What's that you said? (Open)

Bastien hadn't been at Beata very long, just long enough to know where he was going. He'd also been to a few classes but he had yet to perfect speaking without creating hallucinations for whoever he was speaking to. It was getting tiring resting his voice for so long. Back home, when he hadn't spoken for very long, he often liked to go somewhere where no one would hear him, and sing to himself. Sure, his gift worked only when he spoke directly to someone, but he didn't want to chance giving someone hallucinations because they were in the same room as his voice.

Stepping into the studio, Bastien took a look around at the various instruments waiting to be played. He only knew a few chords on the guitar, but it was enough to be able to sing a few songs. However, he had a song that didn't need an instrument to play under it. Slowly Bastien sat down, make sure no one was around, and began to sing. At first his voice was crackly and rough, that often came with not speaking for so long. But after he cleared his throat and flipped his white hair from his eyes he began again and this time the sound that came from his throat was soft and gentle, like a whisper on the breeze. "Close your eyes...."

The small white-haired Winter smiled when she heard the singing voice. It wasn't a song she recognized, but Chloe still set down her pencil and stood up from the sketch she had been working on. It wasn't very good, but she was practicing.

Her golden eyes sparkling, she moved towards the sound. Seeing the male who also had white hair, she stood out of sight and listened. He has such a nice voice... I wonder why he's sitting all alone. Maybe he's shy, like I am...

Singing was something Bastien really enjoyed. He didn't know someone was watching him and it had no effect on them because he wasn't speaking directly to them. Sitting alone, singing softly, he closed his eyes in thought. It felt really good to use his voice once again. Slowly he finished his song and opened his eyes, turning around and finding someone there with him. With a wide grin Bastien waved and ran through the door to the other side of the glass that seperated him from the other person.

Quickly he pulled out his notepad and flipped to a page he used frequently. 'Hi! I'm Bastien, what's your name?' It said.

Chloe smiled, reading the sign. "Chloe. It's nice to meet you, Bastien," the small girl smiled, reaching out a hand for him to shake it.

Sometimes it bothered people that he wrote on a piece of paper. Most people asked first thing after meeting him why he did that. He had written out an explanation a long time ago, it was one of the pieces of paper he carried with him all the time. Because of Beata he had had to rewrite it so that people at Beata got the full scoop. Despite him having just been singing, the girl before him didn't seem terribly confused. But that was okay with Basien, people had their own reasons for the way they reacted. Taking her offered hand he shook it and then flipped to another page. 'It's nice to meet you too!'

She was curious, of course, but was trying her best to be polite. "Excuse me, Bastien, but if you don't mind my asking, why do you sing with such a beautiful voice and then not speak when I make conversation? Chloe felt herself blush lightly and she looked at her feet. Thinking it over in her head, she sounded a bit rude. "I'm very sorry, that sounded rude..."

It was nice when people were polite. Polite people were easier to handle than impolite people. Bastien didn't mind at all that she asked what was up, lots of people did. 'That wasn't rude at all.' Bastien scribbled before showing her. Then he flipped to a pre-written page which read: 'My gift is related to my voice. I sing or speak directly to someone and it creates hallucinations in their minds based on what I say.'

"That makes sense," she smiled softly. "My gift is creating things," Chloe told him, forming a little purple flower to match his eye color before offering it to him kindly.

It was nice of her to be understanding, some people thought it was silly, but he wouldn't be able to talk normally until he learned to control his gift. 'That's really cool! Can you control when you create things or does it just happen sometimes?' Bastien asked, taking a little longer to write this out. He knew he lost control of his gift and many other people who were new did as well. But if Chloe wasn't as new as he was, she might have more control over her gift than he did with his.

"Well, sometimes it's automatic. When I discovered it, I had scraped my knee. I went inside to tell my mother since any cut you get outdoors needs to be disinfected, but a bandage was already over it. And other times I choose, like when I made the flower," she smiled.

It was always interesting hearing other peoples powers and how they worked. Chloe's was pretty interesting, it was cool that she had some control over it already. Bastien had no control over his and it worked all the time, no matter what he was doing. It was a big bummer, since he loved to talk and he wanted to talk to people all the time. 'That's cool.' He wrote, though a bandaid already being on an uncleaned wound was not a good thing. 'How old were you?' He asked, curious to know when she first noticed it. People were born with these things, and something like that was hard to live with without noticing. His gift was the same way.

"I was thirteen, but I didn't get my Beata letter until recently. If you don't mind my asking, doesn't it hurt your wrist to write so much? Of course, I understand why you have to, but... Never mind," she murmured, blushing. Most weren't familiar with what she was thinking of, and it wasn't much easier.

Huh, that was pretty interesting. It was true that Beata letters came late sometimes because Beata didn't always notice new gifted people right away, at least as far as Bastien knew, but she hadn't noticed her gift until she was thirteen? Bastien hadn't registered he was the one making people see things until he was around ten, but even then people always told him that his words were oddly clear in their minds. Sometimes they even mentioned seeing things related to what he was saying. But each person was different, so he figured it wasn't a big deal. 'It's alright. It does get tiring sometimes. That's why I have some pages written out already. Some questions people just ask frequently.' Only for someone gifted with mind reading would it be possible for anyone to be familiar with what another was thinking. Unless one knew that person really well, but even then they wouldn't know everything they were thinking.

"That's clever," she smiled, absentmindedly forming a little rubber ball to keep her hands busy.

'Thank you.' This was another of the pre-written pages. Flipping to another pre-written page he asked: 'How long have you been at Beata?' Since the conversation seemed to be slowing down a bit, Bastien brought up a question he loved to ask.