Alone? Unacceptable. [Seraphine]

[Calysma Jamille]

Cal hummed to herself as she filled her tray with various foodstuffs, going, of course, for the tasty, and obviously less healthy, food choices. Why would she want to eat green beans and carrots? Gross! Chicken nuggets, a lake of ketchup, and a handful of chips were much more her speed.

Really? Lacey sighed. You're going to get sick and fat. Find something healthy for God's sake.

Fine, fine... Cal plucked up an apple and added it to her tray. Happy now? It's even a green one.

Lacey didn't offer an answer, which was fine by Cal, who now turned to the predicament of finding somewhere to sit. It wasn't that she had no one to sit with, quite the contrary, she could see several of her friends scattered throughout the cafeteria. It was knowing which ones to sit with... such was the sad trade-off of being obsessively social.

She'd nearly decided on her softball team's table, when she noticed a girl sitting by herself. Sitting by herself, and not really looking as if she were waiting for anyone. Cal wavered only a second before making a beeline for the lone girl's table. No one should eat lunch alone, after all!

Except, you know, if they *want* to.

Cal ignored Lacey as practically skipped across the cafeteria, at least, as well as she could with a tray.

"Hello!" she greeted the Asian girl as she plopped her tray onto the tabletop. "I don't think I've met you yet! I'm Calysma, but you can call me Cal-- sometimes people have trouble remembering 'Calysma', 'cause it's so weird." She grinned and squirmed out of her backpack before sitting across from her new friend. Yes, "friend". Her very strong philosophy was that everyone was automatically her friend until proven otherwise. Very obviously proven otherwise.

"What's your name?" she asked brightly.

[Deleted]

Many of her ‘friends’ were preoccupied with other things at the moment, hence why they were not there with her, joining in on the meals that the cafeteria provided. That was the only reason she was sitting alone today. And that was just fine, she didn’t need any of those people anyway, they didn’t really care about her. Well, that wasn’t true, there were a few select amongst her friends that she trusted cared for her as much as she did them, but they too were preoccupied. Either way, Sera was used to sitting alone whenever she came secondary to her friend’s attention.

Maybe she should up the ante? They might respond more if they had a larger stipend.

She could hear her brother now, chastising her for her method of friend making. Honestly, Sera wouldn’t be doing it like that if she wasn’t so….really, what was she thinking? She was absolutely perfect and that’s why they stuck around! The cash she gave them was merely an expression of her gratitude, nothing more.

Sera had procured herself a light lunch, a salad, and an assortment of vegetables. She always had her health in mind when she ate. Besides, Sera didn’t know what went in the rest of the junk they made. If she wanted spaghetti, she would go to an italian restaurant. Or make herself. Or, if there were no other options, she would stop by her brother’s loft and make him cook it for her.

The thought of her brother cooking brought a small smile to her face.

She was lost in this musing when a girl she’d not met before sat in the spot across from her. Sera blinked up, somewhat surprised, but mostly confused especially at the girl’s very enthusiastic greeting. Did she know this girl? Sera might have seen her in one of her classes. “Calysma,” she repeated softly, still taken aback by the sudden arrival of such a friendly and…bouncy girl. “I’m Seraphine. Sera for short.”

What was she supposed to do now? The girl had sat across from her and engaged in conversation to which Sera responded, indicating that Calysma’s intention was to engage in further conversation by sitting at this table.

“……..”

Unfortunately, Sera couldn’t think of anything to say.

[Calysma Jamille]

Cal smiled happily when the other girl responded so promptly-- a lot of times when she introduced herself to people and asked for their name in return, they just stared at her. Or glared at her. Depending on the situation... But this person hadn't! That was definitely a good sign, which definitely meant this would turn out good!

"Ooh, Seraphine is a pretty name!" she enthused. "Sounds like the name of an elf or something! Mine sounds like the name of a car or something. Couldn't you hear it on television? 'The all new 2014 Honda Calysma.'" She giggled at the thought. "Anyway..." She picked up one of her chicken nuggets and dipped it in her ketchup, glancing at Seraphine's food as she did.

See? Now that is how you should eat, Lacey sighed.

... Nope! I'm not a rabbit.

She nibbled her chicken for a moment before realizing Sera seemed at a loss of what to say. No matter! That was her cue to keep talking! "What year are you?" she asked. She was pretty sure Sera was about the same age as herself, but that didn't mean they were necessarily in the same grade. "I'm gonna be a senior pretty soon, but not really 'cause I have to stay longer and work on my power." She sighed and pooched out her bottom lip in a mock pout. Or real pout, one could argue. It wasn't like she was happy she was behind on her training.

"That's okay though," she went on. "I like the people here a lot, and I've made a lot of friends! Probably just as many as at my old school! There's a lot of nice people here. Especially if you get to stay in the dorms! It's sad that some people don't get to. But I guess it's good that some people get to stay with their families! It'd be cool to have family that close by. Do you live in the dorms?" She finally stopped for breath here, realizing she'd probably been talking a little too much, and needed to let Sera get a word in edgewise.

[Deleted]

Sera would like to say she was used to being around people with copious amounts of bouncing energy like Calysma had. After all, that’s how Marissa used to be. How Carleigh was. That was how her brother was. But despite being exposed to it from so many others, Sera was still unsure of how to respond to it when it came suddenly bouncing up at her out of nowhere. She was often inclined to simply not respond or to do so in a way that would have them leaving quickly. Which didn’t always work, if that boy Benji was any indication.

She smiled, a small thing, only a trace upon her thin lips. “Thank you. It’s from the gemstone, Seraphinite, actually.” Her voice was soft and quiet, about as thin and light as silk. This was her demeanor when she was feeling shy, but wanting to be friendly rather than standoffish. Sera chuckled quietly at the girl’s comparison of her own name to that of a car. It sounded like a classy model that she might get her dad to buy her. “It does. It’s pretty, though.” Calysma was a pretty name.

It was one thing that Sera was thankful(though also found annoying) about these types. They always seemed to be able to find something to say without it seeming awkward…or even it it did seem awkward. Sera scowled slightly. “….I’m going into my second year as a senior.” She was supposed to graduated, and she did complete her academics, but her powers training was still lacking. Incredibly so. “My power, too, is not as in control as it should be. That’s what my trainer tells me.” Sera didn’t agree. In fact, Sera thought she did just fine, her trainer didn’t know what she was talking about.

Calysma had a completely different outlook on her being held back than what Sera had. She seemed excited because she could stay with her friends. Sera was the opposite. “I’d rather have gotten out of here already,” she said sourly. It was obvious that she wasn’t happy about being held back. She’d rather be with her brother at the University. Sera nodded. “I do. I’m in the co-ed dorms. Room 206.” The extra information she offered was a surprise even to Sera. She hadn’t intended on providing it. “Do you?” Live in the dorms?

[Calysma Jamille]

Sera's name was from a gemstone?? How cool was that! "Ooh, like Crystal or Amber then!" Cal enthused. "That's really awesome! I always thought it'd be super cool to be named after a gemstone, 'cause then you can actually wear the something you're named after! What does Seraphin.... That gemstone look like? Do you have any jewelry with it on it? I've never heard of it before! Is it rare?" Not that she was an authority when it came to gemstones and knew all but a few, but anything new could catch her interest.

"Aw, thanks!" Cal smiled in answer to Sera's compliment of her name. She'd already decided Sera was a really nice girl, just shy. Who else would both agree with her funny comparison of her name to a car, but still call it pretty, and mean it? Yep, this girl was super nice. She couldn't help but wonder though if she was always that quiet, or if she was just nervous of talking to a new person. Ah well, she'd find out!

So Cal wasn't alone as a second senior! That was very exciting! Enough so that she bounced slightly in her seat. "I'm sorry you're getting held back too... But it's cool that you won't be leaving right as I got to meet you!" She grinned, but a moment later went somewhat thoughtful. It didn't sound quite like Sera agreed with her trainer... Why wouldn't she? That's what trainers were for-- to know whether or not someone was good with their power, and to help them get better!

Unless it's a bad trainer, Lacey mumbled.

No, but there weren't bad trainers at Hammel! They were all super nice! "Who's your trainer?" she asked, curious. "Mine's Chase, he's really good--" -- Creepy, you mean.--

SHH, Lacey!!

"He's really good at training," she finished after the word stumble. She took a deep breath, making sure her Other People were done talking and being distracting, then went on, "Anyway, it isn't so bad to be held back, is it? Do you not like it here?" She knew people who didn't like Hammel so much, but it always seemed kinda weird not to...

"Ooh, I'm girls' dorm, 405! It's fun there-- I have cool roommates." She grinned. "Are your roommates nice?" This conversation was going even better than she had hoped. Sometimes they were hard to keep going so both of them were talking when people were shy, but this one was working out pretty well! And Cal was perfectly happy for it.

[Deleted]

Calysma’s excitement over Sera’s full name was welcome and provided her a much needed ego-boost. Many times when she gave her full name, it’d been met with confusion and eye rolls at how ridiculous it was because it wasn’t a “normal” sounding name. “I’m glad it wasn’t Crystal or Amber. Though I do have a cousin named Diamond. I’m not sure why, but my family decided to name those in my generation like this.” She shook her head at the next question. “I don’t have any on me, but it’s a greenish-grey and yes, it is somewhat rare.” Or so she’d been told, that it only comes from a certain range of mines in Siberia. While she should have been, Sera was not exceptionally informed of gemstones in particular.

Sera nodded slightly. “I suppose you can think of it that way.” Unlike Calysma, Sera hadn’t categorized this meeting into something eventful and life altering, just simply something that had happened. While nice, Sera had her doubts that it would lead anywhere significant, and was certain that she would have gotten along just as well without it.

“My trainer?” Sera tried to think of her name, staring out to the side for a moment before pulling one out of her memory banks. “India Hale, I believe. I was just reassigned to her this year.” Because clearly her old trainer had been completely useless.

Sera took no notice at the girl’s stumble in her words. Or if she did, she decided it was for something that wasn’t her business to care about. “I was looking forward to being able to go to university with my brother, is all.” She spoke as if it wasn’t a big deal, but the disappointment had been an incredible blow to her emotionally when she found out she was to be held back.

Her roommates…Sera had to put some effort into remembering them. “The boy is fairly nice,” she decided. “One of the girls I haven’t had a chance to meet with yet. She’s made herself scarce. But the fourth girl is…” Sera tried to find a words appropriate to describe Maddie. “Hyperactive.” Which essentially meant, annoying.

[Calysma Jamille]

"Diamond would be a pretty name too! But you're right-- Sera...." What'd that been?

Seraphine, Lacey volunteered.

"Seraphine. That's an even prettier name, and super cool too! I've never met someone with that name!" And that was saying a lot. Cal had a tendency of meeting a lot of people...

Weird name, if you ask me.

... well, I'm not asking.

Greenish grey gemstones, huh? "Kinda like turquoise? Those pretty stones that the Native Americans used?" She paused a moment, thinking. "So do all the people in your family have themed names each generation? That'd be really awesome! I hadn't thought of doing that before... It'd be fun to start in my family!" She grinned.

Cal nodded enthusiastically, despite Sera's less enthusiastic response of, "I suppose you can think of it that way." Sera was still just being shy, she was certain. Which was totally okay, in Cal's opinion! Shy people were just as fun to be around as extroverts like herself! Maybe more so, 'cause they left more room to talk!

"Ooh, reassigned? I was reassigned too." She nodded, eyes wide. "What's your power then?? It must be hard too!"

She had a brother? That was super cool! It was also super sad that she couldn't go to the university with him that year... "Awww, that's sad." She frowned. "It's fun that you have a brother though. Do you have a lot of siblings? Is your brother a meta too? I was an only child." Though sometimes, with her Other People around, it felt as if she hadn't been. "It would've been fun to have a sister. Or a brother. Or both! That would've been awesome! Is your brother older than you?" She assumed so, but who knew, maybe they were twins, or one was adopted, or he was just going to college early or something!

"Your roommates sound nice!" Cal nodded. Hyperactive people were fun to be around, for sure! "And it's kind've exciting that you haven't met one of them yet-- then you have the anticipation of meeting a new roommate for longer!" Really, it was a glorious feeling, wasn't it?

[Deleted]

Sera nodded. She always thought it was pretty too. Diamond was pretty too, but it sounded too cliche and obvious. She listed it right down there with Crystal, Amber, Ruby….Jade. Common. Like that skank from the coffee shop.

“I’ve never met anyone named Calysma either,” Sera said softly. It truly was unique. “Where does your name come from?” Sera normally wasn’t interested in such things, but this girl was very…inviting. She was hard to ignore like she normally did to people.

“Something like that,” Sera said. “They’re from Siberia, though.” As for the name issue… “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “My parents never explained it to me.” It was always about school and succeeding with them. Her mother spoke about things more than her father, but they were both pretty tight lipped when it came to simple matters of conversation.

Sera’s power. “Cryokinesis,” she said simply. And it wasn’t that hard. Sera would never admit it, because if she said so, then it would be like admitting defeat. Her trainer didn’t know what she was talking about. “What’s your power?”

“It is, I have no choice though.” Sera was just going to have to push through it without Malachai. She could go see him whenever she wanted anyway. “No, just Malachai.” Sera smiled as she spoke his name. She nodded. “Yes, he went to school here too.” Calysma certainly had a rapid-fire way of talking, didn’t she? She reminded Sera of Marissa…. “Yes, he’s older. By five years.” Which was a pretty big age gap, honestly. And was the reason why it was so hard for the two of them to stay together.

“That’s one way to put it,” she said, looking down to her meal and taking in another bite. Sera didn’t say anything more about the unknown roommate. If she never made herself known, then that was one less person she had to worry about living with.

[Calysma Jamille]

"I've never met anyone with my name either." Cal giggled. "It's a mix of Callie and May, that's what my mom said anyway. My mom wanted to name me May, and my dad wanted to name me Callie, so they ended up putting the two together into a mix. But mom ended up giving me the middle name 'May' anyway." She nodded seriously, resisting the urge to giggle again. "It's funny, 'cause if my name wasn't squished together, I'd be Callie May-May Jamille. That'd be a weird middle name to have..." She considered. "I guess there's people with plenty of other names like that though."

"Siberia?" She gawked. "That's a long way away... Have you ever been there?"

Probably. Or at least, nearby, Lacey murmured. She gives off the rich person vibe. Rich people travel a lot. And if she knows something lame enough as where a certain kind of rock comes from, wouldn't she have visited that place? Rich people don't have anything better to do, do they?

.... stop being so mean, Lacey, jeez! But this brought up a whole new subject line... "Have you traveled much?" she demanded. "I always thought it'd be super cool to travel! Kinda dangerous though..." the last sentence reflected Lacey's thoughtline, true enough, but Cal didn't bother to address it in this instance.

"Cyrokinesis?" she echoed. What was...

Control of cold stuff.

"Oh, right! That's cool! Kinda like Frozone from Incredibles, right?" Because of course she had seen the Incredibles... Everyone had, right? "Oh... my power is... Complicated." Cal fidgeted and bit her lip, hesitating for once. But Sera had told her power, so it was only fair that Cal told hers, right? Ugh. Maybe she hadn't asked after all. "Mind control," she mumbled. "It's okay though, 'cause training is going really well and... and, yeah." She quickly found a grin again. "Do you like your power?"

Cal's grin became more easy when she saw Sera's smile when she talked about her brother. She must really like her brother... that was cool. "Wow, he's a lot older than you! What's his power, then? It's super cool that you have a brother and he's a meta too! I wish I had a brother or a sister... I just make a lot of friends to make up for it, though!"

[Deleted]

“Callie and May,” she repeated. Both those names were pretty common and in Sera’s opinion, lame, by themselves, but put together they actually had a great sound. She didn’t need to give her life history, however. That was bothersome, honestly, but Sera supposed she’d let it slide since Sera had already given the origins of her own name and how they related to her family.

Really, Sera was mostly just interested in talking about herself. Listening to others talk about themselves was just an unfortunate consequence of conversation.

Sera shook her head, taking another dainty bite of her meal. “No,” she replied after swallowing. “I’ve not been to Siberia.” The closest she’d been was Hong Kong and that was because she had some extended family there. She nodded at the next question. “I’ve been to a few places out of the country.” Like Paris, Madrid, London, Sydney, the Philippines and even the Bahamas one year. “Dangerous?” she inquired. “How so?” Sera didn’t understand how traveling could be considered dangerous.

Frozone? “I don’t know who that is…” Sera didn’t watch many cartoons. The only ones she watched on a regular basis were those she was interested in getting costume ideas from, and even then, she rarely paid attention to the story.

“Mind control,” she said with an air of knowing. “That must be difficult. I have an older friend with a similar power.” Alice could hypnotize people, which was essentially the same thing. And then Carleigh could hypnotize people while they were sleeping. Sera gave a shallow shrug. “I suppose I do a little.” It seemed so plain sometimes, though. “I wish it were more interesting sometimes.” Like her brother’s. His was very simple, but he could fly! She’d love to know what that felt like.

“Malachai has a pair a beautiful, black crow’s wings,” she explained, closing her eyes with a smile as she remembered the first time she saw them. Sera opened her eyes and her smile turned into a smug smirk. “No amount of friends can make up for a lack of a sibling. It’s a blood connection which can never be matched.” Calysma was fighting a losing battle. Poor soul didn’t even know it.

[Calysma Jamille]

"I've been to a few places out of the country."

Oooh, she had?? "That's awesome!" Cal breathed, awed. "Where have you been? Do you know a lot of different languages then? Or did you hire an interpreter? Or did you just go to English speaking places, like England and stuff? It'd be cool to go to England, they have super cool accents there! Actually, a lot of places have cool accents, but it's different when they aren't speaking as much English, you know?" She sighed. "I wish I had a cool accent sometimes!"

How can she not know how traveling can be dangerous? Lacey demanded. How could anyone not be aware of the many things that could go wrong??

"Oh! Well, you know..." Cal hesitated, not sure how much of her answer to base on Lacey's paranoia. Maybe traveling wasn't dangerous at all after all, and she'd only thought it because her fellow personality seemed to enjoy listing off every possible thing that could go wrong. "There's... planes... and stuff... that can go wrong..." she fumbled and trailed off, quickly filling her mouth with food as an excuse to stop talking. Yeah, time for a new topic.

Like movies! She quickly swallowed her food, gulped down some water, and tumbled into explaining her reference. "Frozone is the black guy from from The Incredibles!" She grinned. "It's a really good movie! It's funny and there's a creepy robot thing! Do you not watch a lot of movies? I have other friends like that. Some of them like to read more. Do you like reading? Or... Audio books? I have a friend who's blind so she has to listen to books instead of read them. It'd be super sad to be blind, don't you think?"

... Saying mind control was "difficult" was like saying Hurricane Katerina was "inconvenient", Cal was pretty sure. However, she just gave a dramatic sigh and nodded. "It is really hard. I'd rather have a different power. Wouldn't be super cool if people could trade powers??" She perked up at this thought. "If you could trade your power for a different one, would you do it? And what would you want to trade it for?? Being able to control cold stuff must be awesome though-- you could make slushies in the summer, couldn't you?" That was an AWESOME thought! "You could do ice sculptures and things too, right? Do you do things like that?"

Ohh... Her brother was a winged meta? Now that was cool power to have. Of course, Cal would never get by with something like that with her level of clumsiness. She'd have half her bones broken within a week. If not all. "It's really cool that your brother has wings," she breathed. "And I agree! Siblings are super important. If I had one, it'd be super awesome." She gave another sigh. "Being an only child isn't fun. Do you just have one sibling?"

Fighting a losing battle or not, Cal didn't know, and her knowing it probably wouldn't have changed her chatter anyway. Strangers were just people who hadn't become her friends yet, and people who weren't strangers, were her friends. So as far as Cal was concerned, Sera was already a part of her (admittedly very large) circle of friends.

[Deleted]

“I’ve been to the usual places; England, France, Spain. I have some family in China.” Why would she only go to English speaking places? “I speak Mandarin fluently.” Because of her relatives. “And a little french and spanish.” Not much though. Just enough to get by without looking like a complete fool when visiting those countries.

Sera nearly rolled her eyes at the mention of accents. “Everyone has an accent of some sort. I hear some British people think that the American accent is unusual and exotic.” Same with many Asian countries, especially since the sounds used in English were especially difficult for some of them. Sera had seen some people be in complete awe and admiration for how smoothly she’d said certain English words when she was visiting her relatives.

Sera was confused by Calysma’s worries about traveling. “Planes?” Maybe she was one of people afraid of flying for fear of the plane falling out of the sky? “Travel by plane is the safest way to travel, if that’s what you’re worried about. The likelihood of a crash is about one in every 45 million flights.” Statistics. When reason didn’t work, numbers always did. “Conversely, you have about a one in 700 chance of something dangerous happening while walking to the supermarket, along with an approximate one in 400 chance of getting in a fatal crash by merely driving across town.” Sera returned her attention to her food. “I’d fly everywhere if I could.” And with her money, she almost could.

The quiet girl stared with almost no expression as she chattered on about the movie. “No, I don’t watch many movies. I do read, however.” Sera liked reading a lot more. And more than either, she liked working on her outfits. “If you’re blind, then you merely have to adapt yourself to it. Not an impossible feat at all. Many studies show that when you lose your sight, your other senses become more acute, and you’re able to determine things like distance and things in your surroundings merely from sound.” This girl didn’t seem to know anything. Perhaps if she bothered to learn these things, she would have a different opinion about them?

“I would prefer to have a power different than the one I have. One like yours would be ideal.” But that couldn’t happen, so there was no point in dwelling. When asked about the things she could do, Sera took in a deep breath and let it out loudly. “No, I cannot do those things. I can only make solid ice and I am not creative enough for ice sculptures.” She wondered if she’d be able to do those things, however, if she gained more control like her trainer wanted?

This girl seemed to be able to go on forever about any topic, even one that had nothing to do with her. Like Sera’s brother. “Yes. And the one is more than enough for me.” Sera didn’t want anything more than Malachai. Friends, in her opinion, came and went and eventually proved disposable unless they offered her some form of benefit. Calysma didn’t seem to be able to offer much more than noisy conversation.

[Calysma Jamille]

Cal's jaw dropped as Sera listed off the languages she knew, fluently or not. "That's so cool..." she said, awed. Sera must be super smart to know all that... Not that she hadn't thought her new friend to be unintelligent before, but knowing that she spoke more than just English definitely displayed how smart she must be. And as such, Cal of course decided she should try to sound knowledgeable too. Not super smart and stuff, because that just wasn't sure, but changing a little for each friend was necessary. That was how people became friends, after all, right? Sharing something in common with the other person. Sure, they had being a meta in common, but that didn't work for everyone. Unfortunately. It would have made everything so simple if people were willing to become super good friends with her simply on the basis of them both being meta.

Lacey, quick, Mandarin is... Chinese?

Yes. One of the hardest languages for an English speaker to learn. She probably cheated and grew up with it in her family.

Cal almost rolled her eyes. Growing up with a language was hardly cheating. "Was Mandarin Chinese super hard for you to learn? I've heard it's one of the hardest languages." She nodded seriously, eyes wide.

And... "I know everyone has an accent... But I can't hear my accent. I wish I could hear it! Can you hear yours?" she asked, curious. Maybe it was just her.

At Sera's explanation of statistics and facts about planes, Cal's eyes grew round. "Really? That's really cool..." Sure, Lacey was muttering about how there were still planes that crashed, even if at length in between crashes, and people still died, but Cal did her best to tune the paranoid girl out.

Many studies how that when you lose yoru sight, your other senses become more acute, and you're able to determine things like distance and things in your surroundings merely from sound.

"Exactly!" Cal exclaimed, a little louder than she'd mean. She quickly quieted with her next sentence, "That's what my friend did, even before she was a meta. I still think it'd be really hard though, especially for people who're super clumsy." She grinned.

Cal blinked. "Why would you want a power like mine?" she asked, completely and utterly taken aback by the idea. "You can hurt people with it super easy..." Of course, maybe Sera would have an easier time with it-- she didn't have an evil person in her head trying to cause problems all the time. At least, it didn't seem like she did.

"Oh, well, solid ice is cool, too!" Cal was quick to enthuse. "Especially in the summer! Do you freeze water that's already in the air, or can you make ice just out of nowhere?" She leaned forward, fascinated by this.

"More than enough?" Cal echoed. "I thought you liked your brother? I guess siblings are annoying sometimes, huh? Even if you do like them." She'd heard that plenty from her friends who already had siblings.

[Deleted]

“I never thought of it as hard,” she explained. “Because I was around it often enough growing up. Just the same as how you probably didn’t find learning English hard, and English is technically one of the hardest languages you can learn.” English was full of rules that constantly contradicted each other, full of homonyms and homophones; it really was a mess for those who didn’t speak it natively.

Sera shook her head. “I can’t hear mine. To me, people who pronounce things differently than I do have an accent. It’s the same for them, us who pronounce things differently from them have an accent from their perspective. It’s simply that what you grow up hearing, your brain automatically perceives it as normal.” It was such a simple concept. Sera found it silly that so many people yearned for the ability to speak differently than they did. “Therefore, if you did have what you called an “interesting accent”, then you still wouldn’t be able to hear it because it would sound normal to you.”

“Really?” Sera lifted her eyes at the mention of this other friend of Calysma’s. She found it interesting, having never met anyone like that before herself. “That’s impressive.” Sera liked to think she’d be able to do it if something like that every happened to her…but it wouldn’t because her daddy would just pay for the necessary eye surgery.

She shook her head. “That doesn’t matter. It would simply suit me a lot more.” And then she would be on par with her friends that had such manipulative powers.

“I can pull it from the air if I need to.” After all, there was plenty of water in the air in Vermont, with it’s humidity level and with the plant life surrounding them. “But the water doesn’t come from nowhere.” As much as she’d like it to, that was impossible.

“I suppose you can think of it like that,” Sera said with a small smirk. Malachai did annoy her sometimes. Many times, actually. But it was true, Malachai was more than enough for her. She wouldn’t want to divide her parent’s affections between more than just the two of them, after all.

[Calysma Jamille]

Chinese was easy for natives to learn, just like English was easy for her... Well, that begged the incredulous question: "Did you grow up in China then?" How cool would that be? To know someone who grew up in a different country? Sure, she knew a couple people from other countries, but she didn't know someone from China yet! And even if she had already known someone from China, knowing yet another person from a foreign country would just be awesome!

"I guess so..." Cal sighed. Really, there should have been a superpower that let you hear your own accent. Now that would be cool! Much better than mind control, for sure.

Cal nodded energetically at the comment about her blind friend. "She is impressive!" Of course, just about everyone was impressive in some way! Everyone had something that was interesting and unique about them. That's part of what made getting to know new people so much fun!

"How would mind control suit you more?" Cal put her head to the side, curious about this concept. "More than ice control? That one seems to suit you very well! You're cool and reserved and stuff, like what everyone always associates with ice and things!" She nodded. Sera just had to see how good her power was! "I mean, I'm sure you'd be super good at mind control too, probably a lot better than me! But in all the stories, people who have ice powers and stuff are reserved and stylish and the person everyone admires. Unless they're the villain, but even then they're usually really cool villains."

She paused. Hopefully Sera didn't think that Cal was trying to be insulting... Just to be safe, she added, "I'm not saying you're a villain though! I bet you use your power really well! Especially since you can pull it from the air! Where do you get it from if you don't get it from the air, then?"

"I guess that makes sense..." Cal mused. Sort've. More people were always better though, so how could it be different when it came to family? Maybe if a family was really poor, she guessed, but...

Her family isn't poor.

Yes, Lacey, you said that already.

Too many siblings could also just not be good in ways Cal couldn't imagine, since she'd never had a sibling. She decided that was the best answer to her wonderings, and easily put the matter aside.