Distractions [Only open to those in room 204]

[Anette Blackwood]

Anette walked into her room, from the living room. It was plain, so very plain. She would have to go to town with the little money she got and get some decorations. She laid the rugged suitcase on her bed and started unpacking. While her hands had something to do, her mind wandered a bit.

She had left the plane, wondering how in the world she could get to the school. Her question was answered when a man had led her to a car and had driven her to the school. It had been quiet the entire way and that drove her crazy. She had pulled out a notebook, silently tapping the air with her pen, trying to get words of how she felt down on paper. It just wasn’t going to work.

When she had gotten to the school, she was shown to her room, not entirely knowing where her other three dorm mates were. It seems that they had taken to disappearing the first day she was there, but she wasn’t scared, was not even aware that in the next dorm over resided her brother.

It was only fifteen minutes, and she was settled in. She had brought her own pillow case and sheets and blanket, her clothes hung in the closet. With a final touch, she laid Teddy down on her bed and smiled. “This is going to be a wonderful place Teddy,” she said to the bed and straightened out the dress she was wearing.

[Eric Bower]

~outfit~

They'd been warned told that they'd be getting their fourth roommate today. Eric was excited to meet her, because he liked making friends, and he got along pretty good with his other two roommates. So if this one was cool as well, then they could party, or something. He hadn't been entirely busy the past few days, just trying to work on his power and get the trees to cooperate.

His progress in the matter hadn't been....enough to celebrate, but he could at least recognize when he was using his powers and when he was not (i.e. he could dance and know if the trees were copying him or not, whereas before he could not). So that was good. He wouldn't accidentally be throwing people into walls, or doing crazy stuff like that. Oh! And the coolest thing yet; he could get trees to wave at people! He loved doing it! It was soo awesome to see their expressions.

Eric wasn't all too sure when his new roommate was going to be getting in, but he had stopped by the cafeteria and got a few snacks from the vending machine, just in case the person was hungry but too tired from their traveling to actually go and get something to eat--or too shy to go on their own. Either way, Eric was also pretty hungry and was craving some unhealthy food. He had to use the wall to hold some of the snacks as he opened the dorm door, but he managed, and backed into the room so he didn't drop anything. He tapped the door shut with his foot and then let his spoils spill out onto the coffee table.

"Anyone hooomme?" Eric asked with his croaky, going-through-puberty voice. He winced but peered curiously into the open door of the fourth room. "Wazaaap!?"

[Anette Blackwood]

Anette jumped at the strange boy, who was kinda cute in a dorkish way, speak strangely to her. “Uh, hi?” she asked. She turned around to fully meet him and could only see his head, which was full of black or really dark brown hair. She saw him wince at something, maybe the way she looked or... Anette shook her small head and smiled at him.

“My name is Anette Blackwood. What’s your name?” she asked politely, gripping the sides of her skirt anxiously. She wasn’t used to boarding with boys, unless it was her brother and didn’t know why she even requested a co-ed dorm. She gave a small laugh and quickly recovered in case he thought she was insane or something.

[Eric Bower]

She looked a bit startled, but he felt that he'd made enough noise to not sneak up on her. Though, poor girl, probably went through something dramatic before she got here. Eric had to hide in his brother's hospital from the media because everyone thought he was meta because of the tree-house collapse. He had been perfectly fine, and his brother unfortunately injured. Some speculated that he had caused the accident on purpose, but it really was just an accident. He had been at Hammel a month before his powers did anything again.

"The name is Eric, Eric Bower. Pleasure to meet you!" Eric liked hugging people. He felt that hugs made friends, and he wanted to hug this girl at the moment, but he figured that wouldn't be received so well. He smiled nicely instead. "We have some other roommates, but they aren't in at the moment. Dunno where they are. So what's your power?"

[Anette Blackwood]

She was as skittish as a deer in headlights. Her blue eyes were wide and she sat down on her quilted bed before she could faint right then and there. She didn’t know why she felt so shy and dizzy all of the sudden, she just did and it didn’t help her.

“I control weather...or my moods do more like. It’s not something I’m particular proud of though...” She never told anyone that she hated her power and Anette was sure that he might agree with her or cast her away. Which ever was the choice for this young boy.

[Eric Bower]

Eric leaned against the door frame as she sat down. She looked like she needed some sugar in her veins, she looked on the verge of fainting! He momentairly left to go pick up some of the treats he had deposited on the coffee table and then reoccupied the doorway with a bag of chips and one of those packages of vending machine cookies. They were actually pretty good though, if you got them shortly after the machine was stocked.

"Weather control is so BA!" He couldn't help but said when she admitted her power. Weather control WAS awesome, and much better than his annoying tree-bending. "So much cooler than lignikinesis. That's the scientific, Latin-y name for my power anyway. I can manipulate trees. Like...I dance, they dance. That's all I can do right now but....but not for forever." Eric tilted his head up a little in triumph, but his power was really fickle. Sometimes Autie could just talk to the trees to get them to behave to his power, but most of the time they just stand there. Like trees.

[Anette Blackwood]

She had listened to him talk, holding down the vomit as it came up. She pushed past him, hoping he wouldn’t think she was terribly rude and went straight into the bathroom, her head in the toilet.

That had been the first time on a plane and she supposed it didn’t agree with her. Anette didn’t like heights, but she wasn’t afraid of them. She got motion sickness on the plane and the flight attendant had given her something to help settle her stomach. That didn’t last very long.

[Christina Byrne]

Dorm. Need to find the dorm. The school was so huge, and Christina had been asking for directions like a mad woman. She didn't have a clue where she was going, and had been informed of a dozen wrong turns. This was getting to be frustrating, and the young girl was tired of walking around in circles, looking foolish. In a final attempt to find her way, she found an adult at the school, probably a professor, and asked for directions once more. And finally, finally they were ones that she could follow. She was going to make it to her dorm after all this searching. No doubt her three other roommates would already be there. But they probably wouldn't be wondering where she was. Maybe they didn't even care. Who knew? all Christina really cared about at this point was getting to the room and unpacking. She thanked the man who'd given her directions and headed off, confident that she knew where she was going now.

Once you got into the general direction of the dorms, it was much easier. She headed toward the co-ed dorms, grateful that she'd made that decision. Christina didn't get along well with most girls, so she decided having a mix of boys and girls in her room would work out best for her. After walking through the common area, she went in the direction of her soon-to-be home. Only slightly nervous of being accepted by them, she'd opted for a quite blander outfit than she normally wore. She was sporting a pair of dark flare jeans, light blue converse shoes, a green tank top with white polka dots, and a black zip-up jacket with her name in the corner from her dance team back home. They would get used to her more interesting outfit choices later on. It wasn't negotiable.

Smiling to herself, Christina walked through the hallway slowly, checking room numbers. 200... 201... 203.... 204. She was there. The door wasn't closed all the way, so she knocked lightly before pushing it open. There was boy in the room who didn't seem much older than herself, and there seemed to be someone in the bathroom. Well, at least she wasn't rooming with older teens. She doubted she would have much to talk about with someone who was nineteen. "Oh, hello, guys. I'm your new roommate. My name is Christina Byrne." She hoped they liked her. She really did. As much as she put on this brave front, she really just hoped they liked her.

[Anette Blackwood]

Anette could hear a voice. A new one outside the bathroom door. Maybe one of her dorm mates had come back, but when she got out there, there was only Eric and a girl. “Oh, you’re new? That’s interesting,” she said walking past the two people and getting back into her room. She searched for some medicine she had brought with her and found it. Advil always worked on the worst of sicknesses. She took one pill and shoved the bottle back into her bag.

After brushing her teeth, she walked up to the blonde girl, blue eyes taking everything in. “My name is Anette. I’m new too, but I got here a couple of hours ago. And this boy is Eric. He has a funny way of saying hello,” she said giggling behind her hand and giving Eric a grin. “So, where are you from?”

[Christina Byrne]

A girl appeared from the bathroom and walked through the common area to her own bedroom. "Oh, you're new? That's interesting." What an introduction. Christina wasn't sure whether she was welcome here yet. So far, there didn't seem to be much of an indication as to whether this other girl liked her or not. Christina guessed not, only because she hadn't ever had much luck being friends with other girls.

The girl reappeared and introduced herself as Annette. "And this boy here is Eric. He has a funny way of saying hello." She giggled and asked where Christina was from. "An interesting way of saying hello, eh? Christina laughed lightly. She thought about the question. "So, where are you from?" She thought about lying. She'd come from a small town in Georgia. But that was kind of a boring thing to say. Plus, she had learned to not speak with a southern accent, so there was no reason for them not to believe her. Christina could easily lie and say she had come from New York City. The only problem with her plan was that one of them could have come from wherever she said, and she'd be exposed as a liar within five minutes of meeting them. She wasn't going to ruin her reputation so fast.

Giving in, she answered. "I'm from Georgia."