Bad Luck: Missed the Boat (Open)

[Calliope Gallo]

Calliope Gallo had recently had a bad stint of results in her classes. She didn't want to guess why - she didn't have to. She was distracted. Distracted by the prospect of her future; her life in all aspects seemed to be something of a muddled mess. But this time, she'd offered everything up to make sure she couldn't fail the latest English test. It meant studying over and over, particularly on the things she didn't quite understand. Re-reading the same information proved to be both daunting and unhelpful, but she was determined to soak up enough about the subject in preparation for her test the next morning.

Come the next morning, the half-Greek was running on a few measly, restless hours of sleep. She looked positively exhausted as she dragged her feet through the hall into her first class of the day. But it was okay. She just had to make it through this first period and then the test would be in her hands. She had to hold those facts and eloquent words inside her brain long enough to withstand a lecture about... Something...

But sure, she could close her eyes for a minute.

Well... That minute multiplied.

When she awoke hours later, it took a moment for her to realise what had happened. The room was... Empty? The class was over. Drawling her gaze up towards the wall clock, she spent a moment or two staring at it before she could connect the dots. She'd been asleep for way too long. So long that the class - and its all important test - were well over. She sat there for a long time, bewildered by the concept. That it was over. everything she worked hard for was gone. That she'd stayed up for hours studying for a test, only to catch those hours of sleep when it was on.

Callie didn't get up. She folded her arms over her desk and rested her head against them. Anyone would think she was looking to catch more sleep. Her eyes were closed - her face partially hidden by her arms. But no, she wasn't sleeping.

She was crying.

[Charlotte Greene]

Perhaps the only other person in the room, Charlie was.. likely more a staple as far as someone sleeping at their desk might go. She hadn't spent the whole night studying, she'd spent it tossing and turning and.. laying in bed but not sleeping. It happened more often than she cared to admit, and it was very, very seldom fun. Last night had been particularly bad, though, as Charlie had been trying her best to keep her wings put away for much of the day and her back was in knots and in general very upset with her decision.

It had been a mistake to push herself, and she was paying for it now. Callie hadn't been the only one to miss the entire class and the test at some point afterward. She had been the only one to wake up and realize what had happened, though, as Charlie was still basically asleep. She tended to sleepwalk, though, when she was as tired as she was, and as fate would have it Charlie had been in the back row of the room behind Callie, so it was no wonder the girl hadn't see her.. especially slumped over the desk as she'd been.

But being a sleep walker and naturally attracted to things both cute and pathetic and sad and.. other things that required hugs.. Charlie found herself dreamily stumbling forward, only to plop silently down in the seat next to Callie... and without a first (or second) thought, the pixie simply leaned her head down and nuzzled lightly against Callie's arm. Because upset things needed company and a shoulder to cry on. And at this distance, in this position, Callie shouldn't have any issues simply leaning over and crying on Charlie's shoulder. Literally. Sleep-logic meant that this all made perfect sense and was completely socially acceptable and welcomed and the correct response to the situation.. It was up to Callie if she agreed with sleep logic or flipped out. Charlie was gonna be there either way.

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie hated crying. It was depressing and upsetting for everyone. She very rarely cried in front of people - or rather, she really hoped that her spells of public crying weren't seen by people. She couldn't stop once it started. And for that, she got annoyed at her lack of self-control. But sometimes, it was good to cry.

Wasn't it?

She was so invested in her quiet undoing that she didn't notice anyone else was even in the room. At least, not until someone sat down right beside her. She lifted her head slightly in a jolt of surprise, her tears stopping for a microsecond to give way to the other emotion. Glancing over, Callie quickly realised she didn't know the girl who was leaning on her. Even with years at Hammel behind her, she couldn't know everyone. For a moment her mind couldn't let go of how weird the situation was. That this stranger would come and comfort her. But this was Callie, and everyone who knew her knew that random acts of kindness went over pretty well. She believed in the good in others.

Leaning back down, Calliope nuzzled herself against the kind stranger. Though it was comforting, it didn't stop her from crying. And she couldn't be bothered wiping her tears away anymore. "I hate crying." She admitted, quietly into her arm. It was mopey. It was pathetic. But it was true.

[Charlotte Greene]

"Mmm.. Crying's usually no fun.." It was anyone's guess as to whether or not Charlie was awake enough to know she was talking to someone and not just dreaming. She let out a light sigh and nuzzled further avainst Callie's arm. "But sometimes it's all you can do.. an' sometimes it's the best way to get the bad out so you can start feeling good again."

According to Charlie, sometimes it was, indeed, a good cry. And as far as judgement went for public crying.. Well, Charlie wasn't going to go there. Because if someone was crying in public they needed a friend, not a judge. Even if it was a very temporary (albeit necessary) friendship, someone to cry on was the most important thing in the world once in a while. Had Charlie been awake, she would have hugged Callie instead of just nuzzling against her arm.. but would have been there for the girl either way.

Speaking of hugs, suddenly an arm draped lightly over Callie's shoulders. "Just let out what you need to and maybe a little more.. Then we can look at the good stuff and then you don't have to cry anymore.." At that point, though, Charlie was blinking a bit.. the first signs that she was becoming aware of her surroundings. A girl.. crying.. Charlie's head on her arms.. empty classroom.. Crap, had she fallen asleep in class again? The teacher must be a bit of a jerk for not waking her up. Unless this girl had had a breakdown in the middle of class and Charlie had fallen asleep consoling her.. but that didn't make much sense. She'd remember that.

Oh.. She'd just been talking. Duh. And this girl hated crying.. and Charlie was telling her it was okay. Huh. This wasn't how Charlie usually woke up.. half hugging someone who was crying.. "Why are you crying? What happened? ...Is there anything I can do to help?" Pathetic mopey sad crying cute things were as much Charlie's weakness as anything else was.. Asleep or awake, she did want to help. Poor Callie was having a craptastic day and.. well.. Charlie was already here. Apparently already helping? She may as well at least try to find out the specifics so she could help.. better.

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie's response was a small sound emanating from her closed mouth. The type that resonated some kind of agreement. Crying wasn't fun. Usually or otherwise. But even still, there was something about her new found counterpart's voice that burrowed into the concept a little more. Was it really good to cry? It was an act born of overt frustration. That was the worst part of it all.

Still, she didn't have an answer to give. No answer seemed worthy.

"I just do, I guess. When I'm frustrated or angry. I can't stop." She replied, seemingly unaware that her counterpart had been enveloped in a walking slumber up until now. "I studied for this test and-" A pause; the hint of a sniffle as tears began drying up, "I missed it. I fell asleep. I-" Another pause. It wasn't going to help if she started crying again, "It's okay, really. I just feel like an idiot, but thanks anyway..."

[Charlotte Greene]

"Aww.. You poor thing." Missing tests was nothing new to Charlie. She did it.. kinda often. Too often, anyway. Often enough that her teachers were accustomed to it at this point, and if they wouldn't let her make the test up they would often let her do other work to help fix the grade. Charlie wasn't dumb, she was just sleep deprived half the time.

"I don't understand why you're trying to hard not to cry, though.. You're safe. We're the only ones here and I promise I'm not judging you. I know that if I need to cry and I don't it just builds up more and more.." Seriously.. Humans were the only animals that cried from emotional stimuli.. There had to be a reason for it. "My uncle James always told me that if I needed to cry, no matter what it was about, I just needed to find a shoulder that wouldn't hold it against me.. and I always felt better after. Sure.. it's pointless in the long run.. but so is being sad about something you can't change."

True enough. "And you aren't an idiot. You just.. tried too hard. Too much effort in one place, and the universe wanted some of it back. And what it took.. it replace with sadness... so now you gotta give the universe back some of the sadness and get it out. Crying is .. well, I guess it's how I do that." This may or may not have been Charlie's actual philosophy on life and negative emotions.. she did just wake up... "But if you have another way that isn't crying.. and you don't wanna cry.. then let's go do that. I'll come with you and I'll help you however I can." She wanted to tell Callie that crying didn't make her weak.. but it was almost impossible to make someone believe that. They had to figure it out on their own.

"And then we can get a smoothie.. Something yummy and sweet and not as typical as ice cream.. and if you're a fitness person we can go for a run after and burn it off.." Really, Charlie just wanted Callie to feel better. Be that by crying, by.. kickboxing or something, running, screaming.. or just having someone telling her it was okay. There was also the option of being left alone, but Charlie knew how easy it was to push people away when you needed them most and.. she was going to do her best to make sure that this poor girl didn't make the same mistake she so often did.

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie found comfort in the kind words from the stranger draped across her. She had a really good point - it was okay to cry. She told people that all the time, why couldn't she take her own advice?

She knew she shouldn't have felt self-conscious around someone who spoke such philosophically wonderful words to her. But when asked how she found the means to calm down in other situations, she felt it. And she wasn't really sure how to deal with it; self-consciousness was such a rarity. "You're a really nice person. Do you know that?" She asked, tentatively wiping her eyes. This time she was determined not to let any other tears flow. That was it.

"Don't laugh, okay?" Curiously, Callie glanced at her counterpart. She wondered what kind of reaction that'd get. "I really like to dance. It's... I don't know, the best way to just stop thinking."

[Charlotte Greene]

The pixie had simply grinned and given Callie's shoulders a light squeeze when told she was a nice person. She tried to be. She really did.. For her uncle as much as for herself or the people around her. It would be a pretty crappy legacy to her uncle if what he'd taught her was just dropped any time something remotely difficult happened. Having to expend a little energy or time was no excuse to be mean or to ignore someone who obviously needed a little of one or the other or both.

"I would never.." In reference to laughing. Charlie didn't laugh unless things were funny, and this situation wasn't funny.. so unless she was making Callie laugh and she was laughing with Callie, laughter wasn't an option just now. "Dancing?" .. Well crap. That was gonna be difficult. Charlie had always been a little more 'strong' than 'graceful'.. Sure, she appeared graceful while walking around, but dancing? Eek. "I.. well.. I don't really know how to dance.. but if it'll make you feel better I'll come with you and cheer you on? Or.. I could at least walk you to a place where you can dance and leave you alone.. --I'll even wait outside if you want."

What else could she offer? If Callie wanted to stop thinking, having to think about how to teach a complete newb how to dance wasn't going to help. At all. The only dancing Charlie knew how to do was ballroom dancing.. and even then just the simplest stuff where the other party lead. And the last time she'd done that, she'd still been small enough that she'd just stood on her uncle's feet and he'd done all the dancing while she held his hands and giggled up at him. So.. yeah, Charlie didn't really dance. And she had no clue what sort of dancing Callie did, either.

[Calliope Gallo]

Somehow Callie knew what she said was going to be a little awkward. She had a few people she could dance with - people who relied on it as much as she did to clear their heads. But they were probably busy now. In class. Or with the people their other friends.

She was equally comfortable where she was. Physical contact was such a driving factor in what made her comfortable, even if it was with someone she didn't really know. The genuine kindness of a stranger was always a little more invested than that of people she knew. Despite how that mightn't have made sense, it did to her. Kindness in the world was a virtue everyone should have carried.

"You know you don't have to come with me, right?" She asked suddenly, "I mean, if you want to, you can. I just-" Pausing suddenly, she shifted so she could run her fingers underneath her eyes. She was not going to cry again.

[Charlotte Greene]

"Well of course I don't have to.. But if it might help make you feel better, I want to. Cause I would hope that somebody would do something they didn't have to for me if I needed it.. How can I hope for it for me if I won't try my best to do it for other people?" Selflessness.. One of the waning traits in humanity somewhere close behind common sense and common decency. Surely openmindedness and likely genuine gratitude were up there as well. In fact, those may round out the top five most needed least owned traits of humans in first world countries. Or.. they were all in the top ten, at least. Definitely.

But here Callie was once again looking like she was having to try very hard to keep her eyes from leaking. Why the girl was so against crying, Charlie didn't know, but she had already expressed her thoughts on it and wasn't going to pester someone to cry just because it worked for her. No, instead, Charlie simply dropped her head against Callie's shoulder and tightened her arm around the girl. This way if a tear or two slipped out, Charlie couldn't see.. and Callie didn't seem in any way averse to contact. If anything, she'd seemed to appreciate it. So.. contact.

"So I'd be happy to go with you. And I'd be happy to stay with you or go away or whatever helped you most. I just want you to feel better." Charlie's speech would likely be a bit muffled via the fact that she was talking into the girl's arm, but she did mean it. If going away would help she would go away.. if sticking around would help, she'd stick around. Pretty much anything PG and reasonably appropriate was fair game. Heck, if Callie really, really needed someone to try to dance with her she would make a fool of herself and try. Fail fantastically, sure, but she'd try. Maybe one or both of them would get a laugh out of it.

[Calliope Gallo]

Whoever this girl was, she certainly gave a compelling argument. Calliope let everything that was said wash over her as she was hit by them. At the very least, let it never be said that she didn't try to save her new found counterpart from coddling a teenager about a failed test.

She eased back into the contact again, her determination failing slightly as another single tear fell from her eye. She didn't want to have to explain why she was so annoyed at herself - her family were successful. Even her wanderer brother Niko was doing great things and here she was, unable to find the means to appear at a test on time.

"Okay, walk with me?" Callie asked, opting to finally shift out of her chair. She looped an arm through the strap of her bag, hauling it onto her shoulder.

"Oh," A sudden realisation dawned on her; "You never told me what your name was."

[Charlotte Greene]

"Of course." Charlie would have gently removed herself and her arm from Callie and eased back, standing.. even if Charlie standing at the moment was still a bit wobbly. She had just woken up, after all. "My name? Oh.. Sorry, I'm Charlie. Or, Charlie is what my uncle James called me. Officially I'm Charlotte Greene, but.. Yeah, Charlie." She paused for a moment, though, blinking a few times. "Honestly I'm not sure if I was too sleepy to catch your name or if you haven't said it yet. You don't have to if you don't want to.."

Because maybe someone who was obviously so upset about crying.. had been doing it in front of someone else and might not want that someone stripping away any of the tiny bit of remaining anonymity between them? Or.. maybe that was a sleep-reason. One of those reasons that make perfect sense while sleepy but.. make no sense whatsoever and often can't even be remembered in their entirety once fully awake. Like wanting pork chop lasagna for breakfast.... Not as strange as her uncle actually making it, but.. yeah. Strange.

Still, they were apparently going somewhere, so Charlie bounced lightly on the spot before she moved around the desks to be next to Callie.. She wasn't sure if it was appropriate to hold hands here, or.. um.. single-file? Two abreast? What was the appropriate way to travel here, if she was accompanying someone while being lead and also being moral support? Hopefully Callie knew. Meanwhile, Charlie was going to be next to her, trying not to look awkward or too excited.

[Calliope Gallo]

Had Charlie faltered too badly, Callie would have been more than willing to lend her arm again. Truthfully, she was a felt a little more down with each passing second without contact. Nevertheless, the half-Greek committed the name to memory. She liked to be called Charlie, so Charlie it was.

"I didn't. It's Callie-" She paused suddenly, shifting slightly. She supposed it was okay. "Calliope. Gallo. But... Everyone calls me Callie."

Part of her wanted to cringe; the other half wanted to hide it. There was just no way she was ever going to be completely comfortable with the name given to her. So Callie, indeed, it always was.

One bypassing the awkward file of desks, Callie instinctively sought the hand of her new counterpart. It was smooth. Seamless. Like an subconscious afterthought - the natural progression of a moment. She intertwined their fingers together, even going so far as to offer a smile as she walked along the halls towards the exit. "Did you ever tell me what you like to do for fun?" She asked, "There must me more to you than comforting strangers."

[Charlotte Greene]

"Callie." Nodnod. Charlie and Callie. It had a bit of a ring to it. It sounded pleasant. C-names went together pretty well. Or.. since Charlie hadn't seen 'Callie' spelled, it could be a K name and a C name.. but both were C-sounds so.. that's what she'd go with in her reasoning. Blame sleepiness. Blah.

"Well I think you have a pretty name, and an equally pretty nickname, Miss Gallo." And being silly Charlie gave a small bow.. only to find that suddenly her hand was occupied and she was being lead down the hall. So apparently holding hands was, in fact, the correct course of action. She'd have to try to remember that. When comforting someone and hanging out with them, hand-holding was perfectly okay. At least if it was another girl. Maybe boys were different.. She didn't have much experience with people in general, let alone boys. Heck, a boy likely would have done the macho thing and gotten angry instead of being sad about missing a test. Nah. Girls were easier to understand and easier to comfort. And, in Charlie's mind, they were less likely to assume that being nice was just a way to introduce oneself as being easy.

"Oh.. I'm actually.. uhm.. pretty boring. I'm kinda one of those bookworm people? I like cheesy fiction stories and fantasy worlds.. Princesses and fairies and good versus evil. Kinda figured I ended up being a pixie, huh?" She fluttered her wings behind her with a small grin. "Other than books though.. I really like animals and there's a white stray kitty that I try to keep tabs on that lives around here somewhere. I guess I walk a lot? Um.. I tend to people-watch when I'm walking the school grounds.. For being a giant butterfly, I guess I'm more invisible than I let myself believe, because most people either don't notice me or ignore me. That's okay, though. I'm way less awkward when I'm sleepy or when somebody is sad.. And right now is kinda both, so you get the least awkward Charlie that can ever happen." She gave Callie's hand a light squeeze, trying to keep the mood light.

"Tell me about the kind of dancing you do, Callie.. Are you into ballet? Ballroom type things? Interpretive stuff? Crazy flipping and gymnastics or something like that? I really don't know a lot about dancing. At all."

[Calliope Gallo]

"You're too kind." Callie replied, offering an equally silly bow with her words. She was feeling much brighter than she had only five minutes ago. She had only Charlie to thank for that.

Callie listened as she spoke. She was relieved not to be leading the conversation - in times of disarray, she preferred to be the listener. Out of it all, there was one statement that seemed to stick with the half-Greek dancer. Her bright blue eyes offered a small look of legitimate concern. "You shouldn't be invisible." She said simply, "You're way too nice not to get noticed." And while it may have sounded confusing, Callie understood her own meaning clearly.

"I try to do as many different styles as I can handle, honestly." She explained, even more grateful for a subject she could readily talk about. "When I was a kid it was all about ballet and jazz stuff. Ballroom dancing was sort of a given - my dad has a lot of functions where it's a requirement." Carefully, she knew she was bordering on a well kept secret about her life. Her monetary status was never really important to her. "Contemporary stuff came a lot later, especially when I got my powers. They're... Kinda messed up."

Callie looked at her tentatively. She wouldn't show unless she was asked to.