Shaking My Steps Again (Oriel)

[Calliope Gallo]

There was nothing as good as hitting the auditorium a little earlier than practice dictated. It gave Calliope something definite to focus on. Given the state of her life lately, she was incredibly grateful for a distraction to distract her from the distracting people in her life.

But as she pushed past the doors, she quickly realised she wasn't alone. A familiar enough boy had beaten her to the stage. For a brief moment she stopped in her paces, watching him from the distance provided by the aisles and the chairs. She idly tugged at the strap of her gym bag, denoting that this would be okay. It should be okay. Just because it seemed like he didn't like her, didn't necessarily mean he didn't. Did it?

She hoped not.

Starting again, Callie quickly made her way down the aisle towards the stage. "Hey, Oriel." She greeted, raising a hand in an involuntary wave, even if he didn't actually look at her. At least she'd made a point to remember his name.

[Deleted]

Why was it that whenever things started looking up, whenever Oriel's life seemed to be becoming somewhat stable enough for him to feel like a normal human being, something happened to throw all that to shit? And it always left him with a heavy heart. Agitation that made him liable to lash out at the next person he saw. The appearance of Gryphon had been one of these things, Phoenix and his recent panic that had nearly sent him back three whole months clean, the attack on his friend Georgina all among other things.

It was fortunate that he was coming back to the dance team this month. After his fights, he'd been suspended from school activities and given a lifetime's worth of detention which he was still sentenced to at the moment. Now that he was back, he at least had an extra outlet for his accumulating stress.

As usual, Oriel showed up early, before many of the other members did. He'd gotten used to ignoring most of them and keeping to himself during practice. He was there for exercise and learning stuff, not socializing. So it was pretty common that Oriel would also have a scowl(that faded into something more relaxed and focused once they got started) all throughout. And today was no different.

He didn't notice the arrival of his blonde teammate. He was busy warming up. It was when she spoke up, saying his name rather meekly, that he stopped and turned his head to her, scowl still in place. Oriel faced forward, away from her and turned his gaze down. "Hey....Callie, right?" He wouldn't forget her name, but was off enough today to not want to try and come up with the characteristic insulting quip that he greeted most people with. "...You're early," he commented, crossing the stage to grab his water bottle from atop a chair.

[Calliope Gallo]

At first, Callie replied with a small nod. As far as most people knew, that was her name. She resisted the urge to hesitate as she walked down closer to the stage. Something about him had always been off-putting, like she'd done something to upset him without even knowing it. The half-Greek dancer dropped her bag towards the edge of the stage, glancing down at it for the moment before looking back at him.

"Yeah... I don't really know why, to be honest." Callie replied, glancing around and offering a little shrug. She suddenly felt a touch lethargic, which was bizarre for her. "I don't need to stretch, so." It felt stupid to be there.

[Deleted]

Well wasn't this awkward? At least Oriel thought so. He felt like he should say something but the only things he could think of were his usual unfriendly snark. And he just didn't feel like keeping that up today. The presence of the girl was doing nothing for him either, she never had. Wasn't her fault, he admitted though. She was just a very bad reminder of a very bad day.

Oriel sucked the spout of his water bottle, taking in about half of it before releasing with a refreshing gasp. "....why?" he asked curiously, though his face reflected anything but. "Already done it?"

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie felt the awkward. Oh, it was impossible not to. It made the blonde so, so so uncomfortable. She wouldn't think of anything worse. She wished she wore a watch or something; something to look at and keep track of time so she could figure out how long she was going to be stuck in this conversation.

Not that she had anything against him. He had something against her, it seemed. And that just made her sad. If she knew what it was, she'd likely end up apologising for it. Even if it made no sense.

Calliope shook her head, rolling her shoulders back idly. "It's the uhh, ability thing." She replied, glancing down at her arms. She watched them as they moved, seeming to dislocate without a sound and retract again. "I'm like, constantly ready to move. If I stretch too much, it really starts to hurt." She went so far as to run her fingers across an elbow. Lately the pain was just unbearable.

"I can come back on time, if you want." She started again, genuinely. She was always genuine. "I get the sense that I really bug you, so... If you want. I can go."

[Deleted]

Oriel growled internally. He recognized the body language and behavior of a person who didn't want to be there. Who couldn't stand to be around him specifically. He'd seen it enough times before to know when he was bothering someone just by standing around and existing. Or maybe his eyes were just tricking him into seeing something that wasn't there or had nothing to do with him?

He watched, water bottle in one hand with the other resting off the back of his hip, as her arms molded about like they had a mind of their own. Fucking weird, he almost said.

And of course, his first thought was how good that made her in bed. Which was purged immediately, it didn't matter. Oriel would never bed this one...well, maybe once.

Oriel was in the middle of a sigh when she made the offer. He stared at her, for once, without a glare. It was more a look of disbelief, unsure of what to make of her offer. "You..." he started hesitantly, looking down to the floor of the stage. "You don't have to. Ain't that big a deal." Oriel looked back up, meeting their eyes with a corner of his lips strained into what was attempting to be a smile. "Everybody bugs me," he admitted with a shrug.

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie was used to the standard look by now. Her powers were weird, but they were also useful. And he wouldn't be the first to think about sex when he'd seen them. She tried her absolute best not to really cringe at the fact. It was weird, but it didn't make her weird. She hoped.

She caught his look of disbelief and glanced back at him, a little unsure of herself. Like she had been when she first got here. She even went so far as to take a few small steps back, towards where she'd left her belongings. But before she could curl her hand around the strap of her bag, he was speaking again. She looked towards him, straightening herself out.

Was that a smile?

The concept alone brought one out of her.

"Sorry, I just thought-" Callie started, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip as she glanced away idly. She wasn't even sure what she was trying to say any more. "I kinda figured you hated me for something. It happens sometimes." She didn't really understand how, but that didn't change the fact. He wouldn't be the first to be annoyed by her.

[Deleted]

Oriel really didn't want to have to make others leave just because he was there. It was one thing if he was deliberately trying to push them away, but these two had barely spoken to each other at all. In fact, he'd been holding back on saying a lot of things that would normally have made a person either quip back or leave in a huff. Right now, he was just…standing there with his silent bitch face on.

"It ain't you," he admitted, shaking his head and releasing a short burst of air through his nose. Should he just be honest with her? Would she even believe him? "I just…got problems, and…" Oriel really didn't know what he was trying to say or how he was supposed to say it. This was dumb, he usually was never tripped up so much.

He set his water down on the chair next to him, keeping his head down. "It was…just a really bad night, you know…that night, so…" Did she even realize what he was talking about? Oriel brought his eyes up to look at her. "You never should've had to see any of that shit that went down," he finally got out. His lips turned into a small smile before it vanished again. "I'm sorry you did."

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie watched him with curiosity when he said it wasn't her. Most of the time it was; people didn't like her demeanour. While she understood it, and she did try to tone it down around some, she couldn't do much else about it. As much as she wished she could, it was impossible.

The half-Greek moved forward slightly, not too close, but she opted to sit down on the stage with her legs crossed while he tried to find what he wanted to say.

She thought back to the night he was talking about - though truthfully, she hadn't given it much thought. She remembered scolding Chester for feeling the need to bring a bat into the situation, but that was really it. So she took the time to relive the memory in question. "I didn't really understand it." Callie admitted. Of course, that was probably obvious to him. She hadn't really belonged in that room. "But it's not like it made me think less of you. How could it? It'd be unfair to judge you in a situation like that."

[Deleted]

Truthfully, Oriel didn't know much about Callie. The only thing he really knew was that she carried herself well like someone high-class, liked to dance, and was close to one of his good friends. She fit the role of a Princess more than any other girl he'd come across. That…didn't necessarily make him hate her, but it did make him more aware of himself as a street-rat orphan. Which normally turned into misplaced anger at some people.

Ok, a lot of people.

Oriel managed a chuckle. "I don't think I did either." It was weird for him to talk about it. To him, all these months later, it was still raw on his mind. The cascade that came after was agonizing. But, apparently, he'd assumed that if it was terrible for him, then it must have been for everyone else present.

He hadn't been expecting her kind words and he wondered if Callie even realized the impact they had. It had been coming slow, but that smile finally manage to break out on his cheeks. "Thank you," he breathed. It was nice to not be judged by someone who didn't know him. Oriel turned away for a second and took a slow breath, then circled back to face her, crossing forward on the stage and taking a seat beside her. "So, uh…" What to talk about? "What's the story between you and that guy, what his face?" What was it again? "Ro-han? He your brother or something?"

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie had always been acutely aware of how she looked to other people. She came from a wealthy business family. She knew the Douglas' and the Chevalier's years before they all happened to be metas and that much was obvious when they all interacted. She knew how the boys held themselves around other people; you could just tell they had it all. She tried her best not to. She wanted to be normal. She rarely told people about her parents and her father's financial stance in the world. It effected too many things in a negative way.

Others mightn't have seen it that way, but she believed it wholeheartedly.

The corners of her mouth tugged into a smile at his chuckle. She thought it sounded cute, but she'd never say it out loud.

She thought it was cuter when he legitimately smiled, and the thanks he offered made hers grow even wider. "Not a problem. You're welcome." Callie turned her attention outward to the empty aisles and seats when he looked away, oddly content with the silence for however long it lasted. When she looked back, he was coming to sit with her. She had to stop smiling at him, right? It was probably wierd.

"Who, Rowan?" Calliope asked, thinking back. That's right, they'd... Met. "Oh no, he's just my friend. Super protective type." She explained, shrugging her shoulders. Rowan's protective nature was pretty obvious. "I do have brothers, though. Two. Older. I guess he kinda is like them."

[Deleted]

Oriel's interactions with those from privileged backgrounds always left him feeling disgruntled. There was envy, that was a large part of it, but it was also coupled with the feeling that he was just so far down from that pinnacle that he hadn't even the hope of ever being viewed as an equal. As just another human being. Hell, he wasn't even worthy of being looked down on, that's how far out of range he was. And that left Oriel feeling…invalidated. Like less of a person.

It was why he had a habit of meeting such people with animosity. Though…Oriel at least had the pleasure to know that that wasn't always true.

Already Oriel was feeling lighter in the presence of this fair-headed dame. Knowing that that one meeting all those months back hadn't destroyed Callie's impression of him was a relief. He couldn't say why, they weren't close and he'd had no measure of affection towards her, not at the time and not since. But at least it was nice to have one more person he didn't have to be anxious around for fear of how they viewed him.

Oriel circled his eyes up to the ceiling. "Riiight, that tall glass 'o water was Ro-wan." So he wasn't a brother, wasn't a boyfriend, but just a good friend who watched over her. Oriel could understand that sentiment. "Yeah? They, uh…they go here or you keep 'em in a castle far away somewhere?"

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie ran her fingers through her blonde hair, drawing it to one side idly. She made the motion to start to tie it up – keep it out of her face, unable to annoy her when things got a little more hectic. Busy. She nodded along to the sentiment about Rowan, breathing a little laugh at the fact. “He’s pretty beautiful,” She replied, “But he knows it.” And that was likely the closest she’d ever get to saying something mean.

In that sense, it was a little pathetic. But she’d never fault the guy for taking such pride in his appearance.

She instinctively smiled towards him when he mentioned a castle. Why, she wasn’t sure. But it dragged a light expression from her eyes. “They did, but they graduated ages ago. They’re both a fair few years older than me. But they still live around Pilot Ridge.” They couldn’t leave, she figured. Not until she did.

“What about you? Do you have brothers or sisters or something?”

[Deleted]

He actually laughed at that one, though he wasn't sure which was more amusing. The fact that her protector was as vain as he was beautiful, or the fact that this girl said it in a way that made it sound nice! "Hey!" he protested, reaching up and untying his own wavy hair, shaking his head about so that it laid luxuriously about his shoulders and over half his face as if he were a glamour model. "Ain't nothing wrong with being vain."

He puckered out his lips playfully, arching his shoulder forward to look over. "'Hello, gorgeous.'" He even did it in the Streisand voice.

Oriel nodded. So they were still around for her, he assumed. "They didn't leave you behind. That's…that's good." They didn't abandon her, is how he saw it.

The question was unexpected, though it was very likely one considering the current topic. Oriel blinked a couple times, his smile having faded into a look of uncertainty. "….yeah," he said finally with a shallow nod. "I got a sister….a twin." Oriel didn't know why he admitted that so easily. He never talked about her.

[Calliope Gallo]

The blonde genuinely laughed as he literally whipped his hair out and showed it off. Who could deny glorious hair like that? "If you got it, I'm not gonna be mad if you flaunt it." She replied in time.

Callie smiled lightly at the thought. She doubted her brothers would ever leave her behind. As much as it was a blessing, it was also a curse. "It's great. But y'know, I mean one of them's a teleporter and he just... Always appears. Sometimes I kinda wish he couldn't." She ran her hand across the back of her neck idly. It felt weird to complain about having Eric as such an integral part of her life. It was barely complaining. But it was still annoying.

"Do you see her much?" Callie asked, relatively oblivious to the ill feelings he might have been carrying. The most she offered was an involentary look of concern.