Early Morning(OPEN)

[Xander Green]

Xander approached the Student Lounge that morning. Most other students were still asleep, but not him. Oh no he'd been up for hours thanks to Paul and the other spirits pestering him. He sighed as he walked, his breath obviously visible in the early morning light that filtered into the hallway. He rounded a corner and walked into the room, yawning as he did so. His baggy grey sweat pants hung on his almost skinny frame with his black tank top on top. There was a 'flap flap' noise as his sandals slapped up against his feet while he walked. He sat down on a couch and rubbed his face. Behind him he could hear Paul and Nate arguing. He was doing his best to quiet it down but he wasn't having much luck.

"Be quiet...."

He mumbled, noticing the wry smirk on Paul's face as he said it. Paul then began to focus on antagonizing him more and more. With a scream Xander hurled the notebook at Paul.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

All the spirits, Nate included, backed away as the notebook flew through the air and through Paul, slapping into the wall and falling to the floor.

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[Ashleigh Cruz]

Ashleigh had woken up extremely early, she had some homework to finish and had to run through her morning exercises. She had woken almost an hour before, and took her time getting ready. She dressed in comfortable clothing, yoga pants and a t-shirt. She wasn't trying to look good for anyone, not that anyone would be up at this time.

Thankfully she was a morning person unlike her sister. Not wanting to wake up any of her dorm mates she opted to head to the student lounge, it was often empty at this time of day... well morning. She would be able to get her work done there.

As she neared the door she heard someone yelling at another person, she only hoped that they wouldn't argue too long or too loudly. As Ashleigh walked through the door a notebook (obviously just thrown) hit the floor. Looking into the room Ash was surprised to see only one person in the room. Hadn't he been yelling at someone? She shouldn't have been all that surprised , this was Hammel after all strange things were the norm.

"Is everything okay in here? I heard some yelling."

[Xander Green]

He sighed and got up, walking over to his notebook. He turned around and smiled, seeing who had entered the room.

"Yeah, it's cool. I don't think it'll really be much more of a problem....for now."

He'd seen Ashleigh around a few times but the two of them never spoke. Hell he didn't even know what her ability was. Obviously it wasn't the same as his otherwise she would've seen Nate and Paul. He glanced over as Nate mentioned how hot she was.

"Yeah I know."

He said with a slight laugh, his breath becoming visible thanks to Nate and Paul now standing so close to him.

"I hope I didn't wake you."

[Ashleigh Cruz]

Ashleigh was confused by what the boy had said, maybe he was crazy. The boy looked familiar, she had seen him around school before, Xander, his name was Xander.

When he spoke again Ash looked around trying to figure out who he was talking to. No one else was in the room, Ash shrugged, to each their own.

When Xander spoke again this time she knew he was talking to her.

"Oh no you didn't wake me up, promise. I had, well have some home work and other things to get done. What about you? What are you doing up at this late or early?"

Ash made her way over to a table and set her books down arranging them so she could eventually study. She motioned for Xander to join he wanted.

[Xander Green]

"I'm going."

He whispered as he got up and walked over to the table where she had motioned for him to come to. No doubt he looked odd to a lot of people having full on conversations with what appeared to be himself. Of course he looked odd till they knew what his power was. Then that brought about a whole new level of weird.

"I've been up for a few hours. I've always had trouble sleeping since I got my power. Insomnia is one of the side-effects."

He said with a shrug and a yawn. He noticed Nate and Paul coming close to him now.

"So what kind of homework do you have?"

He asked, his breath now visible as he crossed his arms to try and stay warm.

[Ashleigh Cruz]

Ash smiled when as Xander made his way over to the table. He was an odd duck but a seemingly harmless nice duck. It didn't really matter if her talked to himself, Ash did it sometimes too. It was probably even a healthy way of doing things.

Ashleigh felt bad for Xander, insomnia as a power draw back that must have sucked, a lot.

"Wow, that can't be any fun. What power is that you have? Have you tried taking medication to help you sleep? Or talked to someone about it? I think there is a woman, um Mz, Prideaux I think her name is, she's an expert on that kind of thing, maybe she could help you."

Ash was lucky her power didn't have a side effect that altered her life on a day to day bases, well as long as she didn't touch someone with a horrible side effect.

"Oh I just have some English homework nothing to bad just a summary of the book I am reading. I had meant to get it done last night before I fell asleep but my eyes just would not stay open a second longer. My sister almost had to carry me to bed!" Ash laughed a little at the thought of Allyson carrying her off to bed.

Ash noticed Xander's breath was showing and he looked cold. "Are you cold? I could turn up the heat or go get you a sweater or something."

[Xander Green]

"It's a weird one, that much I'll tell you."

He said with a slight laugh. He listened as she named off things to try and help and shook his head. Naturally he'd tried all of them. But people always tried to help, and that he did appreciate. But sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if it was just something he'd have to grow to deal with like other people did with their side-effects.

"I've tried everything. So far nothing. I've done everything from warm milk to sleeping pills, it may help for an hour or two but that's about it."

He said with a shrug. He listened enviously as she mentioned practically falling asleep sitting up. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't even accomplish that. Of course he did try his damndest. And he wouldn't complain, he just simply dealt with it. He preferred helping other people out with their problems instead. Anyway he could help he was happy to try. He laughed a bit, his breath still visible as she offered a sweater or to turn up the heat.

"That won't help. It's a side-effect of my ability. I can communicate with spirits, so they're always around me making the area around me real cold. So what can you do?"

He asked as he opened his notebook and began to write whatever he felt like.

[Ashleigh Cruz]

Ash laughed to herself, a weird power? Who's power wasn't weird?

"Weird, is relative."

Ash felt bad for Xander as he went on to talk about his side effect. Again she thanked the Flying Spaghetti Monster that her side effect was not that way.

"Doesn't a person go crazy when sleep deprived for long periods of time? How do you manage? I mean I know that if I don't get at least 6 hours of sleep at night I go crazy after just one day! I would really talk to Mz Prideaux if I were you."

Ash was shocked when Xander told her that he had not one but two side effects. Not only could he not seem to sleep but he was never warm! It must suck to be him at times.

"I am a mime, well I mean I mimic other people's power." Ash didn't want to talk too much about herself Xander was much more interesting then she was. "Man! It has got to suck! Two side effects." Ash shook her head in disbelief. When she looked at him again she paused, his breath was visible and he was cold! "Wait a minute, you're cold now does that mean there are ghosts nearby?"

The thoughts of ghosts nearby thrilled Ash, how cool would it be to see them even for a short time!

"Do you, uh, do you have much control over you power?" If he had good control maybe she would be able to mimic him and talk to the ghosts too!

[Xander Green]

"That's what they say."

He said with a shrug when she mentioned people going crazy. He hoped he got just enough sleep to keep his sanity in check till he could get it all under control and get at least 5 hours of sleep. Nate had tried to help him by keep ghosts away but it was to no avail.

"Yeah, I'll have to go talk to her see if there's anything she can recommend."

He said nodding his head and smiling a bit. He listened as she named her power, mimicry a pretty awesome one. Of course she also got the side-effects of all the powers so that would make it kind of suck, a lot. Then again it depended on the side effects.

"Yeah, I have two that always follow me around. Not to mention all the others that seek me out in this place."

He said with a smile. Everyone always wanted to talk about his power. Not to mention see if he could talk to a relative for them as well. It wasn't always that simple since they needed to find him. Sure he could call out to them, but that didn't always work.

"Yes I have good control over it, well most of the time. I mean naturally it doesn't always go that way."

He said with a smile.

"You want to mimic my power don't you?"

He asked laughing a bit before holding his hand out.

"Just be forewarned, my skin is always cold and clammy. I'd hate to see you mess up your beautiful skin."

[Ashleigh Cruz]

Two ghosts were always following him around? That had to make life interesting. You would never be without a friend, well if they were friendly ghosts, Ash hoped that they were. The idea of having unfriendly ghost around all the time was not fun. Well if they were unfriendly it might explain why Xander never seemed to get any sleep.

"Do they seek you out often? I mean if I were a ghost I would seek out someone who could talk to me and to the living. I would probably have things I wanted to pass on to them. Or see if they had things to say to me."

Ashleigh was glad he had control over his power, though she wasn't sure she wanted to mimic him anymore. It would be interesting for sure, but probably scary too.

"Well yes, I mean I'm not sure. I just don't know what to expect you know? I've never met anyone with your power before. And I don't have perfect control over my own power. So I could touch you and nothing would happen, or I could touch you and mimic your power for a long time. Its rather annoying."

Ash really didn't want to tell him that his power scared her.

Ashleigh blushed when he called her skin beautiful. She wasn't used to getting compliments like that. Sure Allyson got told she was hot all the time, and they were identical twins so Ash knew she had to look at least okay. But people didn't often tell her she was beautiful.

"Oh, clammy skin doesn't bother me at all." Ash hoped that Xander understood she wasn't just talking about her own skin.

[Xander Green]

"Yeah, they seek me out all the time."

He said laughing a bit before looking around the room. He smirked when he turned towards the doorway and shook his head before motioning for the spirits to come over.

"Aside from the two following me around....."

He was interrupted as he was shoved by what to her would be an unseen force.

"...sorry. Their names are Nate and Paul. Nate's cool Paul's a dick though."

He said shaking his head as a throw pillow was fittingly enough thrown across the room.

"That'd be Paul. Anyways, there's two spirits here now. One's a child of about....6 oh, 7 and a half, sorry. And the other is a dog, cocker spaniel I believe."

He said with a smile. He liked most of the animal spirits but the children spirits were always saddening. Namely because, well, they were children.

"Wow, and I thought I had it rough. Well, until you get it under control I'd recommend against trying to mimic it. I wouldn't wish my insomnia on anyone. But if I figure out how to somewhat control it then you're welcome to try."

He said nodding his head. He smiled a bit as she blushed. He always enjoyed that effect on a woman. It helped him feel better and like he may not be so hopeless.

"Well that's good to know. And for the record, you're beautiful when you blush."

He said with a wink before turning to his left.

"Shut up..."