This isn't gourmet... (open)

[Eloise Eaton]

Eloise hadn't expected the food to be great. She didn't even expect it to be good. She just expected that the fish she was served would at least be fresh. This expectation was killed when she found a frozen spot in the middle of the meat when she tried to cut it in half. The blonde sighed. She already missed the fine cuisine of Paris and Florence - two of her father's favorite cities to dine in. Her father's decision to move back to the United State was unexpected - yet completely normal as far as Ella was concerned. For her entire life Ella was pulled along on her father's various worldly adventures. However until now, she was schooled in Switzerland.

Ella didn't mind the change. In fact, she was all but immune to it. She knew not to get attached to one place for too long. She knew not to get attached to the people there either. She couldn't help but get attached to the food, though. Disappointed with the meal provided to her, Ella pushed her plate of fish aside, and picked at the vegetables and rice she chose as sides. She leaned her elbow on the cafeteria table, and rested her head in her hand as she ate, willing away the migraine that was forming.

With the large crowd of students in the cafeteria, it was near impossible for Ella to completely block out everybody's actual conversations, let alone their thoughts. Eloise hated being telepathic sometimes. And after a long day of moving her things into her new dorm room, a migraine was the last thing she needed. Between being new, crappy food, jet lag, and an incredible amount of information passing through her head, Eloise clearly had a reason to be as irritated as she appeared.

[Callum Bowen-Lund]

The Canadian usually knew better than to appear in public in such a brutish way as he was currently. While he’s not dripping wet anymore, his loose grey tank was still a tad bit stained in the front and the back, a few beads of sweat on his forehead just won’t go away, and he couldn’t deny that he had that slightly musky unpleasant scent going on (something that trying to mask with perfume/cologne, in his experience, only emphasized). He would’ve went straight to his room and changed first before heading to the communal mess hall, but he heard from an acquaintance (it’s too early to call them friends, he says) that the cafeteria’s going to be serving ribs come lunch. Sure it won’t be that great, but ribs are ribs and hell would undoubtedly freeze over first before the blonde would deny himself of such an earthly pleasure.

His promptness paid off as he managed to snag the last few pieces of ribs, with the groans of the other students behind him as the cafeteria staff handed him the last piece only made his grin wider. The only problem with heading to the place in its peak hours was the fact that no table was empty. Maybe he should’ve started putting ‘socialize’ as part of his top things to work on this week.

“This seat taken?” Callum asked, out of politeness really since she didn’t seem to be waiting for anyone, as he sat in the chair opposite of the blonde. He flashed her a weak smile before diving into his beloved meat, not really caring that eating ribs with his fingers was making him look more and more like a caveman.

He did stop eating midway through his second rib-piece when he saw that the irritated expression she had hasn’t vanished. “Uhh, do you want me to go?” He’d rather not really, because looking for another spot would be exhausting, but he’s not in the mood to make enemies this early in his stint in school. Then he noticed the, well, seemingly untouched fish. “Oh come on,” he chuckled slightly, eyes looking down at the fish, “It can’t be that bad?”

[Eloise Eaton]

Eloise's gaze shot up as what she was sure was a voice (and not a thought - sometimes it was hard to distinguish) hit her ear. She half smiled at the boy who sat across the way from her and began picking up the meat he had served himself. Part of her was slightly sickened by the idea of eating food with her hands, but she knew that it was actually normal in many parts of the world. She supposed that certain foods were meant to be man handled. She just wasn't used to eating them. Plus, she couldn't imagine getting any barbeque sauce on the white skinny jeans she was wearing.

When the boy commented on the fish that she hadn't really touched Eloise could only raise an eyebrow and comment, "It's frozen in the middle." She managed to force a laugh even though it was more irritating than funny. "Sorry... I'm just..." Eloise started, knowing full well that the boy was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Eloise wasn't all that great at first impressions. Or second impressions. Or third. She simply wasn't great at getting to know people since within a few seconds she could pretty much determine one's complete life story. Callum Bowen-Lund. 16. From Canada. Currently wondering why the blonde girl he's never seen before looks so damn angry. "I'm just getting a headache. I really don't mind you sitting here. I promise," Ella clarified, realizing quickly that Cal was feeling unwelcome.

Suddenly it hit Ella that the guy was probably waiting to be introduced. She always picked up on people's names so quickly that she often forgot to give them her own. "I'm Eloise," she said "I'm new here so... I guess I could use somebody to talk to anyway."

[Callum Bowen-Lund]

Oh shit. He’s done it.

If only he could facepalm now.

It’s not that Callum’s averse to social interaction nor did Eloise did something wrong; it’s just that he’d rather not deal with anything other than food at the moment. He was tired from his workout – heaven knows what he’d say. He’s gotten in trouble more times than he can count when he tried to engage in conversation when he’s so drained from physical activity – his usually unfiltered mouth had a tendency to become even more unfiltered (apparently that’s possible) and heaven knows his thoughts were anything but fit for public consumption.

But the blonde seemed harmless. And already in a lot of pain. The last thing she seemed to need was to have some jerk brush her off. Besides, she’s not heavy on the eyes either.

“Sashimi’s always been a fave of mine,” he said as a joke, giving her a wink as he grabbed a few napkins from his side and wiped his dirty fingers. “Jetlag? You’re not from around here are you?” It wasn’t that prominent, but he could’ve sworn he heard a very slight French accent somewhere around there. “From Quebec?” Canucks should always stay together right, especially now that they’re stuck in their barbaric southern cousin.

Once he was sure his hands were clean, the blonde extended his right hand for a handshake. “Callum. Pretty sure I’m newer than you.”

[Eloise Eaton]

"I just flew in yesterday," Eloise told Callum as she reached out and accepted . "I wish it was from Canada. I'd be a lot less exhausted." Eloise sighed, still trying to catch up from the long flight from Paris to New York City - one of the closer airports to Vermont that regularly scheduled international flights. Her father then drove her to Hammel and helped her move in. It was very hard for Ella to sleep during travel, too, due to the many people she encountered and all of their thoughts circulating in her mind.

"And I'm not from here. Not at all," Eloise explained with a laugh. "Quebec may be one of the only citites I haven't lived in." She took a bite of her food, trying to think of the best way to explain where she was from. Frankly, it was a hard thing for Ella to determine. She was born in Seattle, but moved all over the world as a child. "The last three years I attended Kocher, which is like Hammel but in Switzerland. My father pretty much lived in Paris or London during that time but... he likes to move around a lot." Eloise felt strange explaining herself. Since she had been at one school for the duration of her meta-education, she hadn't had to explain where she was from. She simply said Paris. The move made it a little more complicated to answer the question - especially since she was born in Maine to begin with. "My lifes a bit confusing," Eloise said apologetically. "And I'm tired to my words are just kind of spilling out of my mouth without my approval."

Eloise kind of hated social interation. She felt like she was horriible at it. She felt like she had to explain herself constantly in compensation for knowing so much about the person across from her. They often didn't even know how much she knew. It was really uncomfortable. And usually telling them she was telepathic made it even worse. People usually freaked out. Their thoughts went a mile a minute and they worried that Eloise was looking for their deepest secrets - which only allowed El to read their deepest secrets. After that, they would usually stay as far away from Ella as possible. Needles to say, Ella didn't have a ton of close friends.

[Callum Bowen-Lund]

And she got her beat. Obviously. Mental note, next time he’s going to be cocky and make a claim, he’s got to make sure he can back it up.

“Woah. You are newer than me. Been here for roughly five days now.” More like four really, since when he arrived with his recruiter late afternoon the first day he was just so tired that he went to bed almost immediately. And woke up past noon the next. Awesome. “My bad. I mean, you don’t have the ‘frightened little girl who just discovered her powers and got relocated all of a sudden’ vibe around you.” Annoyance and irritation was a far cry from hopelessness and self-hate. (Over the course of five days, he’s seen an average of around three such types per day. Thus the claim to be quite the expert about such things). “That’s a compliment by the way.”

Callum then started eating his sides (mashed potatoes and a small garden salad; he’d get back with his ribs but it didn’t seem polite at the moment) as Eloise told him the places she’s been. And boy did he feel just a tad bit jealous. He was just about to let her go on, probably ask her a few things about Europe (he was planning on backpacking when he turns 19; hopefully being sent to Hammel won’t ruin it) when she mentioned Kocher.

“Kocher? Like Hammel? You mean, another mutant school?” Pardon the Canadian; he hasn’t really been that exposed to meta-humans up until his manifestation. Or at least, as far as he knew, no one in his immediate family nor his friends’ families are. “How many are there anyway, do you know? And why move here? I mean, from Switzerland to America? America?”

[Eloise Eaton]

Eloise nodded as Callum's curiosity spiked. He was clearly interested in Europe and all of the other places El has been. Ella never found it to be special, but that was because it was the norm for her. She often didn't consider that others didn't have the opportunity to travel the was she has throughout her life.

He questioned her about the academy she had previously attended, and it was then she really realized how much Cal didn't know about Meta-humans. Maybe he was actually 'newer' in that sense. "You know I may have not been here as long as you but you may actually be even more clueless," she joked with a little smirk. "You'll figure it out. First off, though, I'd start by trying to drop the word 'mutant' from your vocabulary. A lot of people get offended by that and you might soon too."

She took another bite of her food, allowing Cal to feel a little embarrassed for the moment, before she continued to answer his questions. "There are 7 meta-human schools. Hammel is the only one in the US though and Kocher haute école pour les surdoués is it's European counterpart. A lot of the other ones are strictly research institutes or are run for the military. Apprently the one in Russia is pretty tough. As for why my dad decided to move here... it's honestly beyond me. He doesn't like being in one place for too long." Eloise shrugged her shoulders and realized she had barely questioned her father's decision to move them for an instant before they had packed and moved to Vermont.

"So they just picked you up recently huh?" Eloise asked with another smirk. "Did they have to drag you away screaming and kicking?"

[Callum Bowen-Lund]

“Should’ve known you were European though,” mouthed Callum absentmindedly as he put a forkful(?) of mashed potatoes in his mouth. “You have that whole European chic going on over here,” the boy continued (after chewing his food fully, of course), making wavy motions that were apparently supposed to outline Eloise’s shape with his fork. Buying too much Forever21, H&M or TopShop just couldn’t substitute that intrinsic sense of style, or so he says. He couldn’t exactly place what it was, but since he’s dated three of the exchange students his school has gotten, he’d like to think of himself as having a knack for it.

Whatever it is anyway.

He simply laughed when she called him clueless. Well he did find out that he was a meta-human less than a week ago, so he really didn’t mind. And besides, he didn’t sense an ounce of condescension when she called him that so it’s all good. “What? Why? Isn’t that the same thing?” he asked, completely confused, “Aren’t we like the XMen anyway and wasn’t that how they called themselves?” Being called a ‘mutant’ actually made him feel empowered and special. If only he knew how to activate his powers at will.

“You wish,” he answered with a laugh when Eloise asked if he was screaming and crying, “They had to pry me off my mother actually. I’m all for a new city, Vancouver’s getting a tad bit old.” Though in hindsight, if he would’ve known how small Pilot Ridge was, he would’ve totally opted to stay a few more weeks in his city, at least until school started. “I’m guessing that was your story?”

[Eloise Eaton]

Eloise raised an eyebrow as Cal complimented her style. She was flattered, since fashion was such an important topic to her, but the fact that it made him think of the three exchange students he's dated made her groan internally. 'European chic' to Ella was just 'Chic' and it was exactly how everybody should dress. It wasn't anything special to her. She dropped it though, since she was still perplexed as to why he would think being called a mutant was ok.

"Mutant just has such a negative connotation. All of the anti-meta politicians and born again Christians use that word to make us sound like monsters so they convince the world we should all be shut in a commune or something," Eloise informed Cal with a roll of her eyes. Generally, this was an exaggeration, but it wasn't a far stretch for the small group of extremists who really truly thought meta-humans were trying to take over the world or something. "Some people are more sensitive to it that others."

"As for my recruitment," Ella started with yet another signature smirk. She thought it was cute how Cal assumed she was a helpless child at the time of her manifestation. Like she'd want to cling to her parents and never leave. "My father dropped me off at Kocher two days after my powers fully manifested. I didn't even have a recruitment officer pick me up or anything. My dad's a telepath too. He claims that he knew I could read minds since the time I was two or something." It wasn't odd for a person's power to show itself in small ways before complete manifestation. Ella was one of those cases where the child's power gradually popped up more and more frequently until puberty - when it 'turned on' and never turned off. It was probably a good thing her dad knew exactly what was going on. "So no, I don't think either me nor my dad had any attachment issues at that point."

[Callum Bowen-Lund]

“‘Mutant’ has such a negative connotation?” repeated Callum as he tried to make sense of what Eloise was saying. Well true, the word had been connected to such ‘monstrosities’ such as Godzilla and Mothra, and the two (like their kin) weren’t exactly known to be productive. But they had raw power that people feared, and wasn’t that amazing? Oh how he wished his power allowed him to level buildings with a single breath and not just, well, induce coma or whatever pheromones do to people. (He hadn’t had the chance to use it consciously, or so he thought).

Then she mentioned the weird activists and it made a little bit more sense to him. “Oh. Those losers are fighting a losing battle anyway.” He’s not much of an activist and all, but he – along with most of the people he grew up with – has had a more supportive-apathetic approach to anything resembling infringement of rights, even before he manifested. As long as he won’t be affected, let them be. “Though I did hear from a senior on my floor that a few years back, rumours swirled around a muta-I mean, meta-human – terrorist cell or something in Pilot Ridge that campaigned for meta-supremacy. Or something.” Lots of ‘somethings’ in his speech meant that the boy didn’t really ask for more details, but found the rumour nonetheless interesting. “Guess they did have something to be scared of,” he added with a shrug. Quite honestly, he wished he was around when that happened. He was told that rumours of students planted by the said cell swirled during campus, and boy would that had made the currently dead Institute quite the place to be.

“You’re a telepath?” he asked, trying to mask the fact that well, the term sounded familiar but he’d forgotten what it meant. Hopefully it didn’t mean she’d have the ability to force him to speak the truth all the time. Because that would be boring. “So you mean like these powers are hereditary?”

[Eloise Eaton]

Eloise raised an eyebrow at Callum as his thoughts circled around his power and his wish to cause destruction. He really didn't get it at all. He didn't understand how some of these powers... these 'gifts' ... were curses. Kids were often scarred by the destruction that they unintentionally caused. Clearly, the pheromones he apparently controlled didn't really cause too many problems when his ability manifested.

"There's terrorist groups of meta humans everywhere. And there's terrorist groups of non-powered people too. It happens. It just so happens that Pilot Ridge is the meta-human center of the U.S. There are more metas here than anywhere else in the country so it wouldn't surprise me if there still issome sort of underground supremacy group." Eloise shrugged, clearly not phased by the concept. She ate a little bit more rice, still not impressed by the taste or texture.

Eloise gazed at Cal as he continued to question her, and her ability which he apparently knew nothing about. A little smirk crossed her face when she realized he had no clue what a telepath was. She could have some fun with that. "Nobody really knows where these abilities come from, but there's a lot of evidence that there's some sort of hereditary factor. My dad and I prove that pretty well I suppose."

[Callum Bowen-Lund]

Eloise raising her eyebrow took the blonde aback just a tad bit. Did he just say something wrong? He already felt a bit intimidated when he first saw her (she had an air around her, he said, that just says high class or something similar), and that little gesture kind of cemented the deal that, well, she’s on a whole other league entirely.

Guess he just needed to be a bit more ‘refined’ in what he says.

The thoughts of powers causing destruction did remind him briefly of the riot he supposedly caused. Up until this day, he still haven’t fully absorbed the words of his recruiter – about how he was supposedly the reason why a quarter of the students went into a mindless rampage, or why everyone wanted to get into each other’s pants in Stephen’s house party two nights before. In hindsight that could’ve been classified as ‘destructive’, but Callum believed that unless he’s able to tear a building apart by just thinking about it, it’s still not dangerous enough.

His intimidation (or was it admiration) of the blonde only increased when she spoke about such terrorist cells with, well, such objectivity and tact. “Damn,” was all he could say as he took another forkful of his potato. That just turned me on. “Did they teach you these things in Kocher? Like, meta-human history or something similar?” Sounds fairly interesting, to the point that he’s actually considering of taking it as an elective if he could. And for a kid like Callum, well, him being interested in a school course would be a huge miracle.

So if I had a kid they’d have the same ability as me too? Well at this point in time the boy hasn’t met a lot of students yet (the ones he’d talked to were mostly the only ones to manifest in their family; Eloise was the first one with a meta-parent) so he didn’t really have much to compare with. “That’s cool. Your mom a telepath too?”

[/justify]

[Eloise Eaton]

"You're a piece of work aren't you?" Eloise asked as Callum not only continued to focus on the destruction he has caused (even though he didn't consider it destructive) and wishing he could create a more physical act of destruction. And on top of that he thought he needed to be more 'refined' around her. And her tactfulness turned him on. "You need to slow your roll. Not only am I two years older than you but I'm about 7 years smarter and not exactly into guys who daydream about ripping society to shreds..."

Eloise barely gave Cal time to react before moving onto the rest of his questions though. "My dad taught me most of everything I know. I'm lucky to have his ability because that doesn't happen a lot... kids having their parents ability. And I don't know my mum. Dad doesn't like to talk about her" She turned back to her food, despite the lack of appeal, just to give Cal time to fully process what had happened - if he had caught on. Sometimes people just figured they had accidentally said something out loud, when they believed to have only said it in their heads. It was a fun game El liked to play.

[Callum Bowen-Lund]

“Woah, woah, woah, slow down there babe.” Those were the only words the blonde could say at the moment in response to Eloise’s outburst because, well, what could he say otherwise? He was caught so off guard, that for a second or two, he was just sitting there, deer-on-headlights look on his face, hands raised defensively to protect himself from further (verbal) assault. The fact that the telepath’s words caught the attention of some of his fellow students (despite the busyness and noise of the place) and they’re all looking at him now made him even more uncomfortable.

Five days in and he’s already making a scene. Great.

“Two years older? Really? Damn, you look young.” Hopefully flattery will get him back to her good books. And besides, he could care less about her age. After all, you know what they say about older women. He caught himself there for a bit. Wait why is everything so sexual now? Fuck, she shouldn’t have said those things like that. Looks like matter-of-factly speaking was Callum’s version of dirty talk now.

As for the weird destruction comment, well, he figured she’d read between what few lines he’d said about the topic. She’s actually very smart apparently, and he needed to be a little bit more cautious with his words it seemed.

The comment about her mother did make him back down a bit. “Sorry I asked,” he said with a surprisingly sincere empathetic grin, “If it helps, my parents had a divorce when I was five. Mom met Matthew a few years later and he brought Anthony and Juliana with him, while Dad, well, I don’t know who he’s with right now. Probably back with either Samantha or Brooke.” Or was it Juliana or Amrit? He honestly didn’t know anymore and stopped caring when he turned thirteen. As long as his month-long vacation in New York over the summer won’t get interrupted by his dad’s new girlfriend, he’s totally cool with whichever skank he’s currently with.

[Eloise Eaton]

"I don't think I'm the one who needs to slow down," Eloise said with a laugh. Her voice was pretty cam despite the bite to her words. She was very good at delivering a swift hit without changing her demeanor. It almost made it worse for the person on the receiving end - the couldn't tell if she was serious or not. "After all... I have no clue what they say about older woman - but I'm not sure I want to know"

Her spark faltered a little bit when he brought up the subject of his family, though. It was always awkward for Ella to hear that somebody had family troubles like that. She didn't know how to feel about or handle them. "I'm sorry to hear that," Eloise said with equal sincerity. "It doesn't help me. I'm not really upset about not knowing my mom. My parents divorced before I was 2. Maybe before I was 1. It's what I'm used to."She shrugged and gave Cal a sympathetic look - a far cry from her previous smirk. "What you're used to is a little... tougher," Eloise offered, trying to think of the right word to describe Cal's family life. "What I'm used to is more or less non-existent."