A Touch of Home [Evan, then Levi]

[Stella Pinyin]

There had been a serious miscalculation with Stella’s new arrangement. It was not drastic; her roommate seemed nice and not at all likely to kill anyone in their sleep, classes were well within the range her uncle had begun tutoring her in, and while she had yet to make any major improvement with her powers, there was hope. No, the miscalculation was to do with Stella’s choice in clothes to take. She had gravely underestimated a Vermont fall, and if winter was to be colder still... More layers were needed. More, warmer layers were needed.

One might have suspected that, given the rather poor quality of Stella’s eyesight, the girl preferred to hire someone to shop for her, or leave it to her uncle. The opposite was true; touch was a much better solution when it came to choosing new items of clothing. Not enough good could be said about clean, neat tailoring in Stella’s opinion.

While shopping would not provide a problem, Stella had been made aware that getting to the shops could prove tricky. Pilot Ridge was only a few miles away from the school, but Stella knew better then to attempt to locate a town she had never been to a few miles from a school she had only been living at for a week, even with the help of her cane.

A taxi had been her suggestion, but she was told, quite politely, that the location of the school was better left unpublicized. Safety, security, privacy, a contract... Stella nodded mutely without understanding. However, a solution presented itself with greater ease than anticipated; students congregated at the front desk of the dorm building, and Stella had hardly finished explaining her situation before a boy with scruffy brown hair had offered to walk with her.

”Thank you, so much,” Stella said with obvious sincerity as she followed him out of the school gates. Her white cane swung before her, checking for uneven footing or other obstacles as her eyes strained forward. ”I hope it’s not a nuisance.”

[Evan Brackett]

"Don't worry about it," the brunette assured Stella with a small smile. "It's not a problem or anything." Indeed, he had been happy to volunteer to help the new student. They happened to be going in the same direction anyway, so how could it possibly be a nuisance.

As for Evan, he was also on the hunt for winter wear, albeit his own problems were slightly different. In his case, he was having trouble fitting into his warm clothes from the previous years, having gone through a growth spurt over the summer months. It was the curse of the teenage boy, and while he normally would have been given the hand-me-downs of his older brother, David still fit in his own clothes and refused to give them up. If anyone was going to have to go through the pain of breaking in new clothing, it was going to be the younger sibling.

It did mean that, for the first time in years, Evan got to buy new clothes. He wasn't opposed to hand-me-downs--in fact he quite liked them when he was younger because, like many younger siblings, he wanted to be like his older brother. In some small way he could do that by wearing the same shirts and pants. He was still excited, however, to get some new clothes simply because they were new.

That morning the tall boy dressed in a rush, stuffing the money his parents had given him for the excursion into his pocket as he quickly ran down to the lobby. Apparently he wasn’t fast enough to beat the weekend crowd. It turned out to be a fortunate occurrence, however, as he overheard Stella's predicament while waiting in line for the sign-out and quickly volunteered his services. He was more than willing to help out a fellow student and would be glad for the company.

Fast forward back to the present, the two were making their way out of the school. "I don't go clothes shopping a lot," he admitted, "And I could use some help anyway." Yeah, the girl was legally blind, but it was a thousand times better than going shopping alone.

[Stella Pinyin]

While Stella had plenty of confidence in her own ability to choose clothes, it was unexpected that someone else would ask her for help. The white cane she carried was usually enough of a deterrent. Perhaps unnoticed by Evan, a happy, contented expression spread across the pale girl’s face as she tapped out a safe path. ”I’d be happy to assist,” she said quickly, shooting Evan a shy smile. ”I like shopping, but I’ve never done it alone. I will be glad for the company. I’m Piny- I mean, Stella. Stella Pinyin.”

Western, first name first. Remember!

Stella could begin to make out buildings as the pair neared the town, the pavement under her boots beginning to feel smoother. A breeze brushed stray hairs across her face and nipped at her nose and ears; she pulled her scarf up to cover them and tucked the stray strands back. ”Have you been at Hammel long,” she asked hesitantly after a while, amethyst eyes flicking restlessly as she focused forward. Her fingertips were tingling with cold; gloves were mentally added to the shopping list. Thick ones, and maybe lighter ones for autumn ad spring?

They were nearly there, thankfully. As if to remind her how foolish she’d been, the air seemed to grow more frigid by the minute. The metal of her cane was almost icy under her palm. ”Do you know where there would be a store for, ah, winter garments?” Stella asked. Her choice of language was still overly formal, but she was perhaps more aware of it, while talking to someone clearly her own age. Alas, the formal Mandarin her uncle used to converse did not translate well into colloquial english. ”It has been much colder here than I expected,” Stella gave Evan a rueful smile, ”and much more cold then I packed for.”

[Evan Brackett]

Evan had noticed that the girl carried a cane, but that didn't necessarily deter him from asking for help. He was more interested in the company than the actual choosing of the clothes anyway. It was just a bonus that she happened to like shopping. "Nice to meet you, Stella. I'm Evan Brackett, but you can call me Van." It was abnormal for him to give his full name, but since she gave hers, the boy wanted to do the same. "I'm glad you could join me," he continued, "I'm sorta desperate now; I've out grown most of my clothes." He held out his arms to show how short his sleeves were, only to realize that his current outfit was deceptive. Somehow, he had managed to throw on one of the few hoodies that still fit him, and the jeans he had on were given to him after the growth spurt.

The following quiet led his mind to wander, as it often did when there was little going on around him. The walk seemed to fly by then, and before he knew it, town was in view. He looked down at her with a small nod when she finally spoke again. "Mm, I guess," Van said with a shrug. "Almost two years." That wasn't too long, considering he'd probably be there at least another two.

The awkward formality of her speech went unnoticed as the two entered town. At that point, Evan was a lot more worried about where they were going to go, especially since she had specifically asked for a winter clothing store. Once again he was kicking himself for not knowing the downtown area better. "Uh...sure? I mean, yeah. This way." He unconfidently led her down a street of shops, hoping that one of them would have what she was looking for.

"Where are you from?" he asked, partly because he was curious and partly to distract himself from the fact that he had no idea where he was going.

[Stella Pinyin]

Van. Like the large cars? Strange... But Stella just smiled and nodded. “It’s a pleasure.” At first, she girl assumed she could not see a problem with the length of the boy’s hoodie because of her eyes, so slowly she reached out and run her fingers along Evan’s sleeve. It seemed fine to her. But he had said most; an exception perhaps? Or a miss sight. Still, her eyes flicked towards Evan’s face with a slightly quizzical look; was she missing something here?

Two years seemed like a very long time to the white girl, after all, she’d only had a week to get used to the place. So far, that had involved falling into a pond, and having an extremely arrogant boy pick her up and run around at extremely high speeds. Two years of that would be more than enough.

The murmur of cars and voices, the clink of tea spoons in coffee cups, and the sudden increase in footsteps slapping over concrete signaled the feel of downtown Pilot Ridge much better than her eyes could make out. Relaxed, calm... very nice. Stella merely nodded, but had to grasp Evan’s elbow with her free hand as a mob of teenage girls barged past. ”ah, sorry,” she said quickly, feeling her cheeks burn. It was hard not to notice eyes on you when they turned in force. And was that a camera? Apparently, despite the proximity to a school full to the brim with abnormal teenagers, an albino was still worth staring at. She let him lead her down one of the streets, eyes fixed on the pavement before her.

As such, she only just caught Evan’s question. She looked up at him quickly, then forward. ”I was born in Hong Kong, but my uncle moved us out to Boston when I was very young. Yourself?” It seemed that there was a mass of students from all over here... Understandable, in many cases. Too many of the few meta schools available fed their students directly into the military; something Mark, Stella’s uncle, had been determined to avoid. Still, Stella had yet to meet another Chinese student at Hammel. It was a pity... while she knew she spoke english well, she missed the musical quality of her native Cantonese and Mandarin.

[Levi Xu]

Once again, Levi found himself heading into town on his own. It still didn't happen all that often, even though he'd been living just a quick walk away since the middle of the summer. But it was pretty tense around the compound now, with Jahel scaring the dogs and Jesse scaring Levi. (And possibly Mr. Underwood scaring Jake. His friend had been spending more and more time away from the manor house, and it was getting discouraging to try to set up a few hours where they could just eat junk food, watch terrible action movies Levi had very little interest in, and and he could listen to Jake's stories about his travels.

(But sometimes--whenever it seemed like he was getting to the good part--the man would clam up and stop giving details about why he was there. The word "mission" was bandied about the compound by the adults sometimes, and Levi was assuming that it meant they were doing charity work, tryin to inform humans about metas, in hopes of tolerance.)

Jake hadn't been around the house that morning, so after he had taken the dogs out and played with Buccaneer in his room for a bit (and tried to meditate a little bit to focus his visions...it didn't work.) he'd asked permission from Lala to go into the town and buy some new winter boots. He had some back at home that could have been shipped, but Levi was pretty sure they would have pinched his feet horribly. (Finally, maybe he was hitting his growth spurt.)

Maybe weekends were always busier and Pilot Ridge, and there had been an influx of visitors who were coming for some leaf peeping--a term that had made him snicker when Nomi had said it during their last phone conversation--but the town seemed a lot more crowded than it had the last time he'd been there. More people his age around too...

And, of course, Levi stopped when he noticed the girl with the paper-white complexion and hair. But his reason for pausing was less because she was albino and more because of whose arm she was holding onto. Van.

The sight of the older boy made him break into a grin. Evan was a nice guy, and cute--He was Spider-Man, after all--so he deserved a pretty girlfriend. (Hopefully she was as nice as him, then they'd really be perfect for each other.)

With this in mind, Levi dodged his way up to them, not-really-accidentally stepping between them and a camera phone a high school age girl had pulled out to snap a picture of the pale young woman. He shrugged an apology to the irritated teen, but then went straight towards Evan. "Hey Van! I haven't seen you around!" And since he didn't know the albino girl, he just smiled to her and said, "Hi, my name is Levi." (He had noticed the cane, but he figured he'd said it loud enough for it to count as a greeting, and he didn't go to shake her hand.)

[Evan Brackett]

The walk was rather nice until a group of girls shoved past the pair. Van let Stella grasp him--shooting a glare at the mob as they continued on their merry way--and then blushed himself when he noticed the albino's cheeks go pink. "Nah, don't worry about it. It's not like it's your fault."

The on-lookers didn’t really bother him. Although, when people started stopping to take pictures of them, he started to feel a little self-conscious. Evan forgot that there was a tourist season for Pilot Ridge and that there would be a surplus of people mucking about town. Tourists could be easily ignored, as long as they were distracted by leaves, but apparently some of them found his company to be far more interesting. He was suddenly that much more grateful that his own abnormalities weren’t as obvious.

Hammel got students from all over, so her response wasn‘t at all surprising. "I’m from South Dakota originally,” he told her. “Moved here a few years ago when my older brother got recruited, before I was myself." He was unique in that way, and pretty lucky because of it. Especially considering that most kids had family in entirely different parts of the country.

As the cafes and gift shops they passed seemed to grow in number, the brunette became increasingly frustrated. This plan wasn’t working out very well, and more people seemed to be noticing them the farther they traveled into town. He bit his lip as another random person snapped a picture of the pair, and started to walk faster. “I think the store we’re looking for is up this way,” he said with a nervous laugh and directed her down yet another street. No, he still had no idea where this store might be, and there was no way he could keep up this game much longer. But he hoped that trying a different part of town might help.

Fortunately, another distraction was on his way. Evan found himself stopping short when Levi popped out of no where to be right in front of them. "Levi! Hi!" he greeted with a grin, pleasantly surprised by his new friend's appearance. "Yeah, it's been a while." That realization was disheartening, but at least they had run into each other now. As for Stella, he figured she could introduce herself. He had barely just met her himself, anyway, and didn’t really think it was his place to do it for her.

[Stella Pinyin]

It was horrible. Stella had rarely gone out much back with her uncle in Boston, but she had quickly learnt to tuck her hair under a hat, and make sure she had sunglasses on. Even when Evan told her it was ok, she couldn't help but apologise again as the flashes of cameras caused stars to dance across her vision. It was almost a blessing to not be able to see the people clearly; did they really have nothing better to do? Really? Still, it was easier to block them out as she listened to Evan talk about his family. "Is your brother still at Hammel?" Siblings were fascinating, and a source of envy to the girl.

Seeing a boy start to come in closer, Stella bit her lip in frustration and was ready to suggest ducking into a store until there were less people around, when the boy started talking to Evan. Levi, he said his name was. Curiously, Stella peered forward closely; his english was very good, but was she imagining the hint of an accent? Still, it was impolite to ask someone she did not know. She smiled politely and bowed her head in greeting. "Very pleased to meet you, I'm Stella." It was obvious the two boys knew each other, yet Stella could not recall seeing Levi. That being said, it was not like the girl was the best at picking up faces. "You two are friends from school?"

[Levi Xu]

Levi didn't mean to be rude, just popping in like that, interrupting what might have well been a date. ('Sorry, Evan!' he thought, just in case that was the case, and his friend was a telepath. But that would be ridiculous.) He didn't flinch when Stella leaned a bit closer, and only grinned at her. "Pleased to meet you too. And no, I just live nearby and we met in town a few weeks ago."

He cocked his head to the side, thinking. Now that he was closer, it was obvious that the girl was Chinese, and he could hear the accent in her voice. (He didn't think he had one, though sometimes there was a trace. His family had been a part of the Chinese community in Portland.) "You sound like the granddaughter of my grandmother's friends. Do you speak Chinese?"

A translation from Levi-speak: You sound like someone who moved to the US when you were pretty young. Sorry if he was unable to articulate that clearly.

Levi looked up at his friend then, still grinning. It was really good to see Van again, particularly because he looked so happy. "Remember the lunch box I got for Nomi? She got it in time for her birthday and she loves it. She said she uses it as a purse and that Nai Nai--my Grandmother--hates it. How has school been?"

[Evan Brackett]

Evan shook his head in response, not even thinking that Stella might not be able to see the subtle movement. "He's nineteen, so he graduated a while ago." Their times at Hammel barely overlapped with one another, not that that really bothered Evan. He got to see his brothers often enough since they lived so close. "What about you? Do you have any siblings?" He asked, unaware of her only-child status or that she lived with her uncle.

The other boy's appearance wasn't rude at all; not in Van's mind, at least. On the contrary, he was quite happy to see Levi again, and would have turned down the apology had he been able to hear it.

Although, Evan did raise an eyebrow when the other boy asked if Stella spoke Chinese. The girl's accent had been noticeable, but he really hadn't thought anything of it. He definitely was able to pinpoint it, like his friend had done.

"Really? That's great to hear," the brunette commented with a grin. "Well, for Nomi anyway. Not so much for your Grandmother, by the sound of it." He chuckled a little before going on to answer the boy's other question. "School's, uh, alright. The usual." The more general he kept it, the less likely he was going to screw up and let on something he shouldn't. Like the fact that he still hated going to powers training.

[Stella Pinyin]

Stella shrugged, her mouth twisting a little. ”No, just I.” Her parents hadn’t really has the chance to have any more children after her. A pity, she would have liked a big family. ”You’re lucky, I think.” That older siblings could sometimes not be a blessing didn’t even occur to her, naive child.

Not able to make heads nor tales of Levi’s somewhat around the corner way of speaking, the last comment had Stella beaming with excitement. She was getting better at english, yes, but it was exhausting and the chance to talk to someone without having to worry about getting the words wrong. She tired Mandarin first; it was a lot more common for chinese-americans, she’d learnt.

<You can speak chinese? This is wonderful news! I am very glad we met!> she said quickly, then switched back to english. It would be pretty rude to run a conversation only two out of three people could understand.

That being said, Stella quickly realized that she was completely out of the loop when it came to understanding Levi and Evan’s own conversation. A lunch box as a handbag? There was only one part of the transaction she understood and she pounced on it. ”Ah, you do not go to school with us?” Stella had assumed...

The need for privacy debriefing had not flown over her head, Stella understood she was not to just blurt out she went to Hammel for metas but, well, she’d assumed anyone under the age of 19 who lived around the area went to school.

[Levi Xu]

Even though Levi had been a cross between lonely and sad earlier in the day--before he had decided to head down to Pilot Ridge--he couldn't help but smile now. It wasn't often enough that he got to meet kids his own age who didn't go to training with Mr. Underwood. And though the other two were a little bit older, it was good enough. They were obviously teenagers and they weren't Jesse or Fifi.

Like he said, good enough.

Plus, Stella actually did speak Chinese! Even better, considering how Penny had mysteriously vanished from the compound a while ago. "Yeah, I do. My grandmother and my father were born there, so it's what we speak at home." If it wasn't for the constant language training at Mr. Underwood's home, he probably would have been rusty. As it was, however, he could jump in perfectly.

But the pale girl had a point when she switched back to English. It wasn't fair to Evan if he didn't know what they were saying. "Yeah, Nai-Nai thinks it looks silly, but she thinks it's trendy or something, and that's what she wants, apparently, so thanks for helping me get it." Once he finished that sentence--wow, it was pretty long--he stopped for a breath. He shrugged at the girl on his friend's arm when she asked him a question. "No, I don't. I'm homeschooled." Shame he was going to have to stick to that lie.

[Evan Brackett]

Okay, so he was a little bit intimidated when the other two started talking in Mandarin. He shifted his weight uncomfortably, looking at each of them as they spoke even though he couldn't understand a word they were saying. It wasn't that he thought they were saying anything mean, but it was still awkward for him. He was immediately relieved when they switched back to English.

Evan smiled at the other boy, happy to be appreciated. "You're welcome, although I didn't really do anything." He finished the statement with a shrug. Keeping an eye on Buccaneer wasn't that big of a deal, but he was glad to have been there to help.

Then Stella’s confusion finally registered as Van realized she must have been lost the entire conversation. “I met Levi in town a few weeks ago while he was getting a present for his sister,” Evan clarified for Stella. Then for Levi, “Stella goes to Hammel too. We both needed to go shopping, so I’m escorting her around town.” He bit his lip. It was about time the truth of his navigation failure came out. “With little luck, I’m afraid. I have no idea where I’m going.”

He frowned as he looked to the girl. “Sorry.” Van felt guilty for leading her around for so long without saying anything before. But now that Levi was there, maybe he could help, or at the very least, he could wander around lost with them. Although, Evan didn’t even know why the other boy was in town either. So he asked, “What are you up to, Levi?”

[Stella Pinyin]

While Stella knew her english was pretty good, there were moments when she had cause to doubt. Hearing about a lunchbox becoming a handbag or something similar was a good enough cause to doubt. There were some serious losses in translation. But homeschooling she understood! "Ah, me too." Stella nodded, then shook her head "Well, not any more. But before I was." That was convoluted; she smiled somewhat sheepishly and hoped they understood the garbled message.

And then Evan's little secret came out. Stella looked a little worried, but not at all angry or annoyed. Sure, the albino never enjoyed getting lost but without him she wouldn't have made it into the city in the first place. She shrugged, and pulled at the fingers of her gloves as she shook her head slightly. "No no, it's ok. Ah, do you know where they have winter clothes?" she asked the newest arrival. It was hard not to lapse back into Chinese... she hadn't had the chance to speak it in months, after speaking it every day for almost 17 years. And in chinese she didn't have an accent, either.

"If you are not busy, of course." she added hastily, rubbing her arms. It was cold, and her coat was not nearly warm enough, but she didn't want to start complaining now.

[Levi Xu]

"Hammel? That's your school?" Evan hadn't mentioned the name of his boarding school last time, but it was obvious enough what they were talking about. It was less of a question, and more of a confirmation. He kind of shrugged and addressed Stella, "I wasn't before, but now I am. It's kind of a long story."

His actual "mission" to buy boots was forgotten, as he had just wanted to get away from the compound for a bit. "I'm not really up to anything. Just had to get out of the house, you know?" No, Evan probably didn't know what it was like to be uncomfortably intimidated by his housemates, though he supposed the older boy probably did understand how much Levi missed his sister.

When Stella spoke up again, the boy cocked his head to the side, thinking. "Um, yeah. There's a store over that way." He gestured with his hand, back towards the direction they had been walking from. They'd probably passed it on accident. "It's between a toystore and....something. I could just show it to you, if you want. I need a pair of snow boots anyway." He grinned up at them, pleased. Even though they were just humans, they seemed like the good kind , and Evan had helped him before.