Getting a Feel

Owen had followed Madison through the dorm. He watched her as they went, her eyes shifting from one door to the next. He wondered if she even knew what dorm number they were supposedly going to, which one her friend was behind, and whether or not her friend had any dry clothes that would actually fit her.

They finally stopped at a door, and he stood patiently behind the girl like an obedient dog, waiting for her friend to open the door. When she did, Owen's eyes widened as he took in the sight. His initial impression was that she was a slob. Her eyes had taken on that glazed look of someone who had done almost nothing all day. Her outfit was rumpled and her hair was disheveled. It surprised him when she addressed him; he figured that, as tired as she looked, she wouldn't even bother acknowledging him.

"I-- Yeah, I'm with her," Owen answered. He pulled his hands from the pockets of his jeans and crossed his arms, hunching his shoulders in an attempt to make himself appear smaller, something that was near impossible due to his height. "It was, uh, it was kind of my fault she fell in. I got carried away." He smirked slightly but quickly hid it, sure that it was an inappropriate time for it.

A wave of relief washed over Madison as she saw Nicola at the door. Her shoulders untensed and she smiled for the first time that day, lightly and cute in Nicola's direction, neck rigid and not looking to the boy beside her. Great, so she did remember the room correctly. Her friend looked pretty unkempt, the room behind her messy. Did she not have classes that day? And what did she mean when she asked if Owen was  with her, though? The girl quickly piped up so that Nicola couldn't throw out any more guesses as to what happened.

"I fell in the fountain. But it wasn't my fault, he...kinda, you know, well you don't know..." She cleared her throat. "He blinded me, I think he has some light...power, do you have an extra uniform I could borrow?" She was sure that she and Nicola had the same size. They looked like the same size.

Well, that kind of explanation certainly wasn't exactly the most surprising thing in the world - at least not at this school. But, Madison? Falling into a fountain because of light? God, that was the last thing she had expected would startle the other girl. She was panicking on the rooftop because she didn't have a lantern on her. A small laugh bubbled up her throat, and in an awkward attempt to stop herself any further, Nicola brought a hand to her mouth, clearing her throat. "Jeez, you're scared of the dark. And then you're scared of light, too?" Her eyes followed up to Owen, and she realized soon enough that she had to crane her neck to be able to meet him straight in the eye. Damn, he was tall... And just as she had assumed D'Angelo was the tallest guy she was going to meet at the academy, too.

"I don't have a short-sleeved uniform, so if you're fine with long sleeves, you can borrow it." Casting a glance behind her shoulder, Nicola finally realized how messy the room was. Brant could just burn everything later and they could throw the ashes into the trash bin. It was efficient and easy... Too bad he probably wouldn't do anything like that. Turning her attention back to her visitors, Nicola dusted the bottom of her skirt. "My brother won't let me leave the room, so I'm doing self-studies right now. I swear he's a siscon..." Overprotective as hell. Okay, sure the sun was beating down a little harder than normal, but that should be fixed with good sunblock right? Well, at least the idea of skipping classes was a little bit appealing. She straightened herself, bringing a hand to compare her height towards Madison's in a rough estimate. Only about an inch or so difference. The uniform shouldn't be too big. "Should I go get it and then just give it to you out here so you guys can continue on your way?"

Listening to Nicola speak, Owen realized the two girls must be very good friends. He recognized her tone as somewhat teasing Madison, but he could tell she still wanted to help. Her quick assessment of his height made him feel a little more uncomfortable with the situation, aware that he was taller than both girls, which only made him stand out more. With a half glance at Madison, he took a small step away.

"I can wait out here," Owen said, smiling in an attempt to distract from how strange he felt. His fingers tightened slightly on his upper arms before releasing them. "You know, give you some privacy."

Afraid? Madison shook her head. "No, it...blinded me, sorta." She had already said that, why did Nicola think she was startled? Madison was a little confused at first by Nicola's hand as it went to her forehead, but she stood rigidly once she understood. It was a height thing.

"I'd like to come in, if you don't mind, I'm...cold, I need to change, but I don't want to leave him alone, you know, or in my...room." Taking a boy to her room? Her dormmates would have a field day. "Can I change in your room? It'll be quick, I promise, erm, you two can get to know each other, he's cool--or so I think, um, well, not yet, I..." She shut her eyes. Damn, she was retarded. "Please...?"

"I was kidding about that." Was it that hard to tell when she was joking? Or was it just because Madison was completely dense and was so used to her criticizing someone? If she had to be honest with herself, then no, that was the conclusion she had come up with. But admitting that she was wrong was equivalent to screwing up in a fight, so she would rather pretend that never happened. When the two spoke up with completely different answers to her question, a frown deepened across her features. Nicola's hands fell to her hips, and she sighed, "The uniform's folded on top of the drawer. My room's the one at the far right." Her fingers reached towards the handle, and she pulled back, widening the door to let them in before retreating back to the couch, grabbing her book on the way and setting it properly onto the table.

Getting to know this guy, huh? Socializing wasn't too bad. She was in Summer for the fact that she could get along with people easily, but that still didn't explain why Madison was in the same house. Honestly, the placement test had to be one of the easiest things to manipulate once you figured out how the answer key was arranged. The staff was lazy as hell coming up with it. Blue eyes looked back at Owen, and Nicola leaned back on the sofa. "Seeing that Madison dragged you here, I assume you know my name already. So what's yours?"

Owen preferred to stand, watching Nicola lounge back on the sofa. He hated to admit it, but he was somewhat intimidated by the girls, primarily the one who was talking to him now. He hadn't been paying much attention to what she had been saying, and as a result, he only caught a few words. He was lucky enough to hear a key word, and he went with it.

"Owen," he stated simply. His hands found their way back to his pockets and his shoulders hunched from it. He was silent for a few moments before speaking again, only to alleviate the quiet in the room. "It was my fault she fell in. I was messing with the light fractals on the surface of the water, and didn't think anyone was watching. I guess it freaked her out a little, because she fell in, and now we're here." Owen smiled again, hoping his little joke had helped ease some tension.

Madison walked to the room that looked like Nicola's, her name on a printed paper taped to the door. She made sure to not stare at the mess, expressing a thin smile while her back was safely turned to the duo behind her. So Nicola wasn't as perfect as she appeared. Someone was a little messy.

She opened up the door and closed it carefully behind her. Her eyes drifted around the dorm, and sure enough, it was just as messy as the main room. Her bed was against the wall, covers strewn to the side. Her closet was ajar, and her dresser was beside that. This was probably where the uniform was. She opened the drawer, and sure enough, the vests were folded inside. She pulled her sodden one over her head, before unbuttoning her blouse and throwing that off as well. Even her bra was wet, but she'd have to live with that. She wasn't about to ask Nicola to borrow one of those too...

She ran a hand over her bare arms, a brief flash of warmth before she snatched up Nicola's uniform pieces; an undershirt and vest. They had a nice smell to them. Madison shook her head for being so weird. The girl threw on the dry pieces, and walked out of the room, rejoining the other two. "I'll return these," she told Nicola, handing the jacket awkwardly to Owen. "Thank you..."

Oh, so Madison did freak out because of a little light. It wasn't a simple case of her being blinded then. After all, she did take a dive into the fountain headfirst. A small wave of satisfaction rose in her chest that her original conclusion might as well had been accurate, and Nicola shrugged, "She's really clumsy in the end." Clumsy was right - Nicola was shorter than her and then Madison was the one that wound up being trampled by the crowd after a mishap caused cicadas to buzz around and fling themselves all over the place. Then she completely forgot about bringing a lantern with her on the rooftop in the middle of the night. And only recently did she prove herself to have two left feet when she was practically collapsing trying to hold a sword over her head. "Anyway, nice to meet you Owen."

Hearing the door open behind her with Madison coming out, Nicola waved her hand dismissively, "My brother's the Spring prefect so I could probably grab another pair for free." Taking advantage of power was always fun. Especially when you were higher on the food chain at a school. "Besides, I sent in a new order a few days ago since my other set was ruined in my last encounter with a demon." To say she was very glad to be out of the infirmary and without a sling was an understatement; she had been as free as a bird until Hieta decided to confine her in the dorms because he didn't want her getting completely sunburned and the likeliness of running into a demon inside was low. Mostly because the Autumn dorms were close by and it seemed like Leo managed to ward off most of them just by existing.

Owen reached out and took the jacket from Madison with a faint smile. He thought about making a coy remark, but instead, he remained silent, opting to carry his jacket instead of put it back on. He had grown warm from being inside as well as feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

He listened to Nicola talking, and he suddenly felt panicked.
"Hold on, did you just say demon?" he said, his voice cracking on the last word. Fear gripped his mind; he hadn't considered that this would turn into some sort of fantasy book. If he had truly thought about it, he might have reached the conclusion that there was bound to be some kind of catch to having a power. The best super heroes always had an archenemy, or villains that constantly appeared to make their lives hard. Owen didn't want to be a hero with an enemy, though. If that's what he had to deal with while he was here, he was prepared to drop everything that had to do with his power, and head home straight away. "Tell me, do you see demons here often?"

Was he surprised? Madison stood alongside Nicola, watching him contemplate, smiling to herself. He'd learn soon enough that powers at Beata Academy got crazy. Some of them were far from beneficial. She knew exactly how that felt. The now-dry girl was about to pipe in about her power, but stopped herself. Though it would be a prime chance to talk rather than be spoken to, she decided to not jump in between Owen and Nicola's little thing.

That was a bad slip-up, though she definitely didn't regret it. Nicola let her gaze linger on the door that lead to the Summer hallways for a few moments before shuffling into a more comfortable position on the sofa, her lips twitching upwards into a smirk. She always enjoyed seeing other people's reactions to her gift, liked seeing the complete utter shock or the way their skin paled at just hearing that one word. Demon. It was something that she had become accustomed to for so long that it didn't surprise her when there was one trailing behind her, hoping to get their claws smack dab into her head. Exchanging an amused glance with Madison, her hand adjusted her cap as she replied, "Yup. Demons. At least it's not Satan yet."

"Not everyone gets rainbows and sunshine here, tall guy." Her palms faced away from her and her hands moved in an arching motion apart from one another, and she could just imagine the colors appearing from the tips of her fingers. Would've been a nice change from seeing giant crimson stains stuck between her nails. Not like that was ever going to happen, of course. "Hold on, stop freaking out. It's not the end of the world yet, sheesh." The panic that people felt rising inside them with the way their heart raced or whatever crap she had read about the fight-or-flight response always seemed to come whenever she casually mentioned her gift. As amusing as it was, they were practically all the same. Madison unfortunately, was in the same group as everyone else.

Maybe she was just over-generalizing everything. "They really aren't around that often. The Autumn prefect is an angel, and honestly, the mere existence of that guy keeps most of them away. The only times they're actually at the school is whenever I'm being an idiot and forgetting how much demonic energy I have."

When she mentioned rainbows and sunshine, Owen held up his hand and wiggled his fingers, imagining the light he had so often seen dancing across his fingertips. It was warmer and safer than sparks, and he enjoyed being a human flashlight if it was ever needed. His attention returned to Nicola as she continued speaking.

"An angel," he stated simply when she finished. He threw his hands in the air and allowed them to fall again, slapping one on his thigh. "But at least Satan himself hasn't shown up, right?" He laughed, a bit nervously, and it died quickly. Swallowing hard, he settled for standing and trying not to look shocked. It was barely his first day, and he had already knocked somebody into water and discovered that somebody else dealt with demons on a regular basis. It was a good choice of school.

A human flashlight. Madison watched the light in his hands, and looked back up at him, with the upwards innocent glare of a child. He would be useful to her. She had to keep him around somehow, if it meant befriending him. Yes, he could be a big help to her. That time on the rooftop would have been so much easier if it was him instead of Nicola. Madison shifted to one leg, absent-mindedly scratching the back of it with the toe of her shoe. It traced along the scars.

Satan, huh? She did not want to think about demons this much. She was afraid of it kindling something in her darkness. She did not want to deal with demons looking into her window at night. "Let's change the subject, um, if you don't mind..." She gave a quiet, unhumored laugh. Madison suddenly felt an unwillingness to explain why, what her power was and how dangerous it could be. She gave Nicola a glance.

"Well, duh. Satan's a devil, not a demon." Wasn't that a common fact? Or was there a giant misconception where devils and demons were the exact same thing? How frustrating. Nicola noticed the other two seemed awfully uncomfortable with the subject, so she shrugged. "Okay then..." Leaning back onto the sofa further, she closed her eyes, trying to think of something that wouldn't lead to a rather weird conversation. Or whatever other people thought as weird. She was a Summer, sure. But that didn't necessarily mean she had topic starters prepared every other second. How the hell did Madison wind up in the same house as her again?

Swinging her legs up, she sat up straight criss-crossed with her hands resting in the gap. "New topic - what do you guys think of the school so far? Seeing as the new semester's started... Or is coming up." A small frown rested on her lips, and Nicola drifted her gaze over at the calendar hanging on the wall, a giant red circle marking the opening ceremony day. If she squinted... Nope. She couldn't see it. Way too far and her vision sucked. Maybe she should start wearing glasses.