There's a First Time for Everything

Where was he? Joss had no clue. He'd probably heard someone tell him on his way there, but he had this back knack for spacing out. He had no clue where he was, he only knew that it was going to help him see. See? What did he mean by that? Well, in a way, Joss was blind. It was natural. Something that mere surgery was not going to help. So his parents had told him that, with what money they had, they would be sending him to a school which would help him see. Hopefully they were right, because at the moment, all was black. He felt the bag of his stuff in his hands as he stood alone at what he'd been told was the front of a school. Why couldn't his Echolocation work? It was the only way he could 'see' anything. And as of that very moment, it wasn't helping him. He hated it when that happened.

Feeling forward, he felt cold metal on his hands and jumped backwards a bit. Ugh, doors. Pushing into them again, he opened what he assumed was the gate to the entrance. Once it was open wide enough to fit him, he squeezed through and then attempted closing them behind him, resulting in a little fumbling and nearly falling flat on his bum. The British teen turned around briskly, suddenly feeling the vast size of the school. With a wave that knocked him backwards, his Echolocation switched on and he sensed the entire front entrance of the school. Ack! The size attacked his and he gasped as if cold air had rushed over him.

"Oh, bother!" He shouted once the initial shock had gone over him. He brushed himself off and picked up his luggage. Walking right into something hard. With an omph he fell hard on the ground. The school had been to much for the brunettes power.

"Oh God; are you ok? I am so sorry; I should of have been looking where I was going!" Hosa looked at the new-comer with wide eyes; having been taking a walk and had got caught up in a day dream when she had rammed into him. She keeled down next to him, reaching out her hand to take his and pulled him up to his feet. "Are you new here?"

A girl? Joss thought. He had run into a girl and been knocked on his feet? That must be one solid girl. Joss shook his head and looked around, hoping his power would come on and help him see just how big this girl was. She had to be pretty large to make him think he'd run into a solid something.

"Oh, it's fine." He muttered, feeling around for his bag which he then used to push himself up. Brushing off his pants he willed the stupid echolocation to come on. Had he used up all its energy just looking at the school? That turned out to be a no as it slowly flickered to life. First there came some small pulses of waves which he could softly sense the girl in front of him. Then they came on stronger. She was a good eight inches shorter than him! How could he have been knocked on to his bum running into her? He would have knocked her over!

"Yeah." He replied, sensing all around him to the benches and trees all the way up to the front door where he assumed he needed to go. "You're mighty small, aren't you?" He asked out loud. He was still confused as to how he had fallen over and not her.

Hosa blinked. She was still somewhat surprised that she was still standing after bumping into him like that. Perhapes the fact she could turn into an elephant made her study; who knows? "Well; I don't think I am that small..." She just shook her head with a sigh. "Nice to meet you; I'm Hosa; proud member of the Autumn house."

Joss shrugged at the comment about her size. "I just didn't expect you to be eight inches shorter than me." He replied. But that was behind them now. He smiled as she introduced herself. Hosa. Sounded Spanish. Not like he knew a whole load about the Spanish or anything. Guess it just sounded like Jose.

"Name's Joss. And as you can see, I'm new here." He replied with and introduction and slight gesture toward the gate where he had just come in. It was kind of obvious he was new, but he might as well say something in case she hadn't noticed. It was kind of hard to notice someone coming in the large gates.

"So, er, where do I go now?" He asked Hosa. He thought he remembered something about the initiate dorm, but he wasn't sure.

"Huh-uh; yea; sure," she said with a grin as she glanced at him. "Anyways; nice to meet you; Joss." She paused as she listened to his final question before smiling; remembering her first day here. "You would want to go to the initiate dorms. That is where you will be staying for your first week. I can take you there if you want; it is kinda easy to get lost here."

"It's nice to meet you too." He said to her. The only problem with Echolocation was that he couldn't see color, but he could feel everything. He'd always wished to see everything in color and wondered what it would be like. The beautiful sunsets and sunrises that people so often describes. Watching TV was something he'd been constantly pestered about. But he was alive and was able to move around most of the time without bumping into someone.

"Oh, thank you very much." He replied. He was sure he'd probably be able to find it, except he couldn't read maps. Or signs. So she was right, he'd probably get lost. He could see at the moment, but he couldn't see. It was always confusing to think about. He hated the fact he couldn't read. He sort of could, if something was written and the writing utensil was placed hard on the paper. If the writing made a dent, he could use Echolocation to read it, but it was really difficult since the dent was so small.

Walking with Hosa toward the dorms, he observed his surroundings. It was quite a load to take in. His Echolocation certainly thought so as it slowly shut down. Joss slowed down too, afraid he might bump into something. "Apologies, Hosa." He muttered as he felt forward for anything in front of him. "But it appears that my gift has shut off. I'm not the greatest at controlling it." His first day was turning out fantastic! (That was sarcasm)

"Huh?" Hosa came to a stop as she glanced back at Joss. His power turned off? She hadn't even noticed it was on. After a few moments of watching him trying to feel stuff it finally came to her. He was blind! How had she not seen it before? She muttered to herself as she slowly made her way back to Joss before reaching out her hand to grab his. "Don't worry about it; we are all here to control our gifts. I can shapeshift but I almost never turn into the right animal. Here; grab my hand. I'll make sure you don't bump into anything. We are almost to the Initiate dorm."

Joss could almost sense Hosa's confusion as he stopped going the same pace. It always took a while for people to notice that he was blind. His power was useable in a load of school situations, but there were times it wouldn't work. For the most part his school life before Beata was filled with confused classmates. They all thought he was blind because he couldn't see the words on the paper and ran into pretty much everything. They also thought he could see because he had days where he moved around like he could see as clear as an HD movie. They had no logical explanation for it, so they ignored his sight problem.

"Shape shifting? That's a fantastic power." He'd never seen anyone shape shift, but hearing the word he knew instantly what it was. That would probably give him a headache if he didn't know what was happening. Things that moved too much for his waves to sense it made his head hurt. Like water. It never stood still. People could stand still, so he had no real problem with them. But if a human constantly moved and writhed, changing its shape, it probably would hurt his head.

"I have Echolocation. That means I can see things by sending out waves." Joss grinned at this, knowing that it wasn't a very common power. "However, it takes a toll on the eyes." He added, pointing to his eyes. He took Hosa's as she offered it and followed her pull toward the place where he'd be staying a week before being placed in a house. "Thanks."

"Echolocation?" Hosa had never heard of that gift, and listened as he explained it before smiling. "That must be helpful. I mean; sure you are kinda blind because of the power but in a dark room; we would be the blind ones while you could just use your gift to see!" She did love to find the upside and downside to people powers. Her gaze shifted as she read one of the signs; saying that the dorms were straight down the hall. "Anyways; it looks like we are almost to the Initiate dorms."

Joss nodded as she repeated the name of his power. It was something most people hadn't ever heard of, but it was alright. He understood. Most people didn't assume that it affected his sight, but when you had a power that assisted with sight, you might think that it effected his sight.

Nodding at her comment about how it would be useful, he thought about it. A sticky situation. Dark room with no light whatsoever. It would be normal for him to not see anything but pitch black. For anyone else it was quite difficult to see anything. So in the dark, his waves would indeed come in handy in some way. "You're right." He agreed smiling at her.

Moving with Hosa, hand in hand, Joss felt the faintness of his gift coming back. He hardly saw a thing, it seemed to be only partially on, but he could sense signs and the hallways around them. He couldn't read the signs, but that was alright. "Thank you. Again." He said with a smile.

Hosa laughed as she glanced at Joss. "Hey, what kind of person would I be if I just let a new student that I bumped into get lost on their first day?" Her eyes shined as she finally reached the Initiate dorms before stopping. "And we are here! I am sure that you will be able to find your bed and such?"