Chains of Power [CLOSED]

Grace sat alone in the courtyard, staring at her hands with unbroken focus. Eventually, with enough concentration, spheres of darkness would form on and around her palms, but they didn't last long enough, and she soon took a break with an exasperated sigh. Now that she thought about it, she didn't really know anything about her powers. They made her unnecessarily cold, and they covered her hands and arms in darkness, but did that even count? Whatever this summer tournament that was coming up was, she was woefully ill-equipped for it. In some ways, she wished she knew more about her powers, but no answers were coming on that front, and mostly she just wished they had never happened. It was just a curse, a bad reminder.

Reluctantly she tried again, allowing the darkness to appear once more and start snaking up her right arm. The shadows were fitful, however, and wouldn't stay fully-formed, eventually dissipating as if burned away by the sun. At least it was a nice day.

Leo couldn't help but agree to that last comment. If he had heard it, that was. The teen was wondering the courtyard and to him seemed every corner he turned; there would be a new sight to see, or new students to meet. He always ran into someone even if he liked it or not. This time, a girl sat alone, and from what he could see she was using some kind of...shadow? Or a dark matter? Pursing his lips and blue eyes curiously watching the girl use her powers. Once she stopped, Leo strolled up the the student. He wasn't sure how she would react to him, so he was careful not to do anything overly dramatic. The student wasn't too sure how to start talking to her."That was cool." Leo commented, however knowing the statement was rather dull, but not able to do anything about it.

Grace looked up in surprise to find a blonde-haired boy looking at her, observing her actions. She felt a bit embarrassed that someone had been watching her fail at using her powers, but then again she was in public, so she should've expected that. Still, she had at least hoped to succeed in some way. "I-it was? Uh, th-thanks." It wasn't quite that cool; well, in the way he probably meant.

"O-oh, u-uh h-hey," she stammered out, those familiar feelings of shyness coming back in full swing. What was she supposed to say? She had no clue, and elected instead to remain silent, looking pointedly at her feet before remembering what Kayla said about eye contact. Reluctantly, she looked up into his blue eyes, trying to maintain eye contact to seem more… friendly, she guessed. It didn't feel like it was working.

She was shy. Not only did the stutter give it away, but the awkwardness when she tried to make eye contact. 'Well, at least she is trying. Some people won't even try to get over their shyness.'  Leo hoped she found it as an achievement. 'I'm practice to her then. I'll put on some conversations then.' Tilting his head, he gave her a bright smile in hopes of brushing away any awkwardness. Did that work? Probably not. Leo himself for any awkwardness that may come, but he wanted to break her shell. The girl didn't have any reason to be scared of him...right? Oh. Well, he was a stranger. A nice one he'd like to think. But it's all up to her perspective. Rubbing the back of his head, he asked, "Do you mind if I sit here?", gesturing to a spot not too far from her. Just enough to where he could talk to her without being too close or too far. He didn't want to be rude, and it was a gateway to a conversation. Here goes nothing....

Having someone smile at her, no matter how earnest, didn't make her feel any more relaxed, but upon further thought, she realized that this was her first really easy play at being sociable. He did seem rather friendly; shouldn't that make it easier? She couldn't be cripplingly shy forever, so with that internal pep talk out of the way, she gave the boy a weak, wavering smile and nodded slightly. "S-sure. Go ahead." She tried to keep eye contact after that, but it was harder to do for some reason, and she found herself eying her shoes with a renewed vigor.

"U-uh, wh-what's y-y-your name?" She hated how she stuttered and stammered out every sentence whenever she talked to someone; it definitely wasn't normal. Apparently practicing human interaction with yourself wasn't quite the same as actually doing it. Spending most of the past two years with adults hadn't quite prepared her for this, and it was frustrating. It was an automatic reaction; she didn't even try to be impossibly shy, it just happened. Her eyes slowly rose back up so she could try eye contact again.

Leo gave her a thankful smile, and sat down on his specified spot, shifting his weight side to side as he tried to find a comfortable position. Once he had, Leo looked up calmly and patently. Listening as she spoke, he thought of the other students that he had met. Most of them had been outgoing to say the least. Was she a spring or a winter placed student? It seemed likely, however it was more than a personality that got them into a house. It was also their power."Leo." The answer came out before he could think. Suddenly remembering his manners, he responded with his own question. "What's your name too?

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"Grace." She fell silent after that, this time due to just not having anything else to say. Maybe he was supposed to go next. Was that how conversation etiquette worked? She kept switching between looking at him and at the flowers around them, wringing her hands nervously. Well, now what?

"A-are you new here?" She didn't know how to tell that, particularly. She was new here though, so maybe they had that in common. What did people talk about all the time? Even taking away the crippling shyness, she realized that there was a new obstacle in the way: what to talk about.

"It's nice to meet you, Grace." Leo smiled politely. It became silent after that. Only after Grace spoke up did a nod came from the other student, who had started looking around at the courtyard. "I'm pretty new. There have been only a few more new students after me so far. At least as much as I know." Leo responded easily. He made a pondering face, before turning back to Grace in a curious fashion. "How did you do that thing earlier?" He made a gesture with his hands in order to try and convey what he meant, however Leo didn't think the hands helped. However, she probably got it from his words alone, at least...that's what Leo hoped. She was pretty shy so he couldn't be certain.

She looked at Leo's hands, figuring out what he meant. He must have seen her attempting to use her powers. Maybe he didn't know that she was still really bad at it. "It's my power. I just... concentrate and I can form darkness on my hands or what I touch." She actually felt relatively comfortable speaking about her powers; despite getting an uneasy feeling in her stomach, she could speak clearly about them, though she had to mostly look at her hands to facilitate it. It was a start, at least. "So I can hide things if I wanted." That wasn't quite what she'd used her powers for up until now, but it sounded like something she could do, and it sounded a heck of a lot better than 'it'll kind of make you chilly.' That was definitely lame; even she could tell that.

Leo had assumed it was her power, considering it was not something he or someone else could do. However it was apparently a good topic, because Grace hadn't stuttered at all. Perhaps she finds confidence in her power? With an ever present patent smile he listened, actually becoming genuinely interested. "So you could expand a shadow, regardless of the light around?" That would be cool, it would be telling the light something along the lines of fuck your rules, I'll exist where ever I want to. Kind of like Leo with gravity. Humans aren't supposed to fly on their own.

Grace nodded, darkness shifting around on her palm almost as if it knew it was being talked about. At least, she hoped she could do that. She honestly hadn't even tried, but it was a good guess. "I-I'm sure your power is cooler." She gave him another weak smile, making a few seconds of firm eye contact before dropping her gaze back down to her hands. It was a work in progress. The powers of others didn't usually come to mind, at least until now, as she wondered what Leo's power was. He would assumedly soon tell her though, so the thoughts were probably wasteful.

I'm sure your power is cooler.

Not to Leo. He'd much rather be able to manipulate something like Grace or Kerista could. Endless possibilities with those kind of powers. The only limit was the user's imagination. Giving her a pondering look as if debating. Of course he had already decided there were some other powers out there that were plenty amazing compared to his own. Needless to say the blond haired teen had already added Grace's power to the list of better abilities. With a shake of his head he disagreed. "I don't think mine could match up to yours. You have a lot of things you could do with that." He pointed to the darkness with a sheepish smile."With mine, I only can do certain things. I can't really be too creative with it." Unknown to Leo, he had yet to uncover the Holy Powers part of his ability, which would allow for some creativity. Also unknown to Leo, he had forgotten to mention exactly what his power was to poor Grace.

Grace certainly didn't believe that, but it was nice of him to say all the same. Still, there was no way his powers didn't easily surpass hers: after all, she had no idea what hers could even do besides make someone feel a bit cold. Then again, she didn't even know what his powers were. He hadn't said. "U-uh, what's your… powers?" she asked almost apologetically, as if she should have known without him telling. She didn't even have a guess, since there was nothing outwardly obvious about him that would give her a hint as to what powers he may possess. It wasn't like Kayla or Heron, whose powers made things a bit more… obvious.

Leo flushed in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head. "Oh, right. My power is Angel Physiology." He made a thoughtful face as he spoke. "So I can make myself have wings...hm. I guess I can get more beinifit out of training." With a shrug of his shoulders, he put his hands back on his lap and looked down at them. The skin at the base of his fingers were calloused from lifting weights, along with a small callouse on the left side of his right hand's middle finger due to writing. He bit his lip before muttering, "That's all I really know about it. There might be more to discover but..." Leo trailed off before shaking off his uncertain look, a smile put on his face in hopes of encouraging Grace.

"S-so you can fly?" That was actually really cool. Grace imagined that being able to fly would be pretty useful, plus it would look rather picturesque. Plus, it might be easier to talk to people if she could just float above them. No, that's dumb, never mind. She shook her head to chase that particular thought out and looked back at the blonde boy. "I-I'm sure you'll find wh-whatever you have left to... to find, I-I mean." His smile was rather comforting, though it wasn't easy for her to give back one of similar luster. It still looked somewhat fake, but it was the best she could do in the current situation.