The Not-So Empty Room [OPEN]

[Jordan Scholl]

Jordan had given himself a challenge. He was going to sit in one place and see how long he could keep from being discovered. And the best place for this, he decided, was in the training rooms. If discovered he could claim he was training (he was, kind of) and not just trying to spy on people. In addition, he could find an empty room and just wait for someone to come in, as they always did. He wouldn't have to go into a place where someone was already around, and he wouldn't be stuck in a closet where no one would go.

With this plan in mind (he thinks it's brilliant, so everyone else can just shush) he headed down to the training rooms and found a small empty room to wait. He almost fell asleep a few times while waiting, but soon he heard someone come to the door.

He sat up straight and crossed his legs, closing his eyes and focusing his breathing. The easiest way for him to use his power was still fear, so he just remembered Mia and her angry glare. That was usually enough to set him off. Once again it worked well, and as the door swung open he disappeared from view.

Because he still couldn't keep track of what was going on when he was invisible, he had no idea who had come into the room or what they were even doing. But after a few minutes he was growing tired, and even the thought of being kicked with five-inch thick rubber soled boots was not enough to keep up his power. With a tired sigh he released the invisibility and sat back against the wall.

After a few deep breaths to keep the dizziness at bay, he opened his eyes to see who was in the room. "Sorry," he said, trying to keep from laughing (and doing well, since he was much closer to throwing up right now). "I didn't know this room was booked."

Watching people's reactions when they were scared was so entertaining.

[Chris Carpenter]

There really wasn't much to do around here. Chris couldn't find Andi anywhere, and his new 'big sister' was probably off with her older friends or in class or out riding around on her motorbike or...whatever it was that she did in her spare time. This left Chris somewhat bored. He still didn't know many people in the school and there wasn't much to do around campus that he'd found yet.

Eventually, he decided to check out those training rooms. At the very least, he could get in some practice. He made sure he had a packet of life savers with him for when his blood-sugar got low and went jogging off to practice. Hey...at least it was something to do.

He really wasn't quite sure how to start, however. Mayb jogging around the room? Trying a couple of manouvers? He was just pondering this when suddenly, someone appeared right across the room and Chris leapt straight up. "AAAH! GHOST!"

Wait a second...ghosts didn't apologize.

Feeling like an idiot, Chris folded his arms and glared at the other boy. Damn it, guys weren't supposed to be scared of ghosts or crap like that. Now he'd have to be really over-the-top to convince the other boy (and himself) that he wasn't a total wuss.

Glaring at the stranger angrily, he put his hands on his hips. "Oi! What the hell do ya think you're doing? You could really scare someone doing something like that!" Seriously...he could have been hurt if someone with actually fighting-trained reflexes or a hair trigger...or a bad temper...had been the first one into the room.

[Jordan Scholl]

The guy looked to be pretty young, which meant he was probably newer to the school. Something they had in common, though Jordan already had a bit of a heads up when it came to Hammel. He'd even visited a few times before actually attending.

It was funny to watch him scream, but then, of course, he just got angry. Still, Jordan figured he'd probably be okay. At least it wasn't someone huge. Or terrifying. Who would kill him. Even if the guy did try to look tough.

Jordan stood up shakily and looked at the new boy. "I'm practicing. Invisibility." Though he thought the "scare someone" comment was a bit obvious. That was, of course, the point. "I'm trying to see how long I can be invisible, and to not make any noise. Because if you're invisible but everyone can hear you, it's not any good, is it?"

But he decided it probably wasn't a good idea to keep bothering the guy. "I'm Jordan," he said. "Been here for about seven months now. And I'm still practicing everything. What about you?" He would have stepped out further into the room, but he was still using the wall to prop himself up. The longer he could rest, the better.

[Chris Carpenter]

Chris was still glaring at the strange boy, though he relaxed a little bit, realizing that there wasn't any reason to get all tense over something like this. The other boy didn't seem to want to start anything, but Chris kept an eye on him just in case...a man should always be ready to accept any challenge, after all.

Still, he gave Jordan a glare. "Hmph...so you just thought you'd...what, wit here and try to scare random people?" His confidence had returned now that he knew he was just facing another student, and one around his own age. That was a lot less frightening to deal with than something like a ghost...or even an older student trying to bully the new kid.

Besides, he had to admire the other guy's guts, if not his common sense.

He shrugged and leaned back against the wall. "Training, huh? Okay, I'll let it go this time. No harm done." His eyes scanned casually over the other boy and he gave a slightly thoughtful frown. "Uh...you alright there? You look like you're about to fall over any moment now. I'm Chris, I just got here a week or two ago."

[Jordan Scholl]

Jordan hadn't thought he'd been quite that obvious that he was just sitting around hoping to scare people. But apparently he needed to work on his subtlety a little more.

"No!" he said vehemently. "I was just practicing. I wasn't planning to scare anyone." Liar. And he wasn't a very good liar, either. His neck went all red as he tried to defend himself.

"Yeah, no harm done." He stayed leaning against the wall until the other guy, Chris, mentioned something about how he looked like he was about to fall over. Jordan immediately stood up straight and crossed his arms to show that he was doing perfectly fine and didn't need any help standing up or anything.

"Oh yeah? So I guess you don't know much about Hammel, then," Jordan said, feeling instantly superior to the newcomer. Not that he had much reason, as he hadn't been at the school very long himself, but he just liked the idea that he was beating someone somehow in some way.

"Have you explored much here, yet? Or haven't you had the time? 'Cause there's this one place--ah, but you've probably found it already. Hey, what's your power, anyway?"

[OOC: I am so sorry. I have been having a really hard time posting recently. Again, sorry this took so long.]

[Chris Carpenter]

(ooc: my turn to apologize. I fell and broke my elbow, I'm only recently able to type again. Sorry again for the wait)

Chris watched the other boy get nervous and couldn't quite manage to conceal a snicker. "Yeah, sure you weren't," he said with a laugh, but bother to pursue the issue. "Hey, whatever, man. However you choose to spend your time. Just be careful the next person who comes in isn't some pyro with an itchy trigger finger or you could wind up with your hair on fire or something like that."

Chris pretended he didn't notice Jordan try to stand up straight and pretend nothing was wrong. It was one of those unwritten guy things, as far as he was concerned, that you didn't try to push people about their weaknesses when they were making an effort to conceal them. He would have done the same thing in Jordan's place. He couldn't quite keep the scowl from his face though at the other guy's attitude.

"Everyone's new at some point," he grumbled a little. He fidgeted a bit when asked about his powers. "I'm really fast. That's my power, I mean. And what could I have found already? I mean...ah...I've found a lot of places, sure, but maybe I haven't found this one particular place you're talking about, you know?" He wasn't a very good liar either. He was just generally curious and wishing he could fins something fun to do. There hadn't been much of interest yet that he'd seen, apart from a few interesting people of course.