Sunny side up (Mathis)

[Charlotte Greene]

Another day spent in a sleepy haze, another afternoon of staring unseeing at people and places and textbooks and sidewalks. Routine was pretty easy to follow, even while asleep on your feet, as long as you were deep enough into the routine. By this point Charlie could easily leave her eyes closed while she walked all the way from her room to her first class.. and do the same from her first to second class.. and to the third... But after lunch and her two hardest classes - those being her math and chemistry classes - her eyes occasionally stayed open.. Only she saw even less than when they were closed. Despite the stretches Connor had been helping her with and once in a while having someone to cuddle with to catch a nap, Charlie still suffered from chronic back pain and she still had a tough time getting comfortable in her own bed the majority of days.

Since this had been a problem for quite a while now, Charlie had adapted like any teenager would. By trying to force herself through her daily routine despite how difficult it could sometimes be. After two or three days getting little more than a few hours a night of spotty sleep, anyone would be a bit delirious.. Charlie, herself, tended to sleepwalk. As she'd been doing when she accidentally found her way into the Home Ec room. Whoever was inside would receive a stare from the doorway for a moment from glazed and tired eyes, only to be greeted by a yawn before the girl turned slightly to make sure her semitransparent green butterfly wings would fit through the door, heading at a slow and lazy shuffle toward a corner with a tattered backpack. If she wasn't stopped, Charlie would very nonchalantly use the overstuffed bag as a rather lumpy pillow and lay down on her tummy to sleepwalk.. hold the 'walk'.

[Mathis Reeves]

Mathis spent his day like he always did- get up, go run, go to class, go to clubs, go see friends, and go make food for tomorrow. So far in his day he'd accomplished getting up and going to class. He'd woken up far too late to go for his run, his day was free of club activities, and he hadn't really found any of his usual friends to keep him company. Which made his day a rather dull and lifeless one, one that made Mathis entirely too sleepy to care about what was going on. His head was resting on the desk of his last hour class while he stared at the clock, willing it to move along faster. English was by far the worst class anyone could be subjected to, after all. Anyone would be falling asleep if they were in his situation.

Thankfully it only took a few more minutes, which really felt like hours, before the bell rang. Mathis bounced out of his seat with renewed energy and picked up his bulging backpack from the floor where it had been abandoned. After that he happily jogged to the home ec room, preferring to use the cooking area there rather than his dorm. He shoved open the door and bounced in, turning on the stove and oven so he could begin cooking. The mimic had just opened the fridge when the door to the room was opened, drawing his attention to the entryway. A pale, tired looking girl with large wings practically floated into the room. Mathis perked up some and turned around to grab an old fashion coffee maker from a cabinet, pouring water in it before putting it on the stove to heat up. With that being prepared he walked over to the girl and smiled down at where she was laying down.

"Y'know... This isn't a bedroom." he chirped at her, grinning happily at his own comment.

[Charlotte Greene]

Oh, silly Mathis. Everywhere was a bedroom as long as your standards for what could make a 'bed' were low enough. For instance right now. The floor was a wonderful bed and the backpack a wonderful pillow. Cold, hard, and lumpy though they were. Also if Charlie stayed like she was on the bag there would likely be the imprint of a zipper running across her face shortly.

Fortunately, a Mr. Reeves was coming to the rescue. Charlie simply pushed herself up off the floor slightly and stared up at the boy with confused, sleepy eyes. "Course it is. I'm sleeping here, that makes it a bedroom." And she collapsed back to snooze some more. Only when she collapsed one of Mathis' books decided to agree with him.. the corner of it catching her right in the forehead. Charlie just layed there for several second, though, before letting on a quiet, pained groan. She pushed to her knees, turned, and slumped back against the wall rubbing her forehead. "Okay. So this isn't a bedroom. Ow."

The pixie girl glared over at the bag for a moment in such a way that Mathis might get the impression that if the girl was a pyrokinetic it would have burst into flames.. then the glare drained from her face and she took in her surroundings. "Huh. I have no idea where I am. Are we still at Hammel? I'm pretty sure I could get in a lot of trouble if I'm not at Hammel.." A nervous flutter of her wings gave away exactly why it would be bad if she weren't on school grounds. Then the aroma of awakedness hit her nose. "Ooh, is that coffee?" Truth be told Charlie actually didn't like the flavor of coffee at all.. but it did wonders for keeping her awake and that's what mattered.

[Mathis Reeves]

Mathis didn't have a whole lot of experience in the way of sleeping on places that weren't beds. In his experience there was always somewhere one could sleep- even if it wasn't your bed. Though the exception to this rule would be couches, which Mathis has slept on more of those than he cared to remember. But the floor? The floor was definitely not a bed. It was for walking on, not for sleeping on.

He watched in slight confusion as the girl began laying down again, instinctively wanting to pick her up and put her... somewhere else. It was instilled in him since birth that women were to be treated differently. So if Mathis wouldn't sleep on a floor, then a female definitely couldn't. Just as he was about to bend down to pick her up, though, the girl sat up and started rubbing her forehead. Mathis instantly grinned, deciding to completely ignore the look she was giving the bag.

"Yep! We're at Hammel! This is the home ec room. Ya wandered in all tired 'n stuff so I'm not surprised you didn't notice." He smiled at her as though to show he didn't care and wandered back to the stove to check on the coffee he was brewing. "Yesa Ma'am. Thought if you were tired you could usea pick 'em up, so I started brewing coffee when you came in. Do ya like cream or something in it?" Mathis glanced back again, still giving her his usual cheek splitting grin. "Do ya have a name, Ma'am? I'm Mathis by the way, I'ma animal mimic. You're a pixie, right? Think you can avoid dustin' me? I've been trying to avoid that stuff since the day I learned about the power."

[Charlotte Greene]

Well.. Being at Hammel while her wings were out was good news for Charlie. Home Ec room? ..Huh. She hadn't know there even was a Home Ec room at hammel. The news of coffee, though, was quite welcome. "Uh.. I guess I like enough other stuff in it that it doesn't taste like coffee anymore?" Charlie leaned heavily against the wall and rubbed her eyes. As the boy bombarded her with questions. Well, not 'bombarded with' so much as 'politely asked a few very relevant questions', and on some level she was aware of that, but Charlie had just woken up.

So she answered his question in order. "Charlie, yes, probably." She then let out a mighty yawn and blinked several times.. seemingly waking to the point that she realized where she was, the position she was in, and that she wasn't alone.. and Charlie was up on her feet in an instant. Home Ec room.. Mathis.. Animal mimic.. Avoiding dust.. Oh crap, they'd already had some sort of conversation!

"--Uh, Mathis! H-hi! I, um.. Sorry! For.. uh.. for.. being in your classroom? I don't.. um.. well, you see.. I sleepwalk? I don't mean to, it just happens.. I'm so sorry for interrupting you and your class!" She glanced around... Mathis was the only one here. "Or.. um.. just you." She raised a hand to her forehead and let out a defeated sigh. "I have to stop doing this. Ugh."

Charlie moved to a desk and took a seat, still finishing up the process of getting her bearings. "I'm sorry Mathis. Thank you very much for making me coffee. I have only dusted one person and that was because he fell on me and I have been super careful ever since. What exactly does an animal mimic do?"

[Mathis Reeves]

As soon as the girl said how she liked her coffee, Mathis gave her a wide grin and turned to go execute that cup of coffee. He carefully poured the coffee into a slightly smaller than usual cup before pouring in about a third of the cup's volume worth a cream which was then followed by as much sugar as would dissolved in the mixture. The mimic continued grinning over his shoulder every once in awhile, the grin increasing when she answered his questions. "Nice ta meet ya Charlie!" And with that he returned to his mission of making her coffee.

A laugh left his mouth at her sudden confusion, turning fully around so he could face her. "Class has been over 'bout... Twenty minutes now?" He chirped again in his usual too energetic voice. He opened his mouth wide in another grin as he walked over to the table she seems to have claimed as he own. "Can't sleep much or ya sleep too much?" Both of which where perfectly valid options in the boy's mind, and possibly in a lot of other people's minds.

The mimic carefully sat the cup of coffee on the chosen girl's desk, bouncing away once more to go make himself a cup of coffee. "Right. So no fallin' on ya. Got it!" He paused to laugh at his own joke before answering her question. "Well y'see. An animal mimic can take qualities of other animals and put them to use. Like a cheetah's speed, or a bear's strength, a panther's grace. I can't fly or nothin' like that, but I would win in a fight so long as the other person weren't super strength."

[Charlotte Greene]

The pixie with her tired eyes and her amazing cup of coffee simply sighed. "That would be better than these stupid wings." She took a sip of the coffee, and finding it to be far, far better than any she made herself, eagerly guzzled it, setting the cup back down and relaxing a bit. "I have trouble getting enough sleep a lot of the time. I can't get comfortable on my stomach, and it's almost impossible to sleep on my back with these things out.. but when I don't have them out my back just starts getting really sore and it gets so bad after an hour or two that I can't sleep anymore.. So I try really hard but it's just.. difficult to sleep anywhere near as much as I should. Some days it's okay, some days .. well.. it's today. It's been better lately, but I probably slept an hour and a half last night.. and here I am sleepwalking and passing out on floors and bookbags."

She gazed down at the empty cup of coffee.. "Uh.. Any chance I could have another of those? That was.. really good." If Mathis gave the impression that his answer was going to be 'yes', Charlie would be quickly on her feet, wings fluttering as she made her way to him to watch what he did so she could try to replicate it for herself in the future.

"Do you actually have to be around animals to mimic them? Or do you just.. like.. instinctively be like an animal when you need to? And you said 'other animals'.. Meaning humans count? Does that mean you could mimic me? And .. have wings? Or.. no, you said you can't fly.. Sorry, I'm still not completely awake." Charlie didn't comment on fighting.. because she didn't like fighting. Least of all when metas fought. Because really, so many meta abilities could be used as such horrible weapons. Any kinetic could do bad things, telepaths, mimics, super speed or strength.. Those people all on their own could be considered a deadly weapon. At least Charlie was only capable of making people hallucinate.

Maybe being a pixie wasn't so bad after all? As long as she didn't dust anyone she at least wasn't likely to be any real danger to them. That had to be better than.. getting irritated and setting them on fire or something.

[Mathis Reeves]

((NOPE. SHORTNESS NEEDED))

Mathis was still pouring his own cup while she spoke, keeping his mouth shut as was appropriate around a lady. Even if she was a really odd lady. A boyish lady. He hummed softly as she finished and tilted his head to look at her. "Y'try muscle relaxers or massages ta make it a bit better?" It was probably a stupid thing to ask, since of course she would do something like that. But Matty was grasping at the few things he knew about to make back pain go away.

At her next question his frown melted away and he shot her a wide grin. "Yeah! Betcha wanna know how ta make the coffee too, don't you?" His blue eyes sparkled in a knowing way as the female walked over to him. He held his hand out for the cup, and once acquired he rinsed it out slowly and then dried it. Once that was done he carefully went about his earlier procedure of a third of creamer, coffee, and as much sugar as would dissolve. He slid it over carefully before holding up the antique coffee maker, still grinning like a mad man. "The secret ta a good cup'a coffee is how you make it. Old fashion is the best so long a y'don't let it sit on too high a heat too long. The grinds come out more potent and definitely retain flavor better." He was already replacing the maker back on the stove to let it simmer some in the lowest heat setting.

"A lil' bit of instinct but personally I gotta know about the animal I'm about to take from. I don't have to be around them though, but picturin' them in my head helps a lot.. Naw, naw. Humans don't count so I wouldn't be able to mimic you. Plus it don't work like that. I don't like up their characteristic... Like the physical ones." He answered quickly after she had finished speaking and frowned slightly, scratching the back of his neck as he thought. "If y'want... I could show you ma power... That way y'can see what I mean?"

[Charlotte Greene]

"Yeah, I've tried just about everything.. Apparently these wings usually come with.. ya know, an increased resistance to mind-altering drugs, but not muscle relaxers. They turn me into a zombie. Massage helps a little, but I have to have my wings away while it's happening usually.. and so it's like getting a muscle massaged while it's being flexed or something. I do seem to fall asleep on Connor a lot, though. And apparently on floors."

Charlie had eagerly handed her cup to Mathis when he'd silently requested it, and stood a professional distance from him to look over his shoulder. "Whoa.. That thing looks like it has some history! It's nothing like the new ones." Where could she even get one of those? It was strangely awesome.

Knowing about any given animal, Charlie could actually relate to. She'd gotten to the point where she could reliably hover and even fly for short distances lately, and a lot of that had come from studying how butterflies did it. There was a lot more to it than 'flapflapflapflap'.. "Uh.. sure? You see mine, I guess that's fair. It's not going to hurt you or anything, right? I don't need to worry about running away? ...And.. you can.. avoid becoming anything that eats insects, right?"

[Mathis Reeves]

"Y'know..." He started, wanting to try and offer a way to help his new friend. Granted he wasn't sure who Connor was, but he would assume it was either her brother or boyfriend. Not that it had anything to with what he wanted to say anyway. "Have you ever gotten someone ta massage your wings themselves? Like... Give you a massage with 'em out?" His voice was slightly more hesitant than usual, unsure if he was coming up with a good idea or more random-ness.

Smoky eyes glanced up at the girl's excitement and he felt his cheeks split with an automatic smile. "Ain't it awesome? M'brother found it in the flea market 'n I keep it here in case anyone wants ta use it's awesomeness." Mathis stirred the concoction slowly to make sure the sugar dissolved before holding it out for the girl to take. "The coffee from it is the best." He repeated this fact, just in case the girl didn't understand the first time.

A hand reached up to scratch the back of his neck as he grinned sheepishly. He hadn't actually expected her to say yes to his offer and now he was sort of stuck as to what he could do. "It ain't work like that, I promise." He nodded gently before closing his eyes and trying to force his heart to speed it up. Which was a lot easier than it sounded. He just had to picture himself in the middle of a game, crowd cheering, only a few seconds left before the buzzer. Slowly his breathing sped up, and after a few minutes of concentration he bit his lip and sort of tugged on the part of his brain he perceived to house his ability. The image of a simple house cat forefront in his mind as he did so.

Then there was the buzzing in his body that he came to realize meant he had succeeded (or accidentally) triggered his power. Once there he grinned suddenly and let his eyes open, eyeing the counter and the distance to the table. He braced himself slightly before completing a leap onto the counter, landing lightly on the balls of his feet before he twisted his body (still in the process of jumping) and sprang off the counter to land on the table. Which made a loud screech as it scooted across the floor from the force of his weight.

((It's cool when cats do that. If you've never seen it.... You need more active kitties XD))

[Charlotte Greene]

((....holy crap I haven't posted in this thread in like 6 weeks. I am forgetful and distracted and I apologize for that.))

During the few minutes it took for Mathis to engage his ability, Charlie simply stepped back and calmly sipped her amazing coffee, muttering agreements that it did seem to have come from a vessel made of one part awesome and one part epic. This was, quite likely, the best coffee Charlie had ever drank. Or.. well, it was on par with her last cup, but that was to be expected.

She had gotten a little introspective, trying to figure out if she could actually have any chance of making coffee half this good herself, or if Mathis just had the chef's equivalent to a green thumb and everything he made was amazing. So to say she was 'surprised' when Mathis suddenly jumped onto the counter.. then sprang from there to a table that was much farther than Charlie would attempt to jump without the assistance of her wings. She simply stood for several long moments with wide eyes before blinking heavily and visibly relaxing. "Wow! I don't know if that was like a frog or like a cat but it was impressive!"

Of course, she immediately found some sort of cleaning supplies and went to work wiping down the counter.. Since he'd done his stunt at her request, she figured he shouldn't have to be the person to clean the counter where his shoes had been on it. "So can you have, like.. the nose of a bloodhound? --Or echolocation like a bat? What about a super flexible neck like an owl? --Or the strength of a gorilla?? O-or super speed and dexterity like a hummingbird or something!" Maybe the caffeine was starting to kick in.. or maybe Charlie liked watching people do cool things.. but she sure did seem a lot more excited than she was earlier.

She also had the urge to shine a laser pointer at a nearby wall.. and to pet Mathis. Which she dismissed as her being weird, but was a thing nonetheless.