Fingers Crossed... [Oriel]

[Deleted]

“Damn straight,” he said hiding a slight tension in his voice. Oriel should know. It hurt then. It still hurt now. It was always going to hurt. The twins idea was dumb. He shouldn’t have mentioned it. “Think it’d be their lucky day, they’d get two mommies.” He returned the smirk, a short laugh escaping from his lips. Oriel loved banter, it was one of his favorite pastimes and coping mechanisms, so he was trying to focus more on that fact than what the topic of it was. “Unless there’s something you’re not telling me. I mean, you’re a bit husky for a chick, but might just be my imagination.”

While Oriel wanted to go at the bag of flour with cleaver himself, or maybe a baking pan and a spatula, he wasn’t in the mood to screw this up until after the whole shindig was over. And actually, despite his protests before, he was having more fun with it than he expected to so far. Having a cute girl to tease and entertain certainly had a lot to do with it.

“You are today,” he shot back with a half smile. “Keep me entertained enough, might upgrade you to girlfriend. Then, if we make it through this alive, I’ll grant you the title of ‘mommy’.” Oriel cocked his head as he turned it to look at her with playfully patronizing eyes, his eyebrows raised up to his hairline. Alex might not be able to see the expression, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to make it. He moved back to the diagram, which was almost done. Oriel pursed his lips as the next question came, still not liking nor appreciating people’s tendency to ask about each other’s power like it was some sort of required greeting. “Sexual Seduction,” he lied against his better judgement. “I just look at a girl and five minutes later, they’re lying in my bed begging for more. Must be something about my eyes, they’re quite enchanting. Don’t worry, though, I think you’re safe, being blind and all.” Was that too much? Maybe he’d tell her later.

[Genesis Kyland]

Tension. Alex tilted her head very slightly, wondering if she'd misheard the very faint shift in his voice, likely unnoticeable to most people, along with the equally slight shift in his heartbeat. Something the twins, or the separating them, had struck a chord. However, she wasn't one to pry, so she acted quickly to cover up her pause and consideration of it. Whatever it was, she doubted he was the type to talk about his feelings, and if he was, she doubted he'd appreciate doing so with someone he'd just met. And she wasn't sure she wanted someone she'd just met to spill their soul to her anyway. It would just be awkward.

So instead she gave a snort at his comment about being "husky for a chick". "Shh, it's a secret," she said in a stage whisper. "I have the reputation of a perfectly traditional and normal girl to keep up, dontcha know." She gave a serious nod, though a shadow of a smirk lingered on her face.

"Fine then, big brother." She rolled her eyes. "And if I'm your little sister, then it'd be pretty darn awkward if I got upgraded to your girlfriend, wouldn't it? The scandalous-ness of it would definitely have people talkin'." She shook her head solemnly. "Shoulda thought that one out, bro."

She tilted her head to the side as he stated his power, listening carefully to the intonation and heartbeat. Lie, she was pretty sure. Not that it was her business. "I'm sure your eyes cause girls all over the world to swoon," she said drily. "If you don't want to tell me your power, you can just say so, y'know." She leaned against the wall with a shrug. "Just 'cause someone asks don't mean they're entitled to know, but y'don't gotta lie about it." She turned her head to face him. "Mine's Echolocation and hearing-- pretty handy for a blind gal, huh?" She smirked. "Lucked out with that one."

[Deleted]

Oriel wasn’t interested in sharing. Hell, he hadn’t even told Phoenix about that chapter of his life yet(though he’d come close to telling Carleigh), it was unthinkable that he’d tell a complete stranger about his twin. He wasn’t ever going to see her again, he’d long since accepted that, so it wasn’t like telling anyone was going to change anything. Though it Oriel had realized that Alex notice his unease, he would have appreciated her not saying anything. It was easier when people pretended like it wasn’t there.

His strained smile brightened a bit at her response. Man, he liked this chick. “Don’t worry, I’m good at keeping secrets.” Oriel clearly had many of his own. “Wouldn’t want people to find out you got more balls than the average dick.” And he meant that in the sweetest way possible.

Oriel snickered, shaking his shoulders in amusement. “From sister to girlfriend, huh? Kinky. I’m game.” Was he serious? Who knew? Oriel was into some pretty twisted shit.

Ah…so she caught the lie? Oriel blinked up at her briefly, a smirk still on his lips, then back down at the paper. He was done with it, Oriel was just scribbling around now. “Thanks,” he said. He agreed. It was nobody’s business but people threw that question around like they threw out handshakes. Oriel listened quietly as she described her own. “Practically the same as my dance teacher,” he commented. “Yeah…pretty lucky, you got something useful.”

Oriel paused for another moment before speaking again. “Ink manip,” he offered. “I can move ink around, pull it out of the page into a solid version of what it was drawn as. It’s still ink though, so can put it back into something too.” He shrugged. “Ain’t very useful.”

[Genesis Kyland]

"Well thanks, I appreciate your secrecy." Alex crossed her arms and nodded solemnly. "My reputation's very important to me, you know. So that could've been a close one."

Alex rolled her eyes. "I thought you said you had a boyfriend, doofus. Don't make me find out who he is and tell on ya." She raised her eyebrows significantly. "I think it's better we remain purely siblings, don't you? Less gossip and broken hearts all 'round."

"Your dance teacher is an echo-locater too?" She hm'd. "Might have to meet her sometime, if we're so similar. And hey, if you're in dance, do you know Rayleigh? He's in dance too." She asked the question more out of curiosity than anything, figuring they probably moved in fairly different circles. But even if they did, it was always fun to have mutual friends.

Alex considered a moment before venturing, "I think most powers are useful somehow. Given the right situation. And all of them can be unhelpful on occasion too." She shrugged. "Like, I can't maneuver as well when I'm around a bunch of people, because all the soundwaves get jumbled up and I get a headache from all the racket." Of course, she usually loved her power, because when she wasn't around a bunch of people, she could "see". It was only those days when she was sick in bed with a fall-over-and-die migraine that she ever wished she had a different power. Of course, on those days she really wished it.

Ink manipulation? "So you could make yourself a sword or somethin'? Would it be sharp? Or would you have to sharpen it first?" She hadn't yet really met someone with this power, and so she had to restrain herself from bombarding him with questions and demanding a demonstration. "If you made a flower would it smell good? Or would it smell like ink?" So many possibilities... How could someone dub that as not useful?

[Deleted]

Oriel shook his head, clearly amused. “Did I say that? Meh, I’m sure he won’t mind, after he gets to know you a little.” Well, probably not now, but old habits died hard and….meh, he wasn’t exactly being serious. Maybe half.

“Yeah…something like that. She calls it vibration sight or something. But she basically taps her foot on the ground and is supposed to see shit from the echos or something.” Oriel shrugged. “I don’t really get it.” Oriel didn’t really get how half the powers here worked and he had no interest in learning if only because it seemed like too much work.

He cocked an eyebrow at the name. It sounded familiar. “Rayleigh?” He thought for a moment, cycling through the faces he remembered from the dance team. “You mean…Ray, that hyperactive giant?” He wasn’t so much a giant as just tall. And skinny. And definitely made of butterflies and rainbows. Oriel would probably wind up with diabetes if he stuck around him too long. “Never talked to him,” he said curtly.

Oriel supposed Alex had a point about all powers being useful somewhat in their own way, he just still couldn’t see how his own was. Well, it had it’s uses. But then what about Phoenix’s power? Sure the flying thing was pretty cool and if he put in enough practice it could be really convenient eventually. But the pink dust? Probably only be good to sell in dark alleys for extra cash. At least, that was the best that Oriel could come up with.

Oriel shrugged. “Yeah, I mean…I thought it’d be cool like that too but…shit ain’t that durable so’s only got a one time use.” He grinned. “Sure is sharp though. And feels like the real thing sometimes. Well, real metal.” But as for the flower… Oriel shook his head, despite her not being able to see. “Nah, can’t make anything alive. So plants ’n animals’re out.” He’d tried before and they just come out as plastic or ceramic figurines.

[Genesis Kyland]

"Yeah, you did sorta say you had a boyfriend earlier," Alex mused. "But I suppose you're right. No idea why anyone's boyfriend or girlfriend would mind something like that." She gave a "careless" shrug and moved on.

Alex nodded as Oriel explained his teacher's power. "Yeah, sounds about the same as mine." Except it sounded like the teacher was way better at it. Which made sense, of course, she was a teacher, and Alex had only been learning for a few years.

"Yeah, him." She snickered both at Oriel's reply and his answer. As she'd thought, they weren't the types to really hang out together. "Never talked to him, hm? Y'should sometime, I'm sure you two would get along great." A faint grin continued to hover on her face as she said this. She would've been willing to pay money to watch them react to each other.

Ah, so no plants or animals. All the same... "Hey, you could make money then too, couldn'tcha? Theoretically?" 'Course, it'd have to be perfectly drawn, maybe tracing it would be easier, but... She liked this idea. She would totally utilize something like that to further her intent to travel everywhere. The whole travel expense problem would be solved! "Your power might not be the easiest to make work," she went on, "But I don't see how y'could call it un-useful. Ever tried tracin' things?"

[Deleted]

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. She could probably explain it better.” Oriel honestly didn’t really care how things worked, as long as they did it didn’t matter to him. “If you want, you can probably come sit in on practice sometime, maybe get to meet her once we’re done or something?” It probably wouldn’t do her much to sit and watch though, seeing as she couldn’t see, but then it wasn’t his call.

“Maybe,” Oriel mused, thinking about whether or not he and Raylaigh would even get along. The guy seemed to really enjoy what he did, but still seemed like the kind of guy Oriel would rather punch in the face than talk to. The guy seemed like a pushover. Like…Oriel could literally push him over and be done with it.

Money? Oriel hadn’t thought about that before. “I don’t know, never tried. Maybe.” He’d have to look into it. Then again even if he could…would he really want to? Oh, well, problem for another day, he’d ask his trainer about it or something. “Not really. I probably could just…I don’t really think of tracing as art much. I mean, that’s just copying, right? Nothing original ‘bout that.”

[Genesis Kyland]

"That'd be fun." Alex nodded. Even if she couldn't "see" what was going on, she could at least listen and maybe pick up on a couple techniques from the teacher. Techniques for using her power, of course, not dancing. Dancing was a pain she wasn't willing to deal with herself. Nah, she left that to people who were actually good at it. Or at least interested in it.

She shrugged. Really, she was pretty sure they wouldn't get along. He'd probably get on Oriel's nerves, and Ray would probably wonder why on earth Oriel wasn't returning his friendliness. Yeah, it would be quite the show to hear.

"Does your art have to be original for it to work?" she asked. She was pretty sure she knew the answer... Copying things or any reason was probably against the artists' code or something. Even if she could see, she felt pretty sure she still wouldn't really understand artists.

"Hey, when do y'wanna go get Stevie's twin?" she added, shifting "Stevie" in her arms as she asked. She home ec had been her last class of the day, so she was already starting to plan out how she'd use the rest of her time. Not to mention she wanted to make sure that the twin buying wouldn't go forgotten.

[Deleted]

Oriel shrugged. “I don’t know. Guess that’s what I always thought what art was.” But then again, he wasn’t an artist, so how would he know. It just seemed like a cheap thing to do to just copy something someone else had done and call it “art”. Maybe he could get Phoenix to explain it to him? Though, the last time Oriel tried drawing something, it had turned into a turd-worm and he gave it to Erik. Snake-boy seemed to like it, despite it’s faults.

His ears perked up when Alex mentioned getting Stevie’s “twin”, having nearly forgotten about that suggestion. And how he didn’t want it anymore. Oriel pursed his lips in his distaste for the idea. “Actually…I’m going to pass on the whole “twin” thing,” he said, still trying to hide his disturbance with the idea. “No point in doing more work than we have to, right?” He shifted to stand up, the diagram long since finished. “I should get to my next class,” he sighed. “You want to take him now, or should I?”

[Genesis Kyland]

Oriel didn't sound particularly sure of the art "debate". Maybe he didn't really consider himself an artist? She'd automatically assumed that he must have, because of his power, but on second thought, he'd been dismissive enough of his power earlier that perhaps he didn't think himself an artist. Huh. Weird. How lame would it be to get stuck with a power that didn't fit your skill set in the least?

Alex felt a mild tingle of disappointment as Oriel expressed that he'd changed his mind about the twin deal. She supposed that it made sense though-- it would make the assignment more difficult. However, she just hoped that he wouldn't be as fickle when it came to taking good care of the flour kid. "I can take him," she said as he rose to get to his next class. And later she'd also go to the store and get a backup flour bag, just in case. They didn't need to do the twin thing to have two bags of flour, right? She'd just keep it in her closet...

She shifted Stevie in her arms and gave a mock salute. "Seeya. I'll take good care of the baby."