Lunch Time! (OPEN)

[Kai-Belle Hong]

Lunch time.

Worst part of the day.

This and school assemblies were the hardest times of the day for her.  She tried with every effort to stay away from pep rallys.  All the happy cheering people, it got overwhelming really fast.  Lunch was similar but a whole different beast.  The people came.  Some were happy this was the one place where they didn't have to dive through school books for a little while.  Others were cramming the next tests' info into their heads before the next period when the test was.  Some practiced their powers (sometimes on others) and while the teachers stopped most of it, it still happened.

Then you had the cliques, the haves and the have nots. 

It got old, and the mental weight was very heavy.  Kai-Belle stepped into the room, and took a moment to reinforce her mental walls.  Things would still seep in.  When it was this much room, this much emotion, it was far too hard to keep all of it out for any kind of period.  The lunch room was loud enough with chatter, thank goodness she didn't have supersonic hearing or anything, she'd need those noise canceling headphones all the time.

As a matter of fact, they could make those for the brain, that would be.. awesome.

Wearing a pair of skinny jeans, silver ballet flats, and a billowy teal blouse, Kai opened her eyes and took a deep breath.  She entered the line and tried not to touch anyone.  She kept her eyes down.  It meant most people wouldn't talk to her.  She had learned a lot since her power had manifested just under four years ago. She had learned how to semi-control her powers, but she had also learned how to keep people from interacting with her. At least for the most part. She chewed on her thumb nail. As the line moved forward.

She was just ready to go .. sit somewhere, swallow her food and maybe she could go lose herself in the quietness of the library for a while.  That sounded good.  Quiet.  She missed quiet.

[Deleted]

How did Oriel keep ending up here? Well, an empty pantry was the usual culprit, and while he had received his monthly stipend from the state, Oriel was actively trying to save his money for a special occasion. Which meant cutting back on a lot of things. Like cooking at home and actually using the free meal tickets provided by the school. At least the food didn't suck, he just avoided the lunchroom like the plague because he despised the crowds. Too many strangers crossing into his personal bubble equaled a grumpy Oriel.

He'd gotten through the line fast and found the most unoccupied table he could find…which, as usual, quickly became a more unoccupied table as apparently there were still a few rumors running about that were disturbing enough to effectively clear a room when he walked in.

Oriel decided to ignore them and concentrate on his meal. If he paid too much attention to the ignorant masses, he'd just drive himself into a rampage again, reinforcing their theories about the anger management boy. He dug a plastic fork into his meatloaf and potatoes and stuffed it in his mouth. He flicked his eyes up to scan the room, barely taking note of a semi-familiar face trying to be invisible as she cattled her way through the slow moving line. Some girl from the dance team, right? She looked like she was ready to implode. And Oriel wondered just how long that might take.

[Kai-Belle Hong]

Okay.. okay breathe...

Kai tried counting to ten. All that did was go super fast and not do anything to calm her nerves in the least. Then she tried thinking about what else she could do. Maybe she could just start skipping lunch as a whole. She didn't really need to eat anything more than an apple. She had to keep her figure and besides that, she could eat a good snack after dance in the afternoon and...

...speaking of dance.

Isn't that the guy from the club? she thought to herself.

The hair was a dead give away, as was the way that most people tried to avoid him it seemed. She wasn't sure what his problem was. What he had done to get people to be so upset or at the very least wary of them. Kai didn't make a habit out of knowing other people's businesses. Still, at least he was someone that knew her, sort of. And at least she would be able to go and sit and.. maybe they could just have that whole awkward silence thing going for them.

Slowly she wound her way through the people and towards the boy, who's name she had no idea, and then stood in front of his table as he mashed more meatloaf into his jaw. She wondered briefly, if he was going for world record or something.

"Hey.. uhh.. do you mind if I sit with you?" she asked him curiously. Most of the other tables were filled with girls and guys talking and laughing and being friends and cliquey. She fit in none of those places so maybe sitting with the outcasts wasn't a bad place to start. "I think I remember you from.. dance right?"

[Deleted]

Oriel made it a point to not talk to the other members on the dance team. As it stood, there were still only four people he knew as more than just a person he shared hobby with and only two of them he was on friendly-ish speaking terms. And if he wasn't speaking to them...well, then he had no reason to care about anything else they did. Otherwise he just labeled them as they came and went as people he would or would not fuck. Unfortunately, there were few dancers, especially female dancers, who weren't obsessed with being skeleton skinny for the sake of the art. And there was only one guy on the team that he deemed attractive, and his personality was too annoying to be bothered with. So...Oriel just kept mostly to himself, sharing a few words with the few he was speaking to, and maybe staying after to chat up the instructor a bit.

The girl who he was eying as someone recognizable from the club no exception and Oriel had long ago deemed her as a big fat "maybe". She had a cute face, was adorably shy, and quite skilled from what he'd seen. But he was still adverse to how incredibly tiny she was and couldn't decide if that was favorable or not.

Of course, this was all just conjecture. Oriel wasn't about to act on any of these idea, it was mostly just something to do while he was not talking to people.

He looked up and....there she was. Clearly making eye contact with the girl was enough to give her the idea that she was invited to sit with him. Though he supposed he didn't mind. Oriel shook his head and gestured to the area in front of him, giving her permission to take the seat if she so pleased. "Yeah..." he said once the bolus of meat in his mouth had been properly masticated and swallowed.

While they could probably both be content with ignoring each other from then on and going their separate ways once their meals had been completed.....well, Oriel wasn't one for silence. And couldn't pass up the opportunity to talk to someone who had just been delivered to him so nicely and prettily packaged. While he didn't do well socially in large groups, Oriel was more than capable of one-on-one conversation....though arguably in the past it had been more like one-sided pestering than a two-way dialogue. But he was working on trying to keep his habitual offensive greetings on the more friendly side. If that were possible.

"So....you're Asian...." Great job, Oriel. That was the way to make friends!

[Kai-Belle Hong]

Kai-belle waited as he chewed the mouthful of meat. She was glad she had not picked the meatloaf today. She wasn't much for breakfast, so lunch was usually the meal of the day where she splurged a little bit and then her dinner was smaller. So she actually had a salad, with some chicken, but that was on the side of the fact that she had a piece of pizza on her plate as well. Pizza was the best part of life.

When he finally gave her the goahead she sat down in the seat across from him and put her tray down. She popped open the diet coke and took a sip. Her eyes lifted to the dancer across the table from her and listened to his little comment. A bit of a smirk appeared on her lips.

"You're.. subtle." she shot back in the same tone he had used.

Kai could actually be fun if she was allowed to open up. The problem was that she was almost never allowing herself to do that. She tried to keep herself as closed off as possible when she came across people. But, she really needed to branch out. A friend or two wouldn't be bad. She was just tired of reading people's true intent. Being an empath, meant you got more information than just what you could see with your eyes. It was far deeper than that.

She was afraid to find out that he wasn't big on actually getting to know her.  But, then again, she wanted to just find someone she could hang out with occasionally.  Maybe more than that.  But hey, she had to start somewhere. 

"I'm Kai, and yeah.. I'm Chinese. But I grew up here." she said, it was her Grandparents that had come over from China but she doubted he really cared about the whole damn story. "What about you?"

[Deleted]

Oriel expelled an amused breath, pleased with how she took the comment and tossed it right back at him without much effort. This girl was alright. "Subtle. Ain't never heard that word." He offered a slight grin through his meat stuffed cheeks.

And like a boss, the girl went ahead and introduced herself, taking the comment that most would have scolded him for and left in huff over it's obscenity, and instead using it as the spring-board it was meant to be and engaged with him. "Kai…that short for something?" Could never tell with these chinks sometimes. Though contrary to her assumption, Oriel probably wouldn't have minded to hear about the history of her grandparents. It was at least something to listen to while he consumed his loaf.

Her question surprised him though. Normally, people didn't inquire about his own origins and he found…he didn't really have an answer. Well, for the orphan that might have been expected, but it just…so rarely came up. Oriel shrugged. "Fuck if I know. Don't got a family." And the bitch who didn't call herself his mother sealed the records of his birth so he couldn't even track her down. He thought for a moment, tapping his fork down on his plate. "….some've said hispanic or Indian. I don't really know." Shit, that was probably going to bring down the mood of the conversation. That's why he didn't talk about this shit.

[Kai-Belle Hong]

Kai grinned. She couldn't help it. Afterall, she really enjoyed someone that could shoot with sarcasm. Kai was starting to relax a little bit. She had her mental block up so that she didn't have to figure out what he was feeling. She didn't like 'raping' feelings out of other people. She could do it, and sometimes it was totally involuntary but that didn't mean she didn't know it was an invasion of privacy. Everyone had the right to keep their emotions to themselves. She certainly liked having her own to herself.

He asked her about her name and she nodded. "It's actually short for Kai-Belle. But it's easier just to go with Kai for ease."

Not that she actually talked to people or made friends. It wasn't like she gave her name out normally. But, then again it wasn't that big of a deal she answered to the both. She hoped that she could make one friend. Not only because it would get her parents off her back but also because she could really use a friend. Someone to talk to. It was hard to trust when you could see people's true intentions in their emotions. Now that she felt like she had a bit of control on it she hoped that wouldn't be an issue too often.

He said he didn't know about his heritage, and her brow rose but he explained he didn't have a family either. So either he was an orphan or he had disowned or been disowned by his family. She could kind of understand now why he was a loner. She had a lot of family and she was a loner out of choice.

"Ah well, it isn't that important I suppose. Though I kind of feel like it's Indian.. but then I don't know." she shrugged as she took a bite of her beloved pizza and swallowed quickly. Pizza seriously was the best thing in life ever.

"I recognize you from the dance club ..thanks for letting me hang out. I hate lunch time. All the .. cliques and people with their .. easy powers and friend making." she waved at the others with a flick of her hand and went back to eating pizza hoping he wasn't offended but .. she was who she was.

"What else do you do.. I mean.. aside from dancing and having a bad rep?"

[Deleted]

Had Oriel known this little girl was an empath, he likely would have become visibly uncomfortable. Normally Oriel had no problem with psychic powers(unlike some of his friends), he felt they allowed their user to understand him a little better so that he didn't have to struggle to find the words to say certain things or feelings. But empathy? It was just one that he hadn't really come across before. But even if his exterior showed something completely different(which it often did, especially when he was feeling like shit), Oriel's emotions had a tendency to run high, strong, and fluctuate dramatically over the course of a few minutes. It was something he was working on but…well as Dr. Neville said, it wasn't going to happen overnight.

Oriel blinked up at sound of her full name. "Kai-Belle…..that's…actually really pretty." He preferred that to the shortened nickname that lacked personality.

Oriel was only vaguely aware that he had that habit, of preferring people's full names to their nicknames. Tak was probably the only exception because he couldn't pronounce her name to save his life.

Kai-Belle reacted as most did to hearing he was an orphan(or in this case was in lack of a family), though she said very little about it, not even an obligated expression of sympathy. Oriel smiled, appreciating her decision to just focus on it casually. Even to dismiss it altogether.

"Yeah. 'snot important," he agreed, taking another mouthful of his meatloaf, effectively finishing the thing off. Now on to the potatoes. Mashed. Oriel liked to lick them off his spoon. Slowly.

Oriel had to laugh at her sentiments about lunch, especially since he shared them. "Careful. If you stand out too much, they might swarm you. Like ants on candy or something." He did take note how Kai-Belle specified the part about powers. Easy powers. Still wasn't none of his business, but he kept it in mind.

"Bad rep? Where you been getting your intelligence from? I'm a muther-fucking ball of sunshine over here." He was at least smiling about it. This chick was nice. He liked her. "Nah, I...I dunno. Think that's pretty much it for me. If I'm not doing one either of those things, I'm pretty much being a below average student or a housewife." Cooking, cleaning, greeting his hubby when he came back from his part-time job. Pleasing Phoenix in the bedroom, though Oriel figured she probably didn't want to hear about that...not that that'd stopped him before, just this was a nice, normal conversation so far and Oriel didn't want to mess it up.

"Uh..." Now what to say? "You're really good, you know. At the dancing thing. Lot better than me." Everyone else pretty much was too. Most of them had probably been trained since they were tots. Most of them had probably had a family to care about getting them training. Envious much? Naww...!