Distracting Fish (Eloise)

[Travis Morgan]

"It's not completely horrible," Travis said into his cell phone. He was sitting at the edge of the pond, dipping the fingers of his free hand into the water. "I met someone, by the way. You were right."

"See? I knew you could do it. I personally don't see how anybody could resist that sexy face of yours."

"Shut-up, Michael, it is not," Travis said, smiling and blushing. Michael did not shut-up. On the contrary, he went on to describe some increasingly naughty desires. Travis glanced over his shoulder, then went back to staring intensely at the fish in the pond. He was sure that his ears were bright red by now. "Michael," he said, sounding mildly distressed. "Michael, stop it," he pleaded.

"What? I just want you to know how sexy you are."

"Got the message," Travis said with a gulp, "thanks."

"Hey, I gotta go help mom with dinner. I love you!"

"Love you too," Travis said softly, "bye."

He slipped his phone into his pocket and stared at the fish with blank expression. He swirled his fingers around in the water, playing gently with the koi whenever they got brave and swam close. His mind wandered. Mostly he thought about Michael.

Travis missed him, and his heart was still racing from the words Michael had whispered over the phone. He was trying not to think about it, but that was easier said than done. Okay, stop. Just stop. Look at the fish. Pretty fish. Shinny fish. Distracting fish. Totally.. distracting. Unfortunately, the fish were not all that distracting. His face was still red, and the corners of his mouth twisted as he tried to suppress a silly grin. Dammit, Michael. Why do you have to be so-- FISH! I'm thinking about fish, dammit! Seriously, gain some control over your brain, man!

[Eloise Eaton]

Eloise strolled along the paths that winded through the campus of Hammel Institute. She still was very unaware of the size of the grounds and exactly where on the campus she was or should be. Eloise was fairly adventurous when it came to new places, though. She liked to find places of solitude within the chaos of every day life. Though, since it was still summer, many of the students of hammel were out and about which made it difficult for Eloise to find places to be alone.

Her blonde hair was in a pony tail, whipping in the wind behind her. She wore simple jean shorts and a white tanktop, and carried her purple tote bag. In it there was her ipod, a notebook, a pen, and her camera - a few things to help her unwind if she were to ever find a place. As she walked though, it seemed as if she were straying away from the large crowds and it was a lot easier to block out the thoughts of the few students left around her. There was a couple holding hands and talking on a bench, and a boy sitting on the edge of the koi pond.

Eloise took a seat on the edge of the pond as well, but on the opposite side of the blonde. She took a moment to take in her environment and appreciate the beauty of the campus. Sure, it wasn't Venice or Florence or Paris... but it was nice. From the distance she was able to ignore the phone call the boy was partaking in, and went through her bag to find her pen. She pulled it out, content with the calm state of mind.

The calm was interrupted though as a thought nearly exploded into her mind:
FISH! I'm thinking about fish dammit! .
Eloise jumped and nearly fell back into the pond as the guy yelled at himself in his mind. She turned toward him with a raised eyebrow, confused at the internal outburst. It didn't take long for El to figure out why he was so concerned about fish, of course. She felt somewhat embarrassed that she happened upon the boy's private thoughts, but the hilarity of his cover up made Eloise laugh out loud. She covered her mouth when she realized what she had done, not really wanting to have to explain to the guy what she had heard and embarrass him.

[Travis Morgan]

Travis' head snapped up when the girl across the pond from him startled and nearly fell in. She looked at him quizzically, then laughed. He didn't think he'd done anything remotely laugh-worthy. Maybe she was just laughing at her own clumsiness. Her laughter felt nervous, but he wasn't so good at discerning which emotions were his, and which emotions belonged to someone else.

His eyes shifted nervously. This was another one of those moments where he might actually talk to someone. He should ask if she's okay. She's fine. I can see that she's fine. Nobody asked you to stick your nose in here.. But she looked straight at me. There doesn't need to be anything wrong for you to talk to somebody. Just ask. Just ask, and stop gawking like an idiot.

"Um, are you alright?" He asked, a nervous smile tugging the corners of his mouth. At least it was funny-nervous and not paranoid-nervous. Paranoid-nervous made him freeze up and do nothing except scream at himself inside his head.

Fortunately, the stress of social interaction took all of his attention. It made whatever Michael had said over the phone sink completely into the background as he refocused his energy into not looking like a total doofus.

[Eloise Eaton]

"I'm sorry," Eloise said instantly when the boy asked if she was ok, knowing that a confession would probably offend him. It seemed to offend everybody that she could hear them. "It's just... you're funny... I mean..." The boy started screaming inside his head again, making Ella wince.

"Woah dude, calm down!" Ella begged, willing herself to put up a mental block again. "Again, I'm sorry. It's just that... I'm telipathic and it's not every day that you come across somebody having random mental outbursts about fish." Ella smiled at the boy, trying to avoid telling him she knew what he was trying to distract himself from. Even though it seemed like he had already forgotten. He was so freaked out by the notion of just talking to Ella that his mind was solely focused on how nervous he was to be talking to someone and how nosy he felt. "Don't worry about being nosy," she told him, "Because I think I may just be the nosiest person on earth." Ella was nervous about telling the boy all this too, of course. She wasn't the best at making friends or making people feel comfortable. She was just a lot better at handling herself despite her nerves. The confidence was sometimes her downfall which she feared in this case. She hoped the humor wouldn't scare the guy off. He seemed sweet when he was yelling in his head.

[Travis Morgan]

Telepath?

Travis stared at her, unblinking. Almost unthinking. Some abstract concepts bounced around his head that he couldn't put words to. And then, well..

Then she said the magic words. "Don't worry about being nosy." Travis blinked. Emotion swelled in his chest, and he looked down for a moment to try to contain it. Those were exactly the words he needed to hear. He was wound so tight all the time, it was driving him nuts, but nobody knew what he was thinking; that he constantly beat himself down in his own Head. Nobody could tell him he was wrong, because he didn't, couldn't speak his mind.

He made a decision. A scary decision.

Travis stood up and walked around the pond to sit next to the telepath girl. "Hi," he said. Nervous. Eyes down. "I'm Travis. Empath." He worried his bottom lip, having trouble making himself look at the girl he was talking to. "Um, don't worry. You don't scare me." Well, your power doesn't scare me. You scare the shit outa' me, because you're a person, and I'm pathetic. Travis closed his eyes and breathed. Ok, you need to stop doing this now, Tray. Be kind to the nice telepath lady.

[Eloise Eaton]

Eloise smiled at the boy as he got up and walked around to the other side of the pond which seemed to take a great deal of courage. This only made Eloise smile more because it wasn't often somebody willingly came over to El, let alone somebody who clearly had some social struggles. He introduced himself to which Eloise replied "I know," jokingly (even though she had in fact picked up on his name and ability).

He was painfully shy, but that didn't deter Eloise. Especially since his inner conflicts were pretty funny. She laughed again when Travis told himself to be kind even though El scared him just because she was a person. "I swear I'll stop reading you soon," Eloise said with a chuckle, "It takes awhile for me to put up a mental block. But right now your thoughts are entertaining enough anyway." She felt a little bit bad for the boy, despite the entertainment he was providing. "Are you ok?" she asked. "I can tell this is hard for you... you don't do this much do you?" Eloise realized that might have been a bit vague. Sometimes she forgot that even though she could read everyone else, nobody could read her. "This whole... talking thing I mean..." she trailed off, realizing she was probably making Travis even more uncomfortable. "Sorry... I don't either... not really good with people or feelings or... any of that."

[Travis Morgan]

"Yeah, not so much," Travis said with a nervous smile. "Talking is hard. I.. I think a lot, but.. It's hard to make things come out of my mouth." Truth be told, it was interesting (sort of a relief, really) talking to someone who could read his thoughts. There were a hundred different things, at any given moment, that he wanted to share with someone. The notion that nobody was interested in what he had to say was just so ingrained in him that he couldn't bring himself to speak.

Travis was the worst influence on his own self-esteem.

"So, um.." He had questions, but he wasn't sure how to phrase them. His thoughts were stepping on each other, and he couldn't make them behave. Mental block? You can do that? How does that work? Is it hard? Does it work for empathy? How long would it take for me to learn-- Very suddenly he stopped thinking. "Sorry," he apologized, realizing that his frantic thinking was probably less than comfortable for her. "That was sort of chaotic."

Then he realized that he didn't know what to call the nice telepath girl. "Oh, hey. What's your name?"

[Eloise Eaton]

Eloise couldn't help but laugh. The guy was so nervous that it was funny. She felt bad, being entertained by his discomfort, but Ella learned long ago to laugh at a situation rather than feel bad about it. "It's alright, really. I'm used to it and you're the only person around so it's not bad at all."

Then he asked her name. She hung her head in shame for a moment, realizing she had once again forgoten to introduce herself. "I'm Eloise," she said when she looked back up. "Sorry. Sometimes I forget that people can't read MY mind. I forget to introduce myself a lot," she explained with a roll of her eyes, slightly annoyed by her habit. "You can call me Ella though. Or El. Or nice telepath girl, I don't care really," she joked, still not being able to help but use Travis' thoughts as jokes.

"How long have you been at Hammel?" she asked out of curiosity, feeling like he mustn't have been there long since he had so many questions about controlling his power. "And what exactly is Empathy anyway?" Ella was sure she had heard of it before, and probably had a few classes with an empath back at Kocher, but she couldn't quite remember what they did without Travis thinking about it. She was trying to stay out of the far reaches of his mind anyway, and was just taking in the surface thoughts.

[Travis Morgan]

Travis smiled at her name. Wasn't there a children's book or something with that name? Little girl.. lived in a hotel? Eh, not important.

"Oh, yeah. I just got here a couple days ago," Travis admitted, then rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly when El asked what empathy was. She didn't know. Maybe thats why she was so chill. So far, Travis' experience with people who knew he was an empath was.. less than pleasant.

His family had reacted with a mix of fear, guilt, and pity. That girl he met when he arrived, AJ, had reacted with anxiety. People didn't seem to understand that feeling bad for him just made him feel bad!

"It's, uh.. it means I can feel your emotions," He said, "whether I want to or not, apparently." He hoped that El wouldn't feel weird about that. Maybe it would be better with her, because her experience was somewhat similar.

[Eloise Eaton]

"That was my favorite book as a child," Eloise told Travis, a sheepish smile on her face. It seemed like he didn't mind her using his thoughts to hold the conversation. He actually seemed to prefer it, which Ella loved. And it made her even happier that he knew the book. Eloise in the book was actually a lot like Eloise in real life. Real life Ella even lived in hotels from time to time when her father refused to settle in one place.

As Travis explained his power, he tensed up a little, but Ella was barely phased. "Oh, cool," she said. "That's actually a lot like Telepathy in a way. I mean... I guess you can't really control it and people probably get mad at you for invading their privacy as if you can completely control it," she rolled her eyes. She was easily able to understand how Travis felt right now. Although, since her father was a Telepath she never had to feel as if she were a freak or as if she'd never learn to control herself. Her father actually started training her before her powers fully manifested. "If it helps, my dad tells me I don't have true emotions and I'm just made up of sass and sleepiness," Eloise joked, though was sure on some days it was true. Eloise was generally cheerful, though quite pessimistic and those qualities tended to cancel each other out and leave her in a state many people didn't understand.

[Travis Morgan]

"Ha!" Travis laughed then covered his mouth. Sass and sleepiness indeed. "But seriously, it is kind of nice that you're, y'know, happy an' stuff." He smiled, but it was a tired smile. "It gets a little overwhelming sometimes." And by 'a little' I mean 'a lot'.. and by 'sometimes' I mean 'pretty much all the time'.

Travis had always been sensitive to the feelings of others, even before his power manifested fully. His whole life seemed to be a struggle to stay out of the way. To avoid conflict. To avoid being noticed. As a small child, he avoided being better at things than his friends, because he could tell it made them jealous. Travis hid his talents, and tried very hard to be as average as possible. He hated winning things, because it made the losers sad. People were tiring. Interaction was hard. But now, he didn't have to be interacting to experience feelings that didn't belong to him. He could feel people in the next room. He was effected by people he didn't even realize were there.

It was very confusing, and more than a little suffocating.

Can I tell you something? Like this? The question was more of a formality. He was going to think it anyway. I'm really not okay. I'm so tired. I'm so full of feelings that I can't resolve or figure out because they don't belong to me. I can't even figure out which feelings are mine half the time. I know I have some things to work through, but there's this tangled mess of stuff that doesn't belong to me sitting in the way. Sometimes I can just go numb, but then I can't feel anything.. not even my own feelings. It's like I just get too tired to feel.

[Eloise Eaton]

Eloise tilted her head to the side as Travis explained himself in his head. It seemed strange to Ella that somebody preferred to speak this way to her, but it became apparent very quickly that Travis felt so incredibly overwhelmed by his power that he didn't even know how to function anymore. Eloise was used to the side effects, but never felt as overwhelmed as Travis did in that moment - mostly because her father had prepared her for them since she was young. "I know how that feels," Eloise said, feeling a mix of pity and sympathy, but trying to will it away realizing that was the last thing Travis needed - for her to start feeling too many things.

"When my powers fully manifested I couldn't separate my own thoughts from everyone else's. Sometimes I still can't. That's usually just in huge crowds which is why I spend a lot of time alone. It gets easier though," Ella promised at the end. She had been training since she was twelve, and six years later she was very much in control of hers at this point.

"You know... I used to implant my own thoughts into others minds accidentally all the time too. And at that point it was like I had lost my individuality because I knew what everyone was thinking and people started to know what I was thinking too. I became really... really reclusive but you learn to control it and things get easier. It just takes some time." Eloise smiled smally at Travis and her attempt to comfort him. It was pretty easy for her to determine what somebody wanted her to say to them, but Travis didn't even know what he wanted. So she hopped her attempt would make him believe that he'd begin to feel again once he started to get himself under control.

There was a long silence El felt as if she had to break "As for the social interaction thing... I don't think that'll ever get easier. People suck."

[Travis Morgan]

Travis was quiet while Ella spoke. Even his thoughts were still. One of his many talents happened to be listening, and he was hanging on her every word.

It would get easier. It would.

"As for the social interaction thing... I don't think that'll ever get easier. People suck."

Travis cracked a smile at that. He bowed his head and laughed quietly. "I know, right? I should understand people better at this point, but honestly.. I don't know how most of them manage not to get hit by cars. They're just so.. Stupid sometimes. Like, seriously, just stop and think for a second about what you're doing. I've met cats with better reasoning skills!"

Travis fell victim to his own opinions about himself. The belief that he was average was, in itself, a logical fallacy. Travis was smart. Maybe not academically inclined, but intelligent none the less. He really didn't understand yet that what he considered common sense was simply beyond the majority of the human population. He spend a great deal more time just thinking than most people.

"Um, thank you," he said after a moment, "for understanding."

[Eloise Eaton]

"You're welcome," Eloise said with a smile, glad to have had another positive social interaction with somebody who didn't seem all that crazy. "You know it isn't often I meet somebody who gets it the way you seem to. I mean... most people would have come up with an excuse to get away from me by now. I guess its just always nice to meet somebody with similar issues." Ella smiled, and shrugged.

"And just so you know... you should say what's on your mind more often. You're pretty funny," Ella commented. She kinda liked knowing that in this awkward quiet looking kid there was hilarity and wit. There was also understanding and kindness - none of which he seemed to let out. It was like he was truly afraid to just let loose and be himself. Of course, El sometimes had the opposite problem and said things before really thinking them. That didn't always end well. His thoughts though were all well put together and smart and confident - but they didn't seem to make it to his lips.

[Travis Morgan]

"Funny? I'm funny?" Travis seemed completely baffled by this. Sure, his boyfriend back home thought that too, but Tray was sure it was only because Michael liked him.

Maybe he was wrong? He could be wrong. He wasn't really the best judge of his own character. What do I do that's funny? Am I doing it right now? What's funny? I wonder if... His mind wandered back to the phone conversation he'd been having with Michael before Ella noticed him. He blushed, trying valiantly not to contemplate the conversation in too much detail.

But.. was he actually attractive too? Was it possible that Michael wasn't just full of shit? What else didn't he know about himself. For a boy who thinks a lot, Travis was startling oblivious. Especially when it came to himself.

"Well, thanks," he said, still trying to shove that (very steamy) conversation out of his head. Oh my god, seriously, stop thinking about your boyfriends c-- "Wow, i'm sorry," he apologized, covering his face (which was completely red by this point).