Don't Wake Me Up (Open.)

[Elisia Lark]

It wasn't often that Elisia came down to the first floor of the dorms, but today was just one of those days that she was feeling spunky and wanted to get out of her routine. Of course she hoped that not a lot of people would be down there dying to talk to her, but if there was a crowd, she could just slip right through unnoticed. It was what she usually did. It was surprising how very little people actually saw her walking around or said anything to her at all. Her days were usually very lonely, but she didn't particularly mind it. Music was her company, though she had to be careful with what music she listened to.

Today was her rap, hip/hop type of day. She didn't sing it, but she kept her horizons wide and her mind open to anything. As she walked downstairs in her comfy pants and a long-sleeved shirt, she was dancing to the beat of her own drum. Looking around, she didn't see many people, most of them were probably in their room studying or sleeping still. It was only ten in the morning, some people liked to sleep 'til noon. Ellie was an early riser.

Heading towards the vending machines, she practically danced the whole way there, humming to herself. She put a dollar in to get some fruit snacks then danced her way over to a chair, wiggling around a little strangely. It wasn't like anyone would notice her though, she wasn't wearing anything that shouted out and she was being as quiet as possible, engulfed in the bass line of the music. Before she actually did get to her seat, she bumped into someone and pulled out a headphone to utter a quick apology. Well so much for staying under the radar. "Are you okay? I-I'm really sorry about that."

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie had intended to brush straight through the lounge area and on to her dorm room. She was enjoying all the time she managed to spend with Dani; learning from each other was a lot easier than trying to teach herself anyway. She could feel her dancing improving by the minute, and seeing the improvements gave her a very accomplished feeling. Finally, she was understanding more about the styles of dance she had never really gotten.

Imagine that, strolling along as she did and suddenly bumping into someone.

"Woah!" Callie called out quickly. How did she not see her? How did they not see each other? Callie pulled her headphones off and allowed them to rest around her neck. "Oh, no it's okay. I'm sorry, I wasn't really paying attention..." She smiled apologetically at the stranger.

[Elisia Lark]

Ellie laughed shyly and nodded, "Me either. Ipod. I tend to get a little caught up in music sometimes." That was an understatement. She was always listening to music. A designated playlist was selected for each song that went with a specific emotion and she also had one for the songs that would knock her out. She tended to steer clear of that playlist unless she was trying to get better at tolerating the more emotional songs.

And her dancing, though it wasn't really her even trying, was a little spastic sometimes. It was a wonder she hadn't knocked the other girl on the ground by accident. That would have mortified Elisia more than likely because surely then the girl would hate her. She couldn't afford to get any real enemies because she'd never last in an insult war, or a physical fight. The very idea terrified her. Her dads always told her that fighting was just going to bruise up her pretty face and that if she ever wanted to hurt someone, it should be with her words, not her fists. Easy for them to say, they weren't scrawny and tiny guys, they were pretty built.

"I'm Elisia, by the way. Or Ellie 'cause that tends to be easier," She gave an awkward wave and hung her own headphones across her shoulders. How was she supposed to bolt when the girl wasn't even mad at her for bumping her? This would definitely turn into one socially awkward conversation.

[Calliope Gallo]

"I know what you mean." Callie replied, raising the headphones from her neck slightly to indicate to them.

Callie raised her hand in return, waving it slightly when the to her girl waved at her. That was okay, she didn't mind that they weren't shaking hands. She always found it a little weird when she bumped into people. "Callie. It's nice to meet you." She replied with a smile. She could hear the thumping bass line through her headphones, and listened as it seemed to reciprocate through her own. She sought after her iPod and turned it off quickly.

"Can I ask what you were doing?" She asked curiously. She might have had an idea if she had actually been paying attention, but as it were Callie had no idea what was going on.

[Elisia Lark]

Ellie gave a slight nod as the girl motioned to her headphones. Well that was ironic, they were both too busy listening to music to pay attention.

So the wave was majorly awkward, but that was just how Elisia was. Any situation that required her to talk to someone her own age ended up being painful to watch. It didn't help that this situation could have been totally avoided had she been paying attention. "Uhm, yeah. You too," She said with a shy smile. At least this girl was being nice. She reached into her pocket and turned off the Chris Brown song that was still blasting through her headphones.

When the girl, Callie, asked what she had been doing, Ellie's eyes just went wide. Uhm. Crap. "I-I was uhm, d-dancing I guess. Sorta. Not really dancing, but like randomly moving around. Yeah." Painful. Just painful. What was she supposed to say? It wasn't really dancing when she wasn't doing choreographed steps. It was just thrashing really.

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie shrugged her shoulders lightly, smiling. "Isn't that kind of what dancing is?" She asked aloud. Though, in her head she heard the teachers from her younger years lecturing her instantly for making such a statement. The thought alone made her want to cringe, but thankfully she didn't. Because that would have easily been taken the wrong way, and she didn't want to get caught down that road.

"Dancing to rap? It's pretty free flowing." Callie added with a shrug. She assumed as much given how heavily influenced her music had been on its bass, she figured she could assume that much easily. "If I were paying attention I probably would have realised what you were doing. I tend to get carried away." And she tended to run into people in the process as well. Unfortunately, this was not her first time. "Oh, sorry. I should explain; I've sort of studied dancing for a long time."

[Elisia Lark]

It was against everything she'd been taught, but in a way the girl was definitely right. Her own teachers would probably get on her for thinking that, too, but oh well. "I suppose so, I mean thrashing around does happen sometimes." She really wished she was better at keeping up with conversations. The whole thing had her nervous and ready to just take off at the first sign of a pause. It would be rude to do so, but she was still scared.

Ellie nodded, but how had the girl known she was listening to rap? She would have facepalmed right then had that not been totally weird. The bass was pretty heavy and it was between rap or heavy metal. Dancing to heavy metal would not be looking like that. "Oh me too, I run into people a lot," Was that something she should have admitted to? Probably not. When Callie explained herself, Ellie brightened. A girl who studied dance? Finally! "Really? That's so cool! I've been taking classes since I was ten, so not that long, but still!" Music and dancing were two things she talked about with ease.

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie nodded a few times. She didn't want to point out that last few times she ran into someone it ended up turning into a date. That was probably too weird to bring up. She didn't want to backpedal her way out of that one.

"That's still a long time, right?" Callie asked. She didn't know how old she was, but committing to anything for over a year or two had to be important. And develop some skills. She wanted to say something about her dance sessions with Dani, but remembered quickly that her skills were still very much a secret. "I have a friend I dance with a lot. I mean, I took lessons in a lot of styles but hip-hop was always my favourite. Though, that's also a power thing."

Callie extended her arm out to the side; the normal pop and lock procedure on her arm accentuated by her joints separating and bending as they did. The disjointed flexibility thing was relatively useless, apart from this.

[Elisia Lark]

Elisia shrugged, it was sort of a long time, but really only six years. She could have taken up dancing when she was a lot younger, and she had been taught a couple things by her mother, but the classes started around then. She still didn't believe she was all that fantastic either, though what she'd just shown wasn't exactly what she was learning in the classes.

Tilting her head to the side, she was about to question what the girl's power was until she showed her. It sort of creeped the younger girl out a teensy bit, but other than that it seemed pretty handy when it came to dancing. Especially hip/hop. Callie's power helped her with dance the way that Ellie's power helped her with singing and playing instruments. Funny how meta abilities could be used in all types of ways. Sure, it gave them advantages, but hey, it wasn't like they chose to be genetically mutated.

When life gives you lemons, "That's really handy! My power doesn't do a whole lot for my dancing, but it helps with singing and stuff. I'm a musical psychometric, which is pretty much I know exactly what the composer or artist was thinking or feeling when they wrote a song. It's useful when I'm trying to figure out what emotion I should be singing with." A tiny bit of her wall came crumbling down the more the girl talked to her. She did need more friends even though she liked being alone a lot.

[Calliope Gallo]

When people saw her power, they generally had the same look on their face. It was interesting to watch but it was also incredibly creepy. There was a miniscule flash on her face when it happened and to that Callie offered an apologetic glance. "It's better if you don't think about the... Mechanics." She offered. The mechanics of bones dislocating from their sockets and ligaments stretching? Yeah, that.

"I've never heard of a musical psychometric before." Callie replied. She nodded along a few times, taking the information in and doing her best to try and understand it. "That sounds pretty intense. You're like a musical databank or something." She smiled at the thought of someone's brain being able to work like that. Talk about an intense amount of knowledge. "You'd totally pass Music class with flying colours too."

[Elisia Lark]

The mechanics were all that had gone through her mind when she was watching it. The whole thing just seemed so uncomfortable for a power. Not saying that the migraines she got from certain types of music wasn't uncomfortable, but that she could handle. Dislocating bones from sockets was just downright nasty to think of. When Callie spoke, Ellie sighed, "Too late." Would have been better to start off with that bit of information before showing her.

"Pretty much, yeah. I mean it comes in handy when singing or dancing I suppose. It helps to understand that intent of the song," She shrugged. Her power was helpful for what she wanted to do, but it was nothing fancy. It didn't give her any physical advantage and with certain music such as screamo or some extremely sad songs, it caused her to pass out. Most powers had that side effect though. "It's nothing special though."

[Calliope Gallo]

"Sorry!" Callie replied instantly. She couldn't help but feel a little bad about it, even though she was sure the other girl wouldn't want her to feel that way. "I sometimes forget. Uhh, it doesn't feel as bad as you think it does?" She laughed. That probably didn't help either, but she still wanted to say it.

Callie nodded a few times. She totally understood what she was walking about. When she spoke again Callie retorted slightly with her face, "Are you kidding? That's like, awesome! You don't know how many times I've sat down for ages and racked my brain over trying to figure out what the point is behind a song." She admitted, feeling relief just by explaining it. "I'm jealous. That's a totally useful power!"

[Andrei Dragunov]

Andrei was doing his absolute best to, as one other girl would have put it, 'stay under the radar'. He hated crowds - painful memories of doctors crammed around his hospital bed, vying to examine him surfaced to mind - and he feared absolutely any kind of attention whatsoever. He furtively glanced about the first floor. A few people lounging around. Not many. Good. He found he drew less attention to himself in a place full of - as his government would term them - freaks like himself. But he still drew an unprecedented amount of attention, given his infuriating 'gift'. Or 'curse', as he would have it. He fixed his eyes dead ahead on the vending machines, trying his best not to disturb the two girls chatting animatedly a short distance away from them. He fidgeted in his pockets, and came up with a series of coins with faces on them that he didn't recognize. He frowned. Where were the numbers? Why make coins with numbers so hard to find? He fidgeted for a moment, gave up, then pulled out some notes. All the same size, be they a dollar or fifty dollars. Why? He stared in utter confusion at the foreign currency, then decided to just experiment with the coins.

Of course, he needn't have bothered at all, seeing as when he approached the machines, the digital display above the number pad promptly started to flicker madly. He cringed in dismay. Powered by electricity again? He resignedly kept the coins and watched as the vending machine sputtered, struggled to cling on to what was left of its battery life - then died. With a sad weeee-oooooo sound the machine powered down, and smoke started to rise from the top. Andrei backed away nervously. The machine crackled back to life again, somewhat ... and started to dislodge everything in the front row, letting it all fall to the dispensing box with dull dropping sounds that rang loudly on the metallic surface. Well. So much for paying.