joints around, making sure everything felt normal and working again (other than the obvious blind eye), and nodded slowly. "I... I think I'm fine." His heart was still racing a bit, but that would pass.

"That's, uh.... That's quite a thing that you can do to people," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "You could literally make someone's heart skip," he added on as an attempt at a joke, hoping she wouldn't take it badly.

[Ella Robbinson]

Yeah, okay. He said he was okay. Ella still felt like an absolute idiot for doing that to him in the first place. She really should have checked first. Maybe she should look into a peep hole or something. Ah, now wasn't the time to really think it over. "No no, you didn't startle me." She lied - not very well, at that. She just didn't want him to feel bad.

He didn't answer all her questions, but that was fine too. She shouldn't have shot so many at him so quickly. "Sorry, it's just..." She drawled, looking to the ground briefly before shrugging, "I never know what I can do, I guess." The doubt-plagued hemokinetic offered the admission before looking back up and trying to smile. What an idiot!

Her eyes widened a little. "Did I make your heart skip a beat?" She asked seriously, "Sometimes that happened and people think it's a heart attack. I mean, it must feel like one. I'm sorry, Ollie." Ella apologised again, "Do you need help finding your own door, or something?"

[Oliver Seabrooke]

"Oh, um, okay. Good," Oliver mumbled, though he wasn't sure whether Ella was telling the truth or not. He would have liked to think he hadn't scared her, though, so he didn't question it.

"Don't worry, Ella, really. It's my own fault for being an idiot and getting lost." He shook his head sadly, before looking back up with a faint smile. "I bet. I can't imagine what it must be like, having a power such as yours." He didn't envy her in the least. "

"Oh, no, I didn't mean-!" he stammered, waving his hands in front of him. "I was trying to make a lame joke, I'm sorry." Oh, he was being all sorts of awkward tonight. "I'm sure it'd be a tad frightening, though," he added meekly. At the offer for help, his first reaction was to bristle up and assure her that he was fine, and could get there on his own. He was a very proud person, and was struggling with all of this half-blind nonsense. But he knew this was Ella, and she only wanted to help. "I, um... I think I can get there on my own..." He sighed. "I doubt I'll be able to get any sleep tonight now, though. Too much excitement for one evening." He didn't even know what time it was now.

[Ella Robbinson]

Oh, when Ollie apologised for his joke Ella felt even more like an idiot. Maybe she was just way too tired; that's why she was missing all the things she was saying and, well, accidentally trying to kill him. Together, their awkwardness was clearly multiplying way too intensely.

"Well..." Her voice dragged out. She could take the hint that he didn't want her help, but at the same time, it was difficult to handle. She felt like she owed him for doing what she did. Her fingers curled together behind her back, "Maybe I'll walk with you anyway, okay? I mean, it's not far, so..."

But now she was curious, and if it weren't so dark in the hallway that'd be evident in her eyes; "What do you do when you can't sleep?"

[Oliver Seabrooke]

Oliver was also embarrassed about how awkward this was turning out to be. He mostly blamed himself, of course, for being to moron to go to Ella's door rather than his own. But he did like Ella, especially because she and Zeb were probably the two people keeping him sane here when Zach wasn't around visiting, and when he wasn't bothering Wynn with technical problems.

He bit his lip as she seemed hesitant to let him go alone; while he wanted to keep his pride and do it himself, her words melted his somewhat cold heart just a little. "That... That would be nice," he finally murmured, glancing up at her with a forced small smile. He turned to start walking, making sure he was going in the right direction from her room to his.

At her question, he shrugged a bit. "Pace around a lot, usually. Or try to find some new music, or read." He might go with one of the latter two tonight; he had enough wandering as it was. "What about you?" He paused, then sighed again. "I really am sorry I woke you up. I know it's hard to get sleep with this job as it is."

[Ella Robbinson]

Ella was glad he finally conceded to letting her walk with him. She thought that given the dark lighting, he might have been struggling to see things properly. But that hardly felt like something she should bring up now, so instead she nodded quietly and took to his side, walking with him towards his door.

"I usually get up and walk the halls to make sure everything's okay. Sometimes I wonder if I can't sleep because of intuition, or something." She replied, knowing that could have sounded a little strange. A sense or normality had never been her strong suit. "I read, too. Though I usually go to the library in town to get books. It feels weird borrowing things from the one here at the school."

At his apology, she shook her head slightly. "It's fine, really." She repeated, finding no hard feelings in the matter. "But I accept your apology, okay? So long as you accept mine for, well..." Her voice trailed away, a frown appearing at her lips. "Y'know."

[Oliver Seabrooke]

Getting around the dark room was still harder than he had realized, and though he wouldn't admit it, Ollie was grudgingly glad that she had asked to come along. He couldn't tell if he was about to bump into anything unless it got close, so he had to shuffle slowly, feeling his cheeks burn with embarrassment at his slow pace.

He glanced over in Ella's direction as she spoke, nodding at her answer. "I get paranoid that something's happening when I'm not constantly watching them," he replied, rubbing at his bleary eyes. "If you ever want to borrow some of my books, I have a pretty big collection," he added, though he had to bite back adding that she probably wouldn't know any of the books he had. He liked to collect strange, rare, or banned books as much as he could.

She assured him it was fine, but he still felt awkward about the whole situation. Nevertheless, he nodded again. "Of course I do. That was totally understandable, having someone rustling at your d-"

He was paying too much attention to looking in her direction and not where he was going (Ollie really should know better), and somehow managed to catch his foot on the corner of a couch. Before he knew what was happening he was tumbling down onto it, catching Ella on the way. They ended up awkwardly tangled together on the piece of furniture as Oliver stammered out apology after apology, feeling like he could die from embarrassment.

[Ella Robbinson]

Ella nodded along to what he said, regardless of the fact that he wasn't even looking at her. The hint of a smile played onto her face when he said she could borrow some of his books; "Thanks. I'd really like that. I bet you have good recommendations." Better than the suggestions she was offered from the librarian who thought she was an idiot. An illiterate one at that.

Ella was listening as attentively as she possibly could be given the situation, but she didn't have time to react when he stopped suddenly. Suddenly he was sideways. Wait, suddenly she was sideways.

No, they both were!

Suddenly she was practically all over him, arms and legs feeling lost in a sea of awkward shifts in position. It seemed that no matter how hard she tried to move, she really couldn't. Who was on top of who anyway!? "Ollie-" She squeaked, her teeth sinking into her lip, "You're uhh, sort of crushing my lungs." Yes, she stared up at him. It seems her shifting had caused a change in who was on top.

[Sawyer Lynn]

It had been a crappy day of cryokinetics and getting caught in spider shapeshifter webs. All Sawyer wanted to do was curl up under mountains of blankets in front of the TV and go through mind numbing TV shows so telepaths wouldn't pick up on her thoughts about what happened above the auditorium a few days ago. Especially that pesky redheaded son of a bitch.

So off she went with her sweater under a coat and a blanket tucked under her arm to the common room on the first floor. It wasn't time for anybody to be around so she thought she would be alone.

That was until she heard hushed whispers coming from the couch.

"Okay, whoever's on the c-holy shit." Sawyer rasped as her hand slipped into her jeans pocket to take her phone out. The mess of limbs that were the dorm monitors were forever captured by her sorta grainy camera phone. "Wow. I mean...in public. Wow." The voice mimic's grin widened as she pocketed her phone.

"So that would be up on the school web board in like...under an hour unless, and this is just a mild suggestion...I suggest you pay me handsomely to keep me quiet. Because...dorm monitors going at each other like this? It's gold."

[Oliver Seabrooke]

"I'd like to think I do," Oliver replied with a small, sleepy smile, glad that Ella at least seemed interested in his literature. His books definitely weren't for the illiterate - they even confused him sometimes.

But then it was all a mess of legs and arms and Ella's hair, and Oliver felt like his face was burning with embarrassment and guilt for causing yet another awkward situation. "Shit, I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going, you know, like I should be..." It he had two eyes, surely he would have seen the obstacle. But he was a fucking klutz and had ended up making this happen.

"Just, let me..." he mumbled, trying to squirm out of the awkward mess of limbs (which was more difficult than it would seem) without hurting her any more. "Fuck, I'm so sorry. Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

Out of context, it probably sounded as bad as it looked. Which was what Sawyer would have overheard as she caught sight of the scene. Oliver's face jolted up as he heard a voice, and he heard the click of a phone camera as she spoke again.

Oh, God, no.

"The fuck- Delete that!" he hissed, finally managing to carefully extract himself from the mess, taking care to make sure Ella was on her feet before storming over to the student. "This is not what it looks like," the Brit snapped, eyeing the camera as it slipped back into her pocket.

"Sawyer, right? I'll pay you alright. By not giving you detention every day until you graduate." Sure, this probably could have been settled more carefully, but he was tired and pissed and horrified that this might end up spreading through the dorms. The idea that the students would think he and Ella were... Doing things... Was so out of character for both of them that he might have laughed had the situation not been so potentially harmful. "I'll say it again. Delete that, now."

[Ella Robbinson]

"It was probably my fault too, y'know." Fumbles like this didn't just happen. "I'm okay, I just-" She felt herself get winded again. Was that an elbow to the stomach? She couldn't even tell.

Okay, Ella never liked to admit it, but she seemed to have a penchant for bad luck.

Never mind that she was stuck in the position she was in, someone just had to come along. And it couldn't be a fellow co-worker who they could explain themselves to, it had to be a student.

And it couldn't just be a student, he had to be a student like Sawyer Lynn.

Ella instinctively pressed her hands as best she could to his chest and forced him free, giving him the opportunity to detangle and launch up. She took his help to get onto her feet, and her hand was flying through her curls in an instant. Which probably made things look worse. "Sawyer-" Ella started, cringing at the harsh way Ollie was handling things. Okay, but he did have a point. And a right to be mad. "Nothing was going on. I would never do that with Ollie!" She practically shrieked.

And wow, that was a bad thing to say. She glanced at him quickly; "No offense or anything. I mean, we're friends!"