new friends, quiet places [Edith]

[Estelle Flores]

Estelle tapped on the polished wood of the library tables with her fingertips. She was excited to be meeting with her new partner for this history project. Edith seemed like a really nice person, if a little shy and very obviously new to Hammel. Estelle remembered what that was like. Estelle wanted to make the younger girl feel welcome at Hammel, because she would have wanted a helping hand when she was the new student at Hammel. She leaned back in her chair, waiting for the younger girl to show up. She showed up earlier on purpose; she loved the library and being around books and people and people reading books. In some circles, that probably made her a gigantic dork. But that was okay. She was pretty good with being a gigantic dork. Smiling to herself, she glanced around the room, looking at the other students silently bent over their readings. Estelle liked to watch other people, especially when they were doing something like reading, or playing an instrument. It was like you got a little insight into their mind.

For example. There was a girl in the far table with a stack of textbooks in front of her. There was a boy who looked like he was reading a book on human physiology, but in reality, he was playing solitaire on his ipod. A boy and a girl were leaning together over a textbook, foreheads almost touching, casting shy grins at each other. Estelle grinned wider and turned back to the door, finally catching sight of Edith. Smiling, Estelle straightened up and waved, catching Edith’s attention.

“Hi.” She smiled at the other girl as she sat down, “How was your day today? Your classes go well and stuff?”

[Edith Love]

Edith looked around the library, trying to find her project partner. She knew Estelle by sight only, since they did have class together but had never really talked. Estelle was the girl who always had the right answers, which gave Edie a sense of relief because history was certainly not one of her strong points. In fact, she was pretty horrible at it. She could never get all the dates and places and people to match up right in her head.

She walked by the stacks of books toward the study area and scanned the tables. It took her a moment to spot Estelle, as she was on the other side of the giant pile of books one girl had on her table. The angle actually made it look like Estelle had no body, just a head smiling on top of "Calculus: The Essentials". The image made Edie giggle involuntarily as she hurried toward Estelle's table and she hadn't completely finished by the time she reached it.

Edie dropped her bag on the floor and sat in a chair across from her partner. She stuck her hand out and introduced herself. "I'm Edie. You're name is Estelle, right?" Her soft southern accent made 'Estelle' sound more like 'Estayl'. "I didn't have any tests, so it's been a great day!" Edie joked, smiling at Estelle with a mixture of excitement and nerves. "How 'bout you? Classes not too boring?" Estelle seemed like a nice girl, she had warm eyes and a nice smile. Hopefully I'll get a friend out of this project, I've been feelin' kinda homesick Edith thought to herself as the two girls shook hands.

[Estelle Flores]

“Hi Edith! Yeah, that’s me.” Estelle shook Edith’s hand enthusiastically, deciding that she liked this girl already (big surprise), “No tests is always good!” She shrugged pleasantly as Edie asked about her own classes, “They’re going well. Math is giving me troubles as always, but I’m getting by.” She laughed again, “What can you do, right?” She had to work to keep her voice down to a library-appropriate level. “So! Shall we get to work?”

She sat down, gesturing for Edith to sit down across from her. “So you’re relatively new to Hammel, right? It’s my second year here, myself” She kept her voice light and noninvasive. Sometimes people felt really self-conscious about being new, and Estelle didn’t want to make the other girl feel uncomfortable. “At any rate, we’ve never really talked before, but I’m really excited to be working with you! I think this is gonna be fun.” Estelle rubbed her hands together in glee. She loved History. It was her second favorite subject, immediately following English. “So, we have to do something about World War I. But it’s such a big topic, I don’t even know how I’d narrow it down.” She sighed, grinning and setting her cheek on her hand, “Good thing I have a partner, huh?”

Estelle pulled a stack of books out of her bag, now fully in Geek Mode. “So these are mine,” She set them down on the table, “But we don’t have to use them, but I think it’d be a good idea to focus on a certain aspect of World War I, instead of the whole darned thing.” She caught herself and grinned self-consciously, brushing back her hair from her face, “Sorry. I got carried away. Don’t let me make you feel awkward, by the way. Lemme know if I’m boring you, or annoying you. It can happen.” She smiled reassuringly, hoping the other girl wouldn’t be put off by Estelle’s academic enthusiasm.

[Edith Love]

Edith had no problem with the fact that she was new. She missed her family, sure, but they were all being really supportive after the initial shock of having a meta in the clan. "I've only been here a few months, I'm definitely still settlin' in. I miss my family, 'specially my brothers, but I call them on the weekends. It helps." Edie shrugged nonchalantly, her quirky smile never faltering. She loved her family, and she missed them, but she wasn't going to let that take away from her experience at Hammel. Like her mamma always said, you gotta make the best of what you've got. She was gonna have fun here whether she liked it or not!

Estelle's excitement and enthusiasm made Edie laugh - a good-natured laugh, not an I'm-making-fun-of-you laugh. "Well I'm sure glad you're so excited! That will definitely make this project a lot more fun, since I'm not much of a history person. I'm really better at math and science. They just make more sense to me." Edie smiled sheepishly at Estelle. It's not exactly the best thing to admit to a project partner that you are no good at the subject. "I'm sure we can find somethin' interestin' to study. We just gotta brainstorm a little, and we got all those books to give us ideas." Edie was actually getting kind of excited about this project - Estelle's enthusiasm was infectious!

Edie pulled out her history textbook and flipped to the WWI section. "Let's see... We could do a project on... um... one of the major battles... or... uh... one specific country's involvement..." Edie's brow knit together in concentration. Man, she really wasn't any good at this kind of stuff! She chastised herself mentally for being so negative, Edith Love! Don't you start thinking like that. Life gave you a big ol' history lemon, now go make some lemonade! She laced her fingers together and then turned her palms away from her body and stretched her arms forward, causing all of her knuckles to pop. Alright, now she was ready to really get to work!

[Estelle Flores]

Estelle nodded, “Yeah, I hear you. It’s been two years for me, so you get used to it, but I still get homesick sometimes.” She caught her smile before it faded and spread it wider across her face. It was always better to smile than to dwell on it. “But it’s good you’re hanging in there. Hammel’s great. It’s like a little second family!” She beamed at Edie’s cheerful demeanor, “I bet you’re gonna have tons of friends in no time.”

Estelle joined Edie in laughing at her own excitement, “Ah, you’re into science and math? Maybe you could help me sometime, since math’s one of my toughest subjects. And that’s cool, History’s not for everyone. I infinitely prefer English to pretty much anything else, and next is a tie between History and Gym.” She looked at Edie, a smile still on her face, “Do play sports or anything like that? I do gymnastics, it’s my favorite thing to do when I’m stressed.” Estelle stopped herself, laughing lightly, “Dude, I am officially talking way too much about myself. Tell me about you! You said you had brothers? I’ve got one older one myself. Where are you in the family age group?”

She nodded, leaning over to look at Edie’s textbook. She could sense Edie’s discomfort and wanted to make her feel better about it, “That’s a good idea! Major battles are always interesting. We could do…” She wracked her brain, thinking of a good one, “Well, there’s the Battle of Verdun, obviously, and that one’s kinda cool because it was between the French and the German armies, and the French general, Petain, had the motto “they shall not pass” which always reminds me of Lord of the Rings” Estelle grinned, “You know…” She mimed slamming a staff on the ground, “You. Shall not. Pass!” The last part was a little louder than she intended, and she ducked her head in apology, smiling sheepishly. “Or we could do the Battle of the Somme, but that one always makes me sad.”

Estelle rubbed her forehead, looking sheepish again, “Don’t let me run this thing, Edie. I get kind of excited, but if you have an idea you like, please do say something.” She smiled encouragingly, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

[Edith Love]

Edie was loving how excited Estelle was about everything. She was so open and happy, Edie just couldn't be shy, even if she tried. Which she wasn't. This was definitely someone she would like to make friends with! "Anytime you need help with math, let me know! My little brother Lukas always said I was a real good teacher. His problem isn't so much that he doesn't understand, though, just that he has the attention span of a goldfish." Edith's face turned nostalgic thinking about home. She shook herself mentally, hey! No moping!

She re-focused and made a playfully disparaging noise at Estelle's comment about her talking too much. "No worries!" Edie said while flipping to the page in her book about the Battle of Verdun, "I like learnin' about people. I grew up in a tiny little farmin' town, so everyone knew everyone! I don't think there was a single stranger there. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm related to about half of them anyway." Edie shrugged and giggled. "But, um, my family is pretty big, at least that's what people here seem to think. I'm the second oldest under Joey, who is a total pain in the butt. Then there's Richard, Lukas, Roland and baby Stephen. He's my favorite, he's such a cute baby! So, yeah, six of us all together. We all used to play football out in the fields when chores were done, except by the time I left I was gettin' pretty pathetic at it because I'd try to tackle Rich and he'd just keep runnin' with me on his back!" Edie gave Estelle a what-can-you-do? look, "I can't really roughhouse with my brother's anymore, so I've been going running in the mornings. It clears my head." Edie made a noncommittal little hand wave, as if it weren't really important. Though really, it was. At least, it was to Edith. She didn't realize how much she loved running until she hadn't done it for a few days when she first got to Hammel.

Edie quickly scanned the pages on the Battle of Verdun. "The Battle of Verdun sounds good to me, it was pretty excitin'. I can see why it reminded you of The Lord of the Rings." She gave Estelle a playful look, so as to tell her that she did, in fact, get the joke.

[Estelle Flores]

“Oh, awesome.” Estelle beamed, “I always need extra help in math. I can get by in Biology because dissection is awesome. But all the numbers in the math textbook seem to magically turn into squiggly hieroglyphics and make by brain hurt.” Estelle made a goofy face and wiggled her fingers to illustrate just how squiggly numbers became in her head. Hey, nobody ever said she was refined.

Estelle listened attentively as Edie talked about her family. She could tell by Edie’s face that she missed her family and that they were close. Estelle’s own smile turned a little wistful, but she put aside her own small sadnesses to listen to Edie talk about her brothers. Estelle laughed at the other girl’s descriptions of their football games. “That’s awesome!” Estelle laughed, “Yeah, brothers can do that sometimes. They’re just always growing.” Estelle rolled her eyes in mock-exasperation. “But it’s good that you’ve found something that clears your head. Gymnastics does that for me. It’s like… flying, but a little more flippy.” She snickered at her own weak description, “Wow, that sentence really got away from me. I promise it’s cooler than how I made it sound.” She didn’t say anything about her family, mostly because the other girl didn’t really ask and also because she didn’t want to ruin the mood with the confession that she hadn’t really talked to her family in a year. Or more. Quickly, Estelle continued, “But yeah, if you ever need a running buddy sometime, I’m volunteering myself.” She grinned at Edith, happy to be making a friend of this girl.

She laughed at the Lord of the Rings joke, “I totally love Lord of the Rings, I’m super dorky. But yeah, that’s what I always think of. We could do a presentation on what went on there and the eventual outcome. The visual can really be as simple as a giant poster board or something. I’m not too, too artsy. What about you? How are your artistic muscles?”

[Edith Love]

Edie smiled when Estelle made the squiggly fingers. "I totally understand! That even happens to people that like math. If the problem is too complicated, it looks like someone is writin' it in a different language. Which, in a way, they are, since math is its own language. If I break it down into smaller pieces I can usually figure it out, though." Edie paused, and then blushed slightly, "Now I'm the one getting all overexcited! See, you're not the only person who does it." She gave Estelle a mischievous look, to show that they were in cahoots on the whole being a nerd thing.

Edith loved talking about her family. It was what she knew, because before now they were her whole life. Coming to Hammel had giving her a kind of independence most from her town would never have, but she had lost the entangled sense of community she had always taken for granted. This transition was both happy and sad, but making friends was definitely shifting the balance, and a running partner would be good too. "I'd love to have a runnin' buddy! And I've never done gymnastics, but I've seen it on the T.V. I could try, but I'm not promising it'll be pretty. You said it's like flyin'? I always chose that as my superpower. Y'know, in that game where you have to chose between flight and invisibility. It's s'posed to reflect on your personality or somethin'."

Edith looked back down at the book. Right, they were supposed to be working. She gave Estelle an apologetic look. "Well, I, ah, I can draw a pretty good stick figure. But maybe we can find some pictures in the books or online and use those for the poster? Like, photocopy them or somethin'?" Edie really wasn't good at this whole presentation thing, public speaking made her a little nervous.

Edith realized she had been doing exactly what Estelle had been so embarrassed about earlier. "Goodness! Look at me goin' on. Now I'm the one talkin' too much! Tell me about yourself! I meant what I said, I love learning about people." She cupped a hand behind her ear in an attempt to be funny. Usually she just ended up making herself look like a fool, but maybe Estelle liked that kind of funny. who knew?

(OOC: Sorry this took so long. My bad!)

[Estelle Flores]

Estelle beamed at the other girl, “Dude, being an overexcited nerd is awesome.” She held up her hand for a high five. “But yeah,” She continued, “It would be really nice to have someone to give me a hand on math. I’m in Algebra II right now, and it’s driving me crazy, let me tell you. I can’t even comprehend the directions most of the time, and those are in English.” She rolled her eyes, grinning at Edith. “And if you ever need any help with stuff, definitely let me know. I’ll put my dork to good use, I swear.” She put her hand over her heart as if swearing an oath.

She brightened at Edith’s acceptance of her running buddy offer. “Awesome! Just lemme know whenever you wanna run, and I’m game.” She giggled, “Gymnastics is fun, I would totally love to teach you some stuff. Do you know how to do a cartwheel? Mostly because it’s one of the first things you learn and a lot of stuff is mostly variations of that. Also tumbling. I love to tumble.” She grinned at Edith, bouncing in her chair a little. “Oh, I wanted to be telekinetic, when I played superheroes with my brother. And I had a flying thing, like Static Shock, did you ever see that cartoon?” She shook her head nostalgically. “It was a good TV show. And… well, I guess I almost got the power I wanted. Metallikinesis is close to telekinesis.” She looked thoughtful, “I wonder what that says about my personality.”

Estelle laughed, “Yeah, I can’t do much either. I can do, like a border or something. I wish I was artistic, but alas,” She looked exaggeratedly dramatic, “It was not to be.” She grinned and looked through her own textbook, “Oh, that’s a good idea. Then we can set the pictures to borders of colored poster paper or something like that so nobody can say we didn’t to the work. And then we can make an outline for our actual presentation. If we have the main points on the poster itself, we won’t have to remember so much in the oral part of the presentation. So that’ll be good.”

At Edith’s humor, Estelle laughed, a little too loudly for the library. She clapped her hand to her mouth, her eyes widening in sheepish embarrassment. “I am way too giggly right now,” Estelle sighed in apology. “Buut…” She let the word draw out as she thought about what to tell Edith so as not to bore her. “I have an older brother and a mom. My dad died of cancer when I was five, and that was hard.” She nodded, smiling to keep the mood relatively light, “And I have a few friend at home who aren’t meta. I talk to them a lot over the phone or email. They’re like my second family, I don’t know what I’d do without them, really.” She smiled, thinking back on her friends and she felt a pang of homesickness. Her friends had been there for her when her mother was too afraid to be. They meant so much to her. “I miss them lots, but they’re planning on coming down to visit me for Christmas, I hope. If they do, I’ll introduce them to you, if you want.” She smiled at Edith, happy to have made a new friend.

[OOC: no worries, it wasn't a long wait at all!]

[Edith Love]

Edie grinned a huge, silly, toothy grin that made her look about half her actual age. "Ooh! Gymnastics sounds so exciting!" Edie clapped her hands together in front of her very lightly, so as not to make too much noise, "I'm really good at tumblin', since you gotta be able to fall without hurting yourself when you play as rough as I do. I can cartwheel too, it's just not very graceful. And I'm a little out of practice." She shrugged, her ridiculous smile never changing. "It'll be like I'm in the Olympics!"

Edie couldn't help but be a little overexcited now, she loved learning new things, especially if they were physical. "Oh yeah! I remember Static Shock! My brothers and I watched that together all the time when we were kids. Well, at least when we actually had half an hour that wasn't filled with chores." Edie giggled softly, remembering how they would all pile onto the same tattered little couch and stare at the outdated television screen. "Metallikenesis sounds cool! Can you manipulate any metal? Oh, can you make sculptures?" Yup, she was definitely overexcited. "I have biological manipulation, like healing people, but I can't figure out how to stop it from hurting when I do it. I mean, I'm fixing them, but it kinda feels like the part that's getting fixed is on fire. I'm working on it in training, but, well, you know." Edie made a generally dismissive hand gesture. Her stupid grin still hadn't faded.

Edie tried to get serious so she could work, she really did, but every time she managed to put on a straight face it cracked back into a smile within seconds. She finally gave up and just smiled through her research, though it didn't seem very studious to her. She pulled some sticky notes out of her bag and used them to mark pages in her text book that had good pictures on them. She continued to chat while she marked pages. "How do you want to organize the presentation? Chronologically?" That was one of the first things she learned about presentations, organize! It made things SO much easier to remember.

Now Estelle had done it. Edith liked her, and Estelle had made herself vulnerable. That put Edie instantly into sister mode. She launched herself across the table, pushing books to the floor in her haste to get to the other girl. The polished wood sent her a little further and faster than she had expected, and she hit Estelle with a little more force than she meant to, but she still gave her the hug of her life. "Oh you poor thing! I can't even imagine how awful that must have been! My Pa is, well, he's my Pa! That must have been so hard on you! I'm so sorry! If there is anythin' I can do, you let me know, OK?" Her voice was slightly muffled by her own arm, but she was definitely understandable. Edie was a very well trained big sister, and the fact that Estelle was older than her didn't change that at all.

[Estelle Flores]

Estelle nodded vigorously, “That was a great show.” She sighed nostalgically, missing the old days when everything made a lot more sense. None of that right now, Miss Flores she thought briskly. This was not a time for being sad; not when she was making new friends! “Oh, metallikenesis is pretty cool, I guess,” She shrugged, smiling awkwardly. She never knew what to say when someone complimented her powers. It wasn’t as though she had any hand in what they would be. But still, Edie’s interest in her power made her laugh, “I could make sculptures, I think. I’ve just never tried it before.” Really, the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind. If she could make beautiful things with her power, it might make her feel better about it as a whole, “And yeah, I can manipulate any type of metal in any of its forms in any quantity.” Really, it was the fact that her ability was so powerful that really scared her. Apparently, if she was properly trained, she could control the metals in the human body and therefore control the person. That freaked her out. But she wasn’t about to tell all this to her new friend. She definitely wanted to keep her as a friend, thank you very much.

She brightened at Edie’s own power. “Oooh, you can heal people? That’s amazing. You could do so much good once you’re all trained up.” She sighed a little enviously. Her power couldn’t help people, it was just weird. “You’ll get it though! It probably just takes some practice.” She smiled encouragingly at her friend. “And that’s what we’re here for, right?” Estelle laughed, wiggling a little in her chair.

Estelle snorted, “Oh right. Our project.” She grinned a little guiltily at Edie before biting her lip in thought, “Yeah, I think that would be a good idea. If we had one of those… you know, stand-up… three section… things. You know? Those ones that kids put their science projects on in the second grade? If we had one of those, we could have a section for timeline, major players, and the impacts of the battle on the rest of the war. “ She shrugged, “That might make it easier to present and easier for people to follow, I think. What do you think?”

She squeaked in surprise as Edith hugged her, but Estelle returned the hug gratefully. “Aw, thanks Edie.” She said, her voice muffled by her new friend’s shoulder. “It was a little hard,” She confessed, “Like, surreal, you know? And it was like… it didn’t make sense that he wasn’t ever coming back.” She shrugged, “Sometimes I still think that.” She glanced over at Edith and laughed briefly, “Now that I’ve totally killed the happy… But thanks, if I need anything, I’ll be sure to let you know. Even though it will probably just involve math tutoring.” She beamed at Edie, “And maybe we could work on our powers together.” She shrugged, “Maybe it’s easier with someone supporting you.”

[Edith Love]

As far as Edith was concerned, Estelle's power might have just been the coolest ever. Basically everything was made of metal! There was so much awesome stuff she could do! Edie could also tell that Estelle was not nearly as thrilled with it. Edie couldn't exactly understand why, until she absorbed Estelle's comment about her own power. "You could help people too! I mean, you could make support beams for a new house, or save someone who is trapped inside a car - like if they got in an accident or something and the car was upside down and crumpled - or you could cure someone of heavy metal poisoning, or remove a bullet without making the wound worse! That is so cool!" Edie paused, realizing she was getting a little over excited. "I mean, it's not like I'm jealous or obsessed with metal or something, it just seems like there is so much neat stuff you can do. I like being able to heal people, I just kinda wish I'd developed something that could do more. Or something that could help me if I'm at the bottom of a dog-pile." She gave Estelle a mischievous look, hoping to break any tension she had inadvertently caused.

Edie looked down at her sticky-note coated book and wished she were procrastinating instead of working. "You mean those weird poster boards that fold out and can stand by themselves? I think that would work really well, especially because that would mean that no one has to stand around and hold it and try to talk at the same time. They're usually pretty easy to find, they have them at craft stores and office supply stores." She realized that knowing where to buy these was a little strange, so she briefly explained, "I've helped with a lot of science projects!" Those were some fun, glue-covered times for sure. "I think that would definitely be a good way to break it down, it'll help us not get lost when we're talking." Edie nodded to herself, as if reaffirming her opinion on organizing posters.

Edith looked around herself a little guiltily, hoping nobody had noticed her insane outburst. She just got a little... overprotective sometimes. (Happens when you have as many younger siblings as she does.) She gave Estelle a slight squeeze and then wiggled backwards into her chair. She stooped down and picked up the books she had accidentally knocked to the floor, smiling a little sheepishly. "I can't even imagine. That would be..." Edie paused, trying to think of the right word "It would be absolutely horrible. I can't even imagine never seeing my ma or my pa again. It just... it doesn't click. It just doesn't seem possible." She placed her elbows on the table and her chin in her hand, a thoughtful expression on her face. She was trying to understand what Estelle had gone through, but like she said, it just didn't make any sense. "Aw, you didn't kill the happy!" Edie said, her usual lopsided smile crawling back into place. "Actually, I think you just made it happier because I bet you're right, it must be easier working with someone you know. I mean, I like my trainer and all, but it's just not the same as having a friend around. Maybe we could see if we could schedule our training sessions together sometime? See how it works out?" Edie really was happy to hear Estelle's idea. If she had a friend to cheer her on, she was sure she could get better faster.

[Estelle Flores]

Estelle listened to Edie’s suggestions about her power with wide eyes. She’d been at Hammel for just going on two years now, and she’d been so absorbed in everything bad her power could be used for that she forgot about the good parts too. Suddenly, Estelle was overwhelmingly grateful she’d met Edie. She reminded Estelle why it was important to keep up a positive attitude. “Edie, you are a legitimate genius!” She hugged the girl again. “You’ve actually helped me work out a question I’d had for a while.” She beamed at her new friend, feeling like there was some kind of light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. “And the best way out from under a dog pile is to tickle mercilessly, in my experience.” She added, nodding sagely, “Works every time.”

“Yeah, those.” Estelle nodded at Edie’s description of the poster boards. “Oh, awesome, I think I could go get one of those later.” She grinned, “Hooray for science projects, right? I love projects, even though I’m not the best at science. They have the best projects. Like in biology, I’m pretty sure we’re gonna dissect something soon.” She gave an embarrassed smile; usually she didn’t express her interest in dissection so early, since that usually came with a lot of morbid assumptions that weren’t actually true. Estelle just thought that the body was so beautiful in its crazy, complicated workings. She figured that Edie, as a science person, would understand that. “Anyways. That shouldn’t be so hard to work out, since it doesn’t actually require a whole lot of artistic talent.” She grinned amiably at Edie.

Estelle smiled a little sadly at Edith as she watch the other girl try to conceptualize that kind of loss. “It helps that it was a long time ago,” Estelle said, trying not to bring down the mood any more, “I figured out ways to cope. My friends helped a lot with that.” She beamed at Edie’s offer to work together with powers, “I think that would be pretty cool. And even if we can’t work out a schedule for whatever reason, we can still practice together outside of class. When we have time.” She added, not wanting to make Edie feel pressured. “Thanks for offering to share your training time with me. I’m a little… uneasy about my powers so…” She shrugged, smiling gratefully, “It would be a great help.”

[OOC: omg late. >.<; I’m sorry! DX]

[Edith Love]

Edith accepted Estelle's hug with gratitude. She was so used to being close to people, both physically and emotionally, and she just missed hugs! "Aw, shucks... I'm not a genius! I just do what my ma always made me do when I complained when I was little. Every time I said something negative, I had to come up with two good things to say about the same topic. I also had to sit in the corner 'till I did, so I learned how to be optimistic pretty durn fast!" Edie laughed a little at that, remembering her time spent thinking of good things to say about her brothers. That was a seriously hard thing to do sometimes! Edith blinked at Estelle's suggestion, "Now, why didn't I think of that?" She asked, half to herself and half toward Estelle, "It's brilliant!"

Now they were on to an academic subject Edie could easily geek out on for hours. She absolutely loved biology! "Yeah! I think we're dissecting a frog two or three labs from now in my class. It's so cool to see how all these weird looking pieces go together and make a working animal. There's this online 'dissection'" she said with hugely exaggerated air quotes, "but it's really not even close to the same. I think they made the liver bright blue or something. I mean, in real life it's way harder to find stuff!" Edith gave Estelle a slightly mischievous grin, "I think I have some pinking shears - you know the ones that look like scissors with teeth that are made for cutting fabric? - for some reason, we could use those to make it look like we have more talent than we really do." Sure, it was cheating, kinda; but if you don't have any real artistic talent how else are you gonna make stuff look pretty?

"That's what friends are for, right?" Edith asked rhetorically, nodding at Estelle, "I'm glad you're able to deal with it. But like I said, I'd be happy to help if you need anything." Edie beamed when Estelle started talking about them sharing training time. She would so love to have a friend around! "We could definitely practice outside of class! I mean, either way. I think it would be fun! And there's no reason to be uneasy around me. If something crazy happens, I can fix it!" Edie raised her hands to about ear level and wiggled her fingers, to remind Estelle of her healing abilities. "I'm very handy with duct tape and super glue."

[Estelle Flores]

Estelle beamed at Edith’s family stories. “That’s a really good way to think positive, I guess,” She laughed, “That’s actually kind of a cool way to go about doing things. I’d never really been raised like that, but I guess I always thought that there wasn’t a whole lot of use in being negative. It takes a lot of energy, you know?” She laughed then, “Tickling always works. All the time.”

Estelle blinked, “Online dissection? Well, where’s the fun in that? That’s silly. You have to actually experience the whole thing for it to actually stick, in my opinion.” She set her chin on her hand, “Man, I hope we get to that soon. Just worksheets can be a little tiring sometimes. It’s easier to learn for me when it’s hands-on.” She brightened, “Oooh, pinking shears would work awesomely! That’s a good idea. Hooray for finding ways around not being artistic, right?” She nudged Edie playfully with her shoulder, grinning broadly.

Having another person around to help Estelle feel more confident about her powers meant a lot to Estelle. Having another person around whose power was healing meant even more. That way she wouldn’t worry so much about hurting someone, because Edie would probably be able to fix it. She felt a little guilty about putting Edie on the spot in that way, but the other girl was so nice and so friendly that Estelle couldn’t help but be excited with her. “That’s right! That would be a big relief, not worrying about hurting someone. Also, duct tape and super glue are the best tools to use, you know.” She teased, smiling happily. She was so relieved to have a new friend! Just wait until she told Ruthie.