... Right from the Start (Continued)

[Jethro Harker]

So Kou had decided to follow him. Jethro grinned the grin of victory when the other boy caught up to him, "Jethro Harker," he replied when Kou finally asked his name. Despite whatever was going on in his head, Jethro at least seemed unconcerned with what Kou thought of him. "The resident magnokineticist and purveyor of NSAID pain relievers." It was not much but Jethro had his humble place in the world.

"I don't get as many headaches as most around here but it still pays off to have some on hand. Accumulating good karma is always a sound idea," Jethro explained. He opened the door to the student lounge and held it open for Kou. The smell of fresh coffee drifted out of the comfortable room.

Sure enough, there was a almost empty pot of fresh coffee awaiting Kou's caffeine starved brain. If he moved quickly enough, he could grab the last cup of coffee. Jethro would make more once Kou had helped himself, it was a general rule to fill the coffee pot back up if you were the one to polish it off. While Jethro rarely drank coffee, he made a point of refilling it for those that did.

[Kousuke Nanohara]

At Jethro's brief introduction, Kousuke felt a shiver run down his spine. There'd been this situation back at Eisai where a magnokineticist had bricked his netbook after an insult about his face or something along that line. Kousuke didn't know the extent of this guy's powers, or his temper for that matter, but when it came to his gadgets he preferred to stay on the safe side. He almost found himself thankful that he'd left all of them, save his phone, safe in his room, but then again... if he'd been properly prepared he wouldn't have bumped into this guy in the first place.

Well, he was in this deep now; might as well play nice. As Jethro opened the door, Kousuke offered a small nod of thanks. "Technopath and perpetual transfer student," he said as he entered the room, trying not to sound too put off.

The lounge looked normal enough. There were a few tables and comfy-looking chairs, a big screen TV and even a few arcade cabinets (sweetness!). However, the thing that caught Kousuke's attention was a lonely, near-empty coffee maker on the far side of the room. He immediately made a beeline for the device and poured himself the last of the dark liquid. He didn't particularly like it black, but he managed to choke it down as he half-listened to Jethro speak.

"Lucky bastard," Kousuke found himself mumbling. Between the caffeine fix and his meta's effects, he was lucky if a day went by without a headache of some degree. He stood quietly for a moment, already feeling more alert and hoping that his fledgling pains would begin to fade in the coming minutes.

His eyes darted from his near-empty cup to the kid across the room. He didn't know Jethro, but he seemed to be the type to actually believe that karmic crock. Kousuke didn't, but he figured he might have a supernatural debt that would have him submitting his paperwork for bankruptcy. Still, he was supposed to be trying harder at Hammel. Not getting into trouble, maybe even being nice... or something.

Kousuke swirled the last of his coffee before swigging it down. This Jethro Hanni--Harker--still had him a bit weary, but he'd try to make the first peer interaction at the school not such an utter failure. He smirked. It probably didn't look too friendly on his tired face, but hopefully it'd take the edge off the conversation.

"So, any advice for the new kid?"

[Jethro Harker]

Jethro soon joined Kou over by the coffee and set about making a fresh pot, "Besides carry pain relievers and be careful with the doors?" He said with his grin still in place. "Not really. This place is pretty much like any other high school, 'cept more so. We get kids from all over the place here, staff too. A transfer like you should fit right in among our merry band of freaks and geeks. Make some friends, get to know the staff, don't piss off the psychics."

He poured himself a small cup of coffee and took a sip before saying, "Seriously, hormone fueled teenagers with the ability to reprogram your brain? Not a good mix," he paused again remembering this kid was a little off kilter at the moment, "I'm joking of course."

"Anyway, whatever survival strategies you had at your last school should work well here. If you have any problems, I'll be more than happy to help out. Call me an idiot but I like making sure my fellow classmates aren't miserable." Exactly, what his 'help' might entail was left up to Kou's capable imagination.

"You mind if I ask where you're from?" Jethro ventured, Kou had a slight accent and despite Jethro ear for that kind of thing, he was having a hard time placing it.

[Kousuke Nanohara]

Kousuke's half-hearted smile faded at Jethro's words. As non-specific as the advice was (save for that first part, jeeze), he figured that it was stuff he should know already. Even if Jethro wasn't joking, Kousuke had been to strange schools before, and one of those was geared towards crazy kids with crazier powers. Again, his thoughts wandered to what kinds of weird things the other boy could do with his meta and whether he was always as unnervingly pleasant as he was at the moment.

He inwardly groaned. It was for these kinds of reasons his usual "survival strategy" was keeping the hell to himself.

Then Kousuke noticed that Jethro had gotten his own cup of coffee, and he made a move to get another one himself. This time he poked around the cabinets to find a canister of sugar packets. Half to keep his hands busy and half to make this cup of joe palatable, Kousuke grabbed a handful and started dumping them in. The "where are you from" question came a lot, but he always found himself a combination of bored and self-conscious when answering it.

"Everywhere and nowhere..." he joked in a deep voice, before finishing his explanation in a monotonous drone. "My father's job is pretty nuts, so I've lived everywhere from Stockholm to Hong Kong. But I was born in California, and the folks are from Japan. I'm a transfer from Eisai... the Japanese Hammel, I guess."

At this point, Kousuke reached for a stir and made a futile effort to dissolve all the sweetener in his cup. He took a sip before turning back to Jethro.

"You?"

[Jethro Harker]

"No shit? Something similar here. Planet Earth, third rock from the Sun. Grew up on just about every military base on the Pacific Rim and parts west of there too. Most notably a stay in Germany, Okinawa and Australia. Before Hammel I was over in California myself helping to wrangle my little sis. Since Hammel I've had to leave that particular duty to the rest of the family," he sipped his coffee thoughtfully.

"I don't much fancy not being where I can't keep an eye on them. The dog I can trust but my old man and step mom are no match for Michiko. Ah well, if I believed in fate I'd say it had no intention of letting me set down roots," he said with his easy smile returning, he was making an effort to keep his more eccentric side toned down for Kou's sake. In retrospect, after their initial meeting and his reaction he would not blame Kou for thinking he was nuts.

"Ah well, home is where the hearth is I suppose and it sounds like we've both got more than our fair share of those. So how does Hammel compare to Eisai?" He asked, unaware of just how long Kou had been a student here. It probably would not matter much anyway, he was trying to make conversation and make up for his previous reaction to Kou.

[Kousuke Nanohara]

Kousuke raised his eyebrow. Those were common military base spots, weren't they? He had known all too many army brats over the years, as they made up quite a few of his classmates in the international schools. Either way, knowing that he was talking to another kid globetrotter was the slightest bit comforting. The teeniest, tiniest bit.

He toyed with making a "small world" comment, or asking if they might've even been at the same school at the same time, or maybe how a guy named Jethro is related to a girl named Michiko. He opted with mumbling a "that's pretty crazy" and nodding as he listened to the rest of Jethro's blurb. From what little he said, Kousuke guessed that the guy standing next to him wasn't the only odd one in his family.

And then he brought up Eisai. Kousuke grimaced, but then he considered that he was the one to bring up the school in the first place.

"Well, considering I haven't even been here twenty-four hours yet..." he trailed off, leering at Jethro, but quickly cut off the look. Even if this guy wasn't insane, he was definitely some kind of weird. "I'm guessing if you spent any stretch of time in Okinawa, you know how ridiculous the schools over there can be. Eisai's no different, except everyone's like some Marvel character... though you're probably used to that, being here at Hammel."

Kousuke toyed with the pile of empty sugar packets he'd amassed, feeling the lull in the conversation. He looked to Jethro again and couldn't help but blurt out the first thing that came to mind.

"Dude, you know you have blood all over your shirt, right? I know that's kinda my fault, but it looks like you just walked out of a slasher film."