Everyone has a Mask [Addie]

[Adaryn Breslin]

For the girl to say that her dreams were normal caused Adaryn's lips to tip upward into a genuine smile. Well, everyone had nightmares, she was sure, and so maybe what she was dreaming was relatively normal. It, surprisingly, made her feel good about herself.

Most times Adaryn just felt irritated when others were compared to her because it made her feel as if they were dismissing her problems like nothing even mattered. However, now that she thought of it, the fact that this girl had said it was 'normal' made her feel as though she wasn't alone in the sleepless nights. Odd since she barely knew her. This raised questions about this girl's ability, but she kept them to herself.

"More relaxing," Adaryn replied, "It's fun, yeah, but also frustrating when you make a mistake when you're using colors and markers instead of pencils." But that frustration was always short lived because she always managed to make the finishing product.

"So how about you? You apart of any clubs?"

[Candence Waterson]

Candence wondered briefly why Adaryn smiled at the comment about her dreams being normal. Was that something to smile at? Maybe. It someone thought their dreams were abnormal, maybe. She shrugged it off, deciding it wasn't particularly important, at least, not so much as to worry about it right then.

She hadn't really thought about art being more or less frustrating mistake-wise when it came to different mediums... Sure, she knew some mediums were more difficult to work with, but now that she thought about it, that would go over into being more difficult to fix mistakes, she supposed. Huh. "You usually use pencil though?" she half said, half asked. "Do you use other mediums much?"

"I'm just on the dance team." She shrugged. "That, and school, and my other practice keeps me busy, I guess." Really, she probably would have joined more, but she was "advised" against it. In other words, she probably would have had people breathing down her neck if she'd decided to join more. Everyone thought she was going to overwork herself just because she liked to keep busy. Oh well... it was true that she was able to keep herself pretty busy between dance, homework, and practicing gymnastics on her own. So she supposed she didn't have much room to complain, irritating as it was to think about.

[Adaryn Breslin]

"I use pastels, paints, markers, and pencils. I try to use whatever I can get my hands on. But more often than not, I have a pencil and my sketchbook, so that limits me to sketching most times." She enjoyed working with paints and pastels and getting her hands dirty in that sense, but there wasn't always a time that she could do that. It was why she was taking Art this year - so she could work with more and enjoy herself in her last year in high school.

"I'm sure you do well in it. Honestly." Adaryn rarely spoke, and let alone complimented unless it was warranted. She didn't know much about this girl, but she had a feeling they might have a decent relationship in the future if they ever met up again. She seemed reserved, and from what she could tell at the moment, a bit annoyed. Why, Adaryn wasn't sure of. But she decided on a whim that she would ask.

"Do you mind if I ask why you suddenly became a bit... annoyed?" Of course, Adaryn probably confused the girl with that, so she clarified. "I'm an Empathetic Manip. Feel free to ignore me, but I was just curious."

[Candence Waterson]

So in other words, Adaryn was very much more than just a wannabe artist. At least, that's how Candence viewed people who worked with more than one medium... It was like learning more than one style of dance. You couldn't just learn one of something, be it dance or art, and claim to be a dancer or an artist. You actually had to love it enough to learn more than one field.

So yes. That definitely raised her opinion of Adaryn. "What's your favorite?" she asked, almost cautiously. It felt almost weird to be making conversation like this, and actually be meaning it. Something besides forced dialogue or just listening to the other person do all the talking was actually a nice change of pace. In this instance, anyway. And she was a little surprised at herself for admitting it.

"I'm pretty good." Candence shrugged. She did believe herself to be one of the better dancers on the team, though not because she considered herself a natural. It only made sense that since she worked the hardest, she would be one of the better, right? Not like a few of them, who were actual naturals, and didn't need to practice as much. But of course, she wasn't just going to up and claim to be one of the better dancers to anyone. It was better to let people draw their own conclusions.

She stiffened a little when Adaryn inquired about her feeling annoyed, suddenly apprehensive. Was this girl a telepath or something? She was beginning to get used to the whole being around metas all day thing, but being around telepaths? No. Not now, not ever.

Empathetic Manip? Candence relaxed a little. Though she didn't know a whole lot about that sort of meta, she felt plenty better about being around one of those than a telepath. She gave a slow nod, not quite sure how to reply. "So you can sense emotions..?" she ventured before adding as vague a reply as possible, "And I was just annoyed because people worry too much."