A Simple Melody

It had only been a couple of hours. The campus was large and Mal had quite a bit to get used to. It was really hard to take in all the sights when he was afraid he'd give someone cancer from looking at them. But his reflective goggles allowed him to see he campus he was going to be living on for the next few years of his life.

The lounge was his next stop. It was fairly large and very decently furnished. Malcolm had grown up with nice things, but not necessarily things this nice. Grinning he pushed down on the back of one of the couches. "This is nice." He told himself, looking around. It was a really good place for hanging out. Taking a step forward, Mal didn't watch where he was going and ran into the little table between the couches. He hissed under his breath and took a seat. Why did he have to be so clumsy?

It was Saturday, and Saturday to Owen meant relaxing wherever and whenever he could. He had spent most of the morning laying in his bed, ignoring the sounds of others outside, and he fought his body trying to wake him up, desperately tugging the sheets snug around him, trying to recreate the perfect sleep position. Around 10:30 in the morning, he had given up, however, and forced himself to get up and get breakfast.

Now, he sat in the lounge, wondering what he should do with his day. There were a few magazines on the table, and one struck Owen's interest. He reached out, unfolded it, and read through it, only sort of pretending he was truly fascinated by it. He kicked his feet up onto the table, lounging comfortably.

He was startled out of his quiet meditation by someone running into the table. For a split second, he considered making a rude remark, but he realized it would only ruin his good mood. Instead, Owen went for politeness.
"Hey, you alright?" he asked the boy. Looking at him, Owen could tell he was very in close in age to him.

Arriving on a Saturday was very beneficial for Mal, he got to do whatever and explore and such and didn't have to start classes yet. Which was nice, since he wasn't exactly sure where he needed to go and where he needed to be. That would take time and he would have rather had time studying the schedule for a bit. Then he would know where to go and what time to go there. But first he would get to explore a bit.

Upon entering the lounge, Malcolm hadn't seen the other boy that was in there. He would have first talked to him if that had been the case, but that had not been the case. Instead, running into the table had been the case. What a way to introduce yourself! Hi, I'm Mal, I just ran into the table you had your legs resting on. What's your name? Beautiful, as always, Mal thought to himself.

When he did finally notice the other guy he couldn't help but blush a bit, embarrassed to have been seen running into the table. That was not at all graceful and Malcolm could be way more graceful than that. "Hah, yeah. Just, not watching where I was going, ya know? Hi, I'm Mal, what's your name?" Malcolm would have introduced himself by full name, but he was a bit out of it.

Owen thought he must be new. It was something he could understand, having been there himself just a few days previously. He rearranged his face into an expression he hoped was friendly and not intimidating. Folding the magazine closed, he sat on the edge of the couch cushion, smiling a little.
"I get that," he said with a soft laugh. "I'm Owen. It's nice to meet you Mal. Did you just get here?"

Being new seemed to be a thing. Much like the shirt Mal was wearing, it could easily be seen by someone else. Which had been the case when he had first arrived, there had been a girl sitting out by the entrance. But she had watched him walk in, so this was different. An embarrassing different. Why did he have to embarrass himself like this? It was nice to see, at least, that the guy who had seen him was interested in talking with him.

Laughing a bit himself, he sat up, one leg resting on the couch against his chest and the other on the floor. He rubbed the shin he had bumped absently. "It's nice to meet you too, Owen. Yeah, is it that obvious?" He said with a laugh. "How long have you been here?" He asked, figuring it was only nice to ask in return.

As Owen listened to Mal talk, he couldn't help but think he was glad he wasn't the newest person anymore. It was a relief to find someone else who was entirely new to this school and was still in awe of all of its rooms. Despite having been there a few days and still experiencing new places, Owen still found himself in awe of the rooms he visited frequently.

With a smile, he nodded. "It's a little obvious," he admitted. Hastily, Owen added, "But it's nothing to be ashamed of. I just got here a few days ago, so I'm still new, too."

Being new couldn't be all too bad. Sure, people noticed you more when you were new. But after a while people started to refer to you as you, rather than the new guy. Which would hopefully be soon. Malcolm didn't mind it too much, but it was a little weird to be referred to as the new guy. But he could live with that. It would be quite a while before he felt not new. After moving from a small town, meeting a whole school of new people was going to be weird.

Nodding, he understood about that. Laughing nervously again he tried to brush off the awkwardness of the situation and sit straighter. It was hard to dwell on something embarrassing while talking with someone who had just watched the fun unfold. "No, it's not. It's just new. Way new. So different that I feel like tripping over everything I come across just to meet new people." He laughed at himself then, to try and relieve the tension he was feeling."Hah, that's good. I'm not the only new-ish person." He felt relief wash over himself and gave into the comfort that was talking with someone nice.

"So, Owen. Where're you from?" He asked, genuinely curious to know. Getting to know people was something he really enjoyed doing. "Oh, and, since this is a school for gifted and if you don't mind me asking, what power is it you have that brings you here?" It was a really curious question, since Mal's own power was a little touchy.

He was finding that Mal was a friendly person, which was something he was thankful for. The only people he'd interacted with for more than five minutes had been difficult to read, and he appreciated someone who was forward. Owen laughed at his joke, relaxing back into the couch as he did so.

"Nebraska," he answered. It wasn't the most exciting place, but it was home to him, and he loved it. Even as he thought about it, his heart ached for home. The days there were the happiest he could remember. He was sure he would be happy here as well, but home meant comfort.

As he was questioned about his gift, Owen couldn't help but show off just a little. With a smile, he reached into a small shaft of sunlight that was filtering through the blinds behind the couch. It seemed to attach itself to his fingers and they glowed of their own accord. Wiggling his fingers, Owen got the light shift to his palm, where it gathered into a small ball of light, shifting and reshaping itself lazily.
"Light manipulation," he told Mal with a smile as he closed his fist and the light vanished. "Where are you from? And what's your power?"

Nice people were awesome. Mal liked nice people and enjoyed talking to those that were similar to Owen here. Nice and laughed when he was supposed to. Because Owen laughed at what he said and then relaxed, Malcolm felt more relaxed in turn. It was pleasant, talking with Owen. He seemed genuinely nice and that was really great.

Ah, Nebraska. That sounded fun. Malcolm hadn't been very many places, so he supposed he didn't know what was fun and what wasn't when it came to different states. Home was always a happy place and it didn't matter where it was, as long as it was home and it held memories.

When the light began to move and shift a bit Mal looked around to see what was causing it. When he looked back at Owen he spotted the glowing on his fingers and gaped, completely in awe. He stared at Owen's hand for a long time, watching the light shift and reform itself. "Wow! That's super awesome!" Malcolm was feeling a little jealous of that power as Owen demonstrated. "Rhode Island. Um, radiation manipulation. It comes from just about everywhere. And I can't control it through my eyes so I wear reflective goggles." Mal responded, pointing to his glasses.

Owen didn't know much about Rhode Island. All he knew was that it was small and hardly anybody lived there. At least, he thought so. He smiled at Mal's reaction, thrilled that somebody was at least somewhat impressed. The last time people had been around to see his power, he had accidentally frightened someone into a fountain.

"Wait, radiation manipulation?" He hadn't heard of anything like that before. It intrigued him. "What does that mean?" he asked.

Rhode Island was small. It was kind of sad, that not many people really thought much about it. But it never really made much of a name for itself, so he figured that was fine. Powers were just so cool and Owen's was no exception. Manipulating light? That had to come in handy when there was minimal light and he needed more than he got.

Awkward. Malcolm had become so used to people who knew what radiation manipulation was that he completely forgot some people didn't know. Turning a light shade of pink and smile sheepishly. "Ah, sorry. Basically I can create radiation, how much and how little, shoot it forth in concentrated amounts apparently. It's really complicated and I don't actually know all of what I can do." He said with a shrug. Before he really knew what it was he had caused a few cases of cancer.

"Um, so, what's life here like? From what you've seen." He asked, wondering if Owen had learned much. An inside man seemed like the best place to get information.

At this explanation, Owen nodded as if he understood, but he was honestly a little lost. He had never really learned much about radiation; all he knew was that it was known to be bad for humans. It was a fascinating power, however, unlike anything he had ever really known. It was something he wanted to know more about.

"Uh, well, I don't really know for sure," Owen answered truthfully. He thought back to his first week. It had definitely been the strangest first week of school he'd ever had, but it wasn't unpleasant. He finally decided on one word. "Interesting. It's definitely interesting. I haven't had very many quiet moments yet." He thought about the evaluation he had endured, about meeting Nicola and Madison, and about the classes. Interesting was the best word for it.

Sometimes his power didn't make sense even to himself. All he knew was that he basically could kill someone, but over a long period of time. It was really sad, but he could somewhat control it. His goggles were a big help, so that he didn't accidentally give someone cancer from all his radiation. But he still needed to learn to control it.

Nodding at Owen's response he allowed him time to think it over. Owen said he hadn't been there long, so he supposed it was only fair to give him time to think about what it was like. "Haha, really? That sounds great. I guess I'll get to look forward to no quiet time." He said with mock sadness. He didn't mind too much noise, though he supposed he would have preferred some time alone on occasion.

As soon as Mal had said that, Owen regretted his word choice. Sure, it was a crazy kind of different, but there were definitely places to catch a quiet moment and there were normal school things to do.
"Nah, there's a forest around here somewhere," he said, waving his hand dismissively. He crossed his hands over his stomach, slouching into the couch heavily.

"Hey, listen, if you need anything while you're here, don't hesitate to ask," Owen told him. He wanted to be there for somebody, even if he was almost as new.

What Owen had said only bugged Mal a tiny bit. His small town had allowed for plenty quiet time but more often than not he had no quiet time. It was actually something he preferred. He actually couldn't fall asleep without noise going on. This often meant he fell asleep with his iPod playing music or the TV going. Just noise helped him to get to sleep.

"That's awesome! I'd like to see that sometime." There had been forests in Providence, but they weren't too big and Mal had never really gone into them that often. Now that there was nowhere else to go except the school, Malcolm was going to look forward to seeing the forest so he could have something to do. Exploring the forest seemed like a good plan.

Grinning at Owen, Mal nodded. "Totally, man. I'll seek you out first." Malcolm said, happy to accept the offer Owen had given him. "Have you met anyone interesting yet? Malcolm asked, wondering if there were people he needed to avoid or people he should seek out to get to know.