Day One [VERY OPEN]

[Erin Kaminski]

Erin took a deep breath. This was it, day one at Hammel. A large travel case containing all her belongings was all that conspicuously accompanied her, though in her hand she also bore a small scrap of paper with the words 'Room 201' scrawled on it.

In front of her was a door, no, the door. Beyond it lay her new life, new people, new experiences. All just waiting for her, ready to be embraced.

It would be wonderful if she could have articulated all of this herself, but unfortunately she was finding it quite difficult to articulate, well, anything at the minute. In her quest to do new things, Erin had realised that she had always - at least, up until this point - shown up for school in a remarkably dull state of sobriety. Thankfully, this was easily remedied, as her mother openly despised the alcohol age limits that she described as 'transatlantic teetotalistic tripe', and almost encouraged Erin to raid her (unlocked) liquor cabinet.

So, Erin stood (swayed) on the precipice (doorstep) of her new life (the dorms) and, for lack of anything better to do, pondered how best to make her entrance.

Exploding seemed awfully self-indulgent, and not a little pretentious; she rather fancied that you wouldn't see Graeme Swann doosra his way into a room just because he could (indeed, knowing Swanny a doosra would be pretty out of character anyway, but that was beside the point). Perhaps she should have composed a witty remark for this very moment, a universal phrase that would set her off on a good note? She hadn't had the forethought to prepare any such entrance, but years of watching bad American 'shows' (it was a bloody programme and she suspected that they knew it in their heart of hearts) had equipped her with all the knowledge she could possibly need. Right?

Applying bright pink Doc Marten to wood, she booted the door open, clumsily dragging her case in with her, donned her best (it was terrible) Californian cheerleader accent, and let forth that squeal of delight that she just knew would gain her instant acceptance into all the coolest social groups:

"So, are we like, superheroes?"

[Lani Hunter]

Lani’s brain was still racking from his current and ongoing argument with his advisor. Yes he knew he wouldn’t graduate, no he couldn’t muster the energy to care. He honestly just wanted to sleep for a week and not be bothered. But life went on and like all things in life; no one ever got just what they wanted. Lani had left the early meeting and had snoozed quite peacefully in his last two classes. His teachers were furious of course but there was only so much they could do when he was running on two hours of sleep and slept like he was in hibernation. He had had some interesting dreams too, he somehow felt that a dreamwalker might have had something to do with that but eh, the point was that he had slept. So what if he had detention. Again. Was he going? Forget it, never gone before and he wasn’t going to start going now. What were they going to do? Fail him?

Having been at Hammel for a few months short of a year Lani knew his eighteenth birthday was looming and he would have to have that fight. He wanted out and he was pretty sure they didn’t want that. So with long strides he went down the hall from his room. He checked is phone to see if there were any messages. He was meeting up with Adrianna in a few hours and he had a sudden onset of hunger that he was on a quest to quell. He trotted down the stairs and yawned a little. He would have to get a nap later, sleeping in class wasn’t the ideal way to get into REM sleep. He had to admit that despite everything that was going on he was finally seeing a positive side to life. It was deep and complex but it was there and that was all that mattered.

As much as he hated to admit it he had found a home here at Hammel. But then again he wasn’t always a fan of staying home when he was actually at home. Hammel was too strict. If he wanted to go out he would go out and he didn’t like everyone trying to stop him. He had a job, sure that job was stealing but it still had to be done. He shook his head a little and pocketed his phone as he pushed the stairwell door open with his back. He watched his feet alternatively with watching the windows as he moved down the hall toward the door. Past the lounge and passed the laundry room. He passed few people that he knew and those he did he gave a polite nod and moved on.

Lani’s head snapped up as his ears were attacked by a shill squeal that was totally unnecessary for this time of day… Well maybe it was, mid afternoon? Did people usually consider it ok to be loud at mid afternoon? He winced a little and his eyes racked across the hall for the offending person. A young woman standing and talking like a valley girl was the culprit. He swallowed his annoyance and just shook his head and gave a little smile at her foolishness. He walked forward and made a show of rubbing his ear canal. “Who says we have to be superheroes?” He challenged and noticed her struggling with her bag. “Do you want some help with that?”

[Erin Kaminski]

Standing in the doorway, swaying and - she suspected - smelling like a brewery, it surprised Erin that it took a couple of seconds for anyone to appear to notice her. Just as she began to wonder if she should - or could - have been any louder, a slim, somewhat displeased looking boy lounged over.

"Who says we have to be superheroes?"

The question sounded vaguely challenging, thought not aggressive. Erin mulled it over; how the conversation might go after her entrance had not really crossed her mind, so caught up in the moment had she been. Thankfully, she was spared answering immediately by the boy noticing her rather impaired handling of her bag and offering to help.

She had become bored rather quickly of her poor Californian attempt, and so resorted to her native English accent.

"That would be marvellous, thank you," she replied, looking over him almost critically. He was very slender, and at first glance you might assume he would be little better equipped than she to be carrying such a heavy bag, but on closer inspection she revised her opinion to 'lean'.

"Well, we do have superpowers, and I'm sure there are at least a few people here who look good in tight fitting clothes, though personally I've never been one for capes. Or did you mean why aren't we -" she flashed a sly smile at him - "supervillains?"

[Lani Hunter]

Well at least this day was promising to be more interesting that he initially had thought. This blond girl was certainly something interesting. Her entrance had been one of epic proportion. He fancied his ears still ringing, but that was mostly because after being in the quite and dark, this bubbly shrill girl was just a little too much for him. He looked her over, a new person was always cause for much curiosity around here. Who was she, what was her power? Lani had avoided most of that unpleasantness by being as simple as possible and letting people only see his skin deep layer.

His brows raised as her accent changed. Well he certainly couldn't say he wasn't happy about that. That previous fake accent had been a little too much. He smiled knowingly at her change but didn't comment. He more so wanted to ignore it. Not so long ago he had betrayed someone he had cared deeply for and the man had disappeared. At least the English accent wasn't very close to what Dalton's had been or else Lani might not have been able to be pleasant.

"It's no problem," he replied and reached out for her bag. He considered using his powers but then usually the reaction he got was just about how cool telekinesis was. So he opted to take it with his read hands. It wasn't too heavy and he lifted it with ease. "Where to?"

He raised a brow at her and a grin grew on his face. "I'm not sure you'll find too many people willing to run around in tights," Lani chuckled. He matched her sly smile for one of his own, his impish grin showed and his his eyes sparkled with mischief. He winked at her. "Supervillians always get the cooler get-ups anyways."

[Erin Kaminski]

Erin had a brief moment of panic when the boy asked where her cases were going to, and managed to search most of her pockets before realising with a guilty roll of her eyes that she was still clutching the note.

"Ummmmmm.....room 201, it says. They told me at reception that I was with someone called, uh," she hesitated for a second as her brain tried to catch up, "Leon, I think? Any idea who he is, or what he's like? Bloody hell, I just realised that I haven't even asked your name yet! I'm Erin, Erin Kaminski!"

She held out her hand, more to give her something to do to cover her embarrassment than anything else. Realising that he had also replied to her comment on supervillains, she continued:

"Damn, and there I was just getting into the idea of you being all lycra and sequins on a Saturday night. I have to agree with you on the supervillains though; Batman aside, they all outclass their good-guy counterparts on the bad-ass scale."

[Lani Hunter]

Lani hid his chuckle behind his hand and cough to cover it. She seemed a little flustered. Well if she was new that was certainly to be expected. He took another look at her, she looked to be just about his age, but she didn't have that wide eyed terrified look that Lani had had when he first came here. That meant she must be a transfer student or something.

He nodded at her answer giving her a smile when she figured out that the note was in her hand. Lani shrugged. "Sorry, the name doesn't sound familiar." He grinned and shook his head at her. "It's no problem, my friend keeps telling me I need to stop forgetting my manners." He laughed and switched her bag to his other hand to reach out and take hers. "Lani Hunter, at your service." He added the last part with a little incline of his head.

Lani's eyebrows jumped and he blurted out a laugh. "Wow, trust me, Erin, I'm probably the last person you'd ever see in tights and sequins." He nodded slowly and agreed, "Batman is rather kick-ass. Though when it comes to bad guys they all seem to have a little kookiness in them too." He spun his free hand in a circle around his temple.

"So, that's an accent you don't hear too often, where are you from?" He asked politely keeping the conversation flowing. He was really glad she had dropped the high pitched accent in favor for this one. It was much more pleasant. Well this was certainly a nice change from the ordinary. He very much liked meeting new people, he was very interested in their stories. Even though he balked at telling his he was always curious to see what made people tick.

[Erin Kaminski]

"I'm from England originally, but my mother and I moved to California not that long ago, and I transferred here. This is my first day, seems a little different to Kocher, but I like it so far."

Erin's eyes flicked around as they walked, drinking in the new surroundings, the new people. Everything was unique at the moment, and that was exactly the feeling that she loved, that she lived for.

"So, pretty much a stock question I know, but what exactly is your power? I mean," she hesitated for a second, "if you don't mind me asking, that is. Back at Kocher most of the students were pretty blasé about it, in certain groups it was all about maxing out your power, but a few people weren't so...up front about it."

She remembered it well. There was definitely an element at Kocher who were more concerned with their powers than the others. It was understandable that people were curious to explore their powers in full, but she felt that they were still people who happened to have meta-powers. Erin had always felt that a persons power shouldn't dictate who they were.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani smiled at Erin and waved his free hand around. "I'm glad you're liking it," he lied eloquently. Lani lied as easily as breathing and it was probably not a good idea to tell a new person how horrible he thought it was here. "Welcome to Hammel." He shifted her bag in his grip and with his free hand tapped out a random rhythm on his leg.

"So you're from the European school? Kocher? What's it like?" He was full of questions, he had never been out of the county, though he had a multitude of passports with different identities.

Lani smiled enjoying her accent. The English always sounded so proper. There it was, the power question. It was something bound to come up in a conversation with a new person. It was almost a rule. Curiosity was the main ruler around here. Everyone curious about what everyone else could do. "I don't mind," Lani grinned, "I'm a telekinetic. How about you?"

He only hoped that his power wouldn't send her into a million questions. Telekinesis was really one of the more rare powers and Lani had it extremely powerful and extremely out of control. It was always something of a fascination for most people. Lani would rather be rid of it, but then he did love the freedom it gave him.

[Erin Kaminski]

What was Kocher like? Erin had many strong views on what Kocher was like, or at least parts of it, but she decided to put them across in a slightly more diplomatic way than her head was screaming.

"Well...like I said it's different, but I guess that's mainly cultural. Some of the buildings there are older than the whole USA, and it has a feeling of...history, almost a sense of constantly looking over your shoulder at what has gone before you. That's one of the things I like about over here; it's all about the future and moving forward."

Her eyebrows arched slightly when he mentioned his power. The only person she had known with telekinesis at Kocher had been one of the people who had tried to get her to explore the top end of her power. As such, she was naturally disinclined towards Lani, but she'd try not to let that cloud her judgement too much.

"My power?"

She had answered the question many times, but still a decent answer eluded her. Hell, even the powers trainers at Kocher had failed to come up with a fancy-sounding name like most peoples powers had; though in fairness it didn't get much more obsolete (or useless, she felt) than being able to blow yourself up then regenerate. In that respect, she guessed 'Self-Detonation' was a pretty apt description, but it didn't seem quite right when said out loud. She flicked another sly smile at him, and her eyes flashed.

"I go boom."

[Lani Hunter]

Lani shrugged and nodded at her answer. It was only natural that it was different culturally. He knew enough to know that Americans and Europeans were as different as night and day. His brows rose as she talked about the history. “Oh wow, I didn’t even know there were metas that far back. Or was it that it was just made into a meta school?” He was curious about the different places. He smiled and looked around Hammel, “Don’t get your hopes too up, there’s still a lot of backward thinking going on around here.

Lani couldn’t help but let out a little breath he was holding when she didn’t comment on his power. It was nice to not be ogled at like a freak among freaks. Telekinesis was rare but it wasn’t like it was amazing. Ok so he could do a lot with it but it was hardly the coolest power out there.

Erin’s explanation wasn’t anything like he had expected. Simply and to the point. He did stop and stare at her for a moment in shock. That was certainly different. “You mean… like explosion boom?” He asked a little warily. “That sounds… dangerous…” He said with a smile. Well at least it didn’t seem like she was about to detonate any time soon.

He pushed the door to the stairwell open with his mind. “You’re on the second floor?” He asked in verification as he started upward.

[Erin Kaminski]

"I'm not sure, it just says Room 201 on this slip," she replied, glancing again at the note that she still clasped in her hand, "is that the second floor?"

She smiled at his slightly worried look when she mentioned the 'boom'. Inwardly, she giggled at the irony that she'd have to be pretty close to him to actually do any damage, she'd never really been interested in developing her power to any seriously harmful level. If she wanted to, she was sure she could do something a bit more drastic, but she didn't much fancy being unconscious for more than a few hours.

"Basically, I can make myself explode, anywhere from basically disintegrating with a slight puff of air up to, say, a hand grenade. At Kocher a lot of people tried to get me to try more, but a grenade-level explosion knocks me out for at least 12 hours, so I don't much fancy going beyond that; apparently I risk a coma if I do anything too big.

To be honest, it's pretty useless. I can regenerate and heal from the damage, but that doesn't cross over into normal life - I get cut, I don't heal. I'd much rather be able to heal everything and not blow up at all, to be honest."

She grimaced slightly. Explosions were really not that interesting to her, especially after having done it so many times. The novelty wore off particularly quickly when you lost hours due to unconsciousness.

"What's your power like? I'm sure it's a bit more fun than mine."

[Lani Hunter]

He raised a brow at her question but just smiled. If she was from England chance were things were different over there. "Yeah, generally the first floor is on the first floor and the second floor comes after that," he grinned at her teasing her lightly. He looked her over, she seemed friendly and he decided she would be a good person to keep around.

Lani wasn't really sure how he felt about someone exploding. That just seemed like an awful experience. He couldn't lie, he was a little freaked out. He didn't want her exploding anywhere near him, he had too much left to do in this world. Things to see and steal, and people to annoy. The only thing he needed now was freedom and he would be completely ready to leave everything behind... no, that was a lie too. He couldn't leave, the people here, agaisnt his better efforts he had gotten to know them and care about them.

Lani winced as she said she would pass out for hours. "Wow, that's really unfortunate, I guess you could make someone whose bothering you go away though." He cocked his head at her curious. "Can you center it somewhere so that only a part of you explodes or something?" That would be interesting, also painful. "Huh, so what happens? I'm sorry, let me know if I'm asking too many questions. But I mean do you disintegrate and just poof are back or does it take time?"

Lani grinned at her and shook his head. "Not as much as you'd think. I don't have coma risks but I get headaches like nobodies business. I have a lot of power, but its hard to control so that's a nuisance. It's more like having a toddler in your head that wants to touch and pick up everything." He shrugged, he wasn't really sure why he was giving her so much information, but then this was just his power and he didn't tell her much about his own abilities but he was sure she could guess. Oh well, talking powers was just the norm around here.

[Erin Kaminski]

"It's pretty grim, in all honesty. It takes about thirty seconds for my body to reform afterwards, though through some happy quirk of fate my clothes come back with me; it's like a flesh memory but with everything I have on me coming back as well. Unfortunately no, I can't target it, it's all of me or nothing, I'm afraid.

After that, I'm knocked out from a few seconds to hours, depending on the size of the boom."

She slowed and stopped as she realised that they were outside her room. It took her a second, as she was still a little dizzy, though the conversation had sharpened her senses somewhat. Inwardly, she felt a slight pang of misgiving. Lani's powers seemed well-developed from what he said, and that reminded her more than a little of Kocher.

"This looks like me," she remarked, smiling and gesturing at the door with a nod of her head, "thanks for helping me with my case."

[Lani Hunter]

Lani winced a little in sympathy. That had to be an awful existence. He found himself laughing again though. "Well I suppose that is a stroke of luck, that would be terribly embarrassing." He grinned at her. "That's too bad," he said walking with her down the hall. "I feel like that might be extremely useful. But you know the whole she-bang is pretty useful I would say." He chuckled a little laughing at his own pun.

He shook his head. "I'm really glad all I get are headaches, that would be terrifying. 'Cause what if you don't get up?" That would be his fear. Comas were a terrifying thing and he wasn't sure that he would want to live if he were stuck motionless and thoughtless. He shuddered at the thought and shook it off.

They arrived at her door and Lani was actually sad to see her go. She was an interesting person and could be a very good ally he thought. He put her bag down and put his hands in his pockets and smiled at her. "No problem," he said, "I really hope you like it here, Erin. It was a pleasure to meet you and I'm right upstairs if you ever need me." He said with a smile and gave her a little wave before backing up and turned back to travel down the stairs again.