Second Chances (Open)

Her... gift? Perhaps she had been hanging around more experienced students more. People never asked her this question anymore, so it made it all the easier to hide and pretend what she actually had. They couldn't doubt her if all they saw was her reversing injuries as though they never happened. That's all she did in the end - at the cost of her own time. Shrinking back a bit from the others, her fingers playing with her umbrella's handle, there was that small chance that the ground would open up. Just a small chance that they'd forget that she existed. She wanted nothing more than to walk away now, but that would be too rude; someone would think something was wrong and it'd just snowball into some over dramatic and cliche event from there. Her stuttering and blandness made conversing difficult, and she always seemed to be saying the wrong things. Well, at least if she responded a bit and tried, it'd make her seem less mean when she made up an excuse later, right?

Magic knew she would lie. Would he call her out on it? He's not that kind of person... That's what she wanted to convince herself of. At least, that's what seemed to make sense. Even after all of those times he had asked her, Lamia never wound up saying anything. The only information he got was indirect that she was had expected him to simply search up her profile through the school. Prefects had that small advantage. If they wanted to find out more about a person, all they had to do was look them up in the register. It was as simple as that.

People don't have to fear about sharing their powers because they weren't monstrosities. Simple things such as possession was fine. Those were advertised all over media through characters - good or bad. Sound manipulation seemed harmless at first glance. After all, who would think that something as simple as a sound wave could kill without searching it up first? It was those kinds of things that made her jealous of everyone around her for all of their fortunes. They could just say what they wanted and didn't have to worry about whether people would get mad at them or immediately start avoiding them like the plague. As everyone else seemed to be waiting for her answer, Lamia took a deep breath. No point in keeping them silent any longer.

"H-healing..." were the first words out of her mouth, albeit clumsily and a little slurred as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It was quiet enough that they wouldn't be able to tell that she was lying... except well, Magic. But that was Magic. None of them had enhanced hearing as a power. She'd be okay. Hopefully. You're a fucking moron.

Mera's brown eyes twinkled with delight at the sound of their abilities, and neither her nor Vera noticed the thunder thanks to Magic's subtle use of his abilities. She looked at the boy with wide eyes. His gift didn't sound particularly exciting or flashy, as far as she knew, but she was sure there was a lot more to it than how it sounded. "That sounds very fascinating," Mera told him, and it wasn't a lie, but she wasn't certain how he could use such powers, blissfully unaware that he had just utilized them under her nose. "You'll have to give us a demonstration some time."

"And such pretty red hair it is!" Mera's sister cooed, smiling from ear to ear at Erin, genuine as can be. Vera raised her eyebrows at Erin as she explained her gift in her thick Irish accent. "Goodness. You can take over other peoples' bodies?" Vera sounded shocked and intrigued all at once. "I. . I'll take your word for it," She let out an uneasy laugh, not-so-secretly uncomfortable at the thought of Erin's abilities. It sounded particularly. . invasive; inhuman. All of their gifts were inhuman, she supposed, but Erin's in particular made her skin crawl. She hoped the girl wouldn't ever try anything on her at least.

Mera was a little more curious, but she didn't particularly want to see Erin's powers in action just yet. "What was that, dear?" She asked Lamia, whose voice was just barely above a whisper. Vera didn't want to put her on the spot, but Mera had no qualms about it. She wasn't being deliberately mean-spirited, but her haughtiness could be detected from a mile away. It wasn't one of her more endearing qualities.

Vera was a little irritated at Mera's subtle jibes, and she knew that 'dear' in that tone was always condescending; her sister was one 'bless her heart' away from being completely and unnecessarily rude to the clearly already nervous girl. Her mother used to say that was just Mera's way; she was proud, and wore it on her sleeve, but Vera wouldn't stand for it. "Oh, Mera, you'll frighten the poor thing," Vera said giving Lamia a sympathetic glance and then shooting a look that said "tone-it-down" to her sister. "She's just a bit tongue-tied! Did you say 'healing?'" Vera asked, unaware that putting Lamia on the spot again probably wasn't making her relax at all.

Mason shrugged. He had already given both the girls a demonstration but neither of them noticed. And it seemed like the Mera girl meant to make a pun there but it also sounded to casual for there to be a pun behind it. So he just assumed it was unintentional. Also he knew Lamia would lie about her gift, but she said it so quietly.. He heard it but he knew the others wouldn't have..

And he was right. Magic shot a look at Mera. He couldn't really help it, Lamia was a good friend of his, and he didn't really like Mera's tone with her. The boy gave off a sigh. He knew Lamia probably wanted to shrink away at the moment, she was never one for attention. So he decided to answer for her. Of course he wouldn't answer as himself though. He would just borrow Lamia's voice for a moment and make it seem like it was coming from her. So that way she didn't have to worry about answering.

Magic didn't even open his mouth, he just created the sound and made it seem like it was coming from Lamia. He manipulated the sound as well to make it seem like it was Lamia speaking. "Y-yes.. Healing.." Except this time he made the voice loud enough that the others would be able to hear it. It sounded close to Lamia's voice but it wasn't it exact. Though the twins wouldn't know because they had only just met the girl didn't really know her voice all that well. But it was a good attempt on Magic's part.

The redhead flipped her thick red hair back so that it hung down on her back rather than jumbling up around her shoulders before crossing her arms in front of her, her face beaming. At least, it was until she suddenly seemed to frighten one of the twins with her ability. Was it something to be ashamed of? Using her right hand, she brushed away the uncertain feelings that Vera was showing. "Oh, don't worry your wee head!" she laughed. "I'm not anywhere close to possessing an actual person. Besides, people need their privacy." When it got quiet again, Erin turned back to Magic and Lamia as the twins seemed to have done. When she spoke, it was very hard to hear and the way that Mera had responded was a little off-putting. But when Lamia replied once more, and a little bit louder this time, Erin was a bit impressed. Healing was pretty cool. It was very useful and helpful. "That's cool!" she exclaimed, giving Lamia a big smile.

There was a scarce flicker of irritation, but it was faint compared to her anxiety and embarrassment. Was she really that quiet compared to everyone else? Yes was the first thing to come to mind. Nervously shifting in her place, her eyes stayed low, covered by her bangs. The way they talked to her was akin to how a principal would speak when scolding a child who was being mischievous in an attempt to make them feel guilty for what they had done. A child. Was this another sick game? A joke? She was practically their seniors at the school, prefect and all, but Lamia kept her mouth shut about it. It'd come off as annoying, needy, and asking for too much from people she didn't know. Hell, she couldn't even ask Magic to do anything for her properly, let alone her own family. Repeating her answer. Of course. Everyone always seemed to ask her to speak up, to rephrase something, to fix her social skills. Her eyes wandered towards the dark-haired boy, and before she realized it, something - or someone - had answered for her. In her own voice. Or close to it?

Whenever you talked yourself, you always heard your voice differently compared to the people around you. It seemed like it was her talking, but she wasn't sure. Was that what she actually sounded like? If anything, it would've been straining to hear if it didn't seem like it came right from her as well. No wonder people got sick of her so easily. Ambivalently, Lamia nodded in response to Vera's question, even if well, she technically responded already, and a small hint of red rose on her cheeks as she bit her lip. Magic had answered for her in the end. As much as she appreciated, it made her wonder how much he doubted her abilities to talk to others. Did she really need the help? Did he think she was that useless when it came to these things? Not only that, he'd help her so many times already that there was a feeling of shame stirring inside. She really owed him.

The idea that Erin had believed healing was cool made her almost want to laugh out loud and just take back her answer to prove the other girl wrong. Instead, she smiled weakly, shaking her head, "I-I-It's n-not r-really..." Her voice trailed off before she could finish answering. Really what? Cool? Great? Whatever? It seemed redundant to use the same exact adjective, and it'd feel like trying to cheat the conversation. Maybe it'd be better if she just kept quiet now. They could just pretend she didn't exist off to the side and keep mingling in all of their fun. It wasn't that bad to just listen in anyway and keep track of what everyone else was saying. Sort of.

Vera beamed at Lamia; despite the girl's apparent lack of confidence in herself or her abilities, she had taken a shine to her and thought that healing was such an interesting, useful ability that had real application. She could help so many people with a power like that. "What do you mean?" She asked, indignant and amused. "That's gotta be the best one I've heard yet." She gave another big smile. Lamia's gift truly was a gift, a blessing; not like Irish-Erin's power to take over bodies, but Vera would ne-ever say anything like that to the girl's face.

Mera cocked an eyebrow when Lamia spoke, her head not moving at all. What was wrong with her that she couldn't speak up? Poor dear. It was one thing to be quiet and shy, but this girl seemed unable to speak without a stammer. She seemed to wish to fade away into invisibility, but now everyone's attention was on her; perhaps she was just overly nervous or something. Though, her sister was right about Lamia's abilities; they were certainly one of the most useful powers she'd heard of. She didn't say anything, but nodded in agreement and approval when Vera spoke.

Magic felt a little relieved. It seemed everyone had bought his manipulation. And he wasn't trying to make Lamia feel bad or anything, just felt like helping her. Anyway.. they all seemed to buying the lie.. But thats was it.. It was a lie. Magic knew the girl could heal people, but there was some cost to it.. or something of the sort. He didn't quite know what that cost was yet.. but he would find out eventually right? The boy looked away from everyone else. What ever the gift was it definitely wasn't the best gift ever.. What ever it was it could kill people, and that wasn't a good thing.

The boy looked back over to the group. What to do now? Another rumble of thunder started but was cut short by Magic's gift. He didn't want to deal with the growing loudness of thunder. It hurt his ears when the source got too close.. The boy crossed his arms. "So you two can do something with force fields or something?" He asked. Had they shared more about tehir gifts yet? The prefect couldn't really remember..

Completely unaware of the terrible effects that Lamia's power actually had, Erin continued to be impressed with it. Vera definitely said what was on the redhead's mind. How could it not be great? Imagine all of the people that could be helped with that power...

When Magic spoke up again, Erin's attention was once again drawn back to the twins. They seemed to have a pretty good handle on part of their power, so the Autumn was curious as to how well they could control their power and what all they could do with it. Just off the top of her head, she could think of a lot of things those barriers would be good for. Then there was her. After seeing Vera's reaction, it made the girl think. Should she really be going around spatting about her ability?

How could it be the best? All her gift actually did was kill people to sustain her own life. The healing part wasn't ever hers; it was her brother's, who had found a way to transfer it for reasons she didn't know. It proved helpful on multiple occasions though, so she wouldn't complain. Everyone she helped was just because she was fortunate enough to have a twin who could donate a portion of their gift to her. They both had the same ability - he had both the potential to kill and heal while she just had murder plainly written on her forehead. Absentmindedly, Lamia forced her smile to widen a bit. "I-I c-c-can't really... do m-much with i-i-it." Lies, lies, all of the lies she spat out as if they were nothing to worry about. They wouldn't know, though. They would forget about it eventually and never bother to search through school records or anything of that sort. They wouldn't check the news. Why bother learning more about an insignificant person who was responsible for merciless slaughter of humans as though they were fodder?

Inwardly, she let out a small sigh of relief when Magic changed the subject, diverting any attention on her to someone else. Spotlight's changed... and that was another thing she owed him. What was that? Twice in the past few minutes? How much had the counter risen over the duration of time they knew each other? It was her super-hearing. He automatically knew when she was uncomfortable, when she wasn't telling the truth or trying to hide something, knew when she enjoyed it. All he had to do was hear it laced in all the layers of her soft as silk voice. Perhaps it was just a blessing or lucky draw in the raffle of life, but it always made her anxious about how astute he could be whenever it concerned her... Well-being, health, or mental state. Why the hell did he bother with it all? He had his own problems to worry about. She could handle hers without his intervention... right? Yeah, if you want to go with that.

Lamia tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before taking a deep breath, keeping silent now that she didn't need to be part of the conversation. Maybe she could take a run for it, sneak away and nobody would notice her absence. The Winter dorms weren't that far away, but it'd be so impolite if she left without warning. And these were initiates. As a prefect, she was practically obligated to help other students and converse with them. Goddamn, she dreaded that. She wasn't wearing her uniform right now, so they didn't know she held the position, though. Would be easy to bail, wouldn't it? No, she had to stop thinking about that. Leaving someone behind because she had been too selfish to deal with a bit of socializing. Haha, shouldn't be too hard. Easy-peasy. Hopefully. It wasn't like they were going to ask her to talk again. After all, she'd have to repeat everything and it'd get annoying, wouldn't it?

Magic had come to the conclusion of force fields, but she had thought they were simply changing the direction of the rain to fall away from them. An out of the ordinary idea, and if she thought about it more, Magic's answer made more sense. It'd be a pretty pointless power if they were redirecting raindrops... unless it was water manipulation. Pointless? Maybe. Better than yours? Obviously. She shouldn't judge a gift. She had absolutely no right to do that.