Salty, Aren't You?

Nicolai Winston had a single backpack and an over-the-shoulder bag to contain all of his few things as he looked around, the familiar tune of Wolf In Sheep's Clothing by Set It Off blasting through his headphones. It was probably too loud, but he didn't care -- it served as a clear message not to talk to him. His hands were jammed in his pockets, and he had a white hooded sweatshirt on to help cover the painfully bright color of his hair. It had been a dare back when he actually had friends, and he'd grown fond of it so he frequently re-dyed it.

Well this was just the rudest awakening ever! Percy didn't appreciate being moved around, even though this was the first time it had ever happened. Mostly the blue haired, skinny boy loved being the one that moved people. Mostly to make better fashion choices, but that's not the point. Pop sat with his head leaning against the limousine window, staring out at the large school he was about to enter. It was pretty nice from the distance he was seeing it at, though his school had been far flashier before he had left it. It was such a bummer, all his friends were going to miss him exceedingly and there was no way to explain why he had to leave so suddenly.

The vehicle stopped and the door was opened for him. Out stepped Pop, smoothing his clothes out so they weren't wrinkled, and taking a single grand step forward to allow the door to be shut behind him. He let out a harumph and allowed his assistant to slip his bag over his shoulders and hand him the other. It wasn't often that he carried his own things, but mother had told him it was likely better if he didn't walk in surrounded by servants. It was best not to make the worms jealous, she had said. The limo pulled away and Pop took a step forward, eyes set on the front of the school and before he knew it he was ramming right into some small nobody who had to the nerve to walk in his way! "Watch where you are going! I think you wrinkled my vest." He muttered with a pouty lip, setting down the bag in his hand to take a closer look.

Nicolai took out one of his earbuds and raised an eyebrow at the boy. "Sorry, what did you say? I was too preoccupied to hear whatever snobby rich-boy remark you made." His hood had moved a bit and his shock of magenta hair was visible, which he fixed quickly. He hated standing out, which made the color a very bad choice.

Ugh! To think the nobody had the nerve to talk to him or even ignore his presence by listening to his music so loudly! This was unacceptable, Pop thought as the boy responded with a snarky comment. Huffing, Percy crossed his arms and stood straighter. "You wrinkled my vest, maggot, and if you want to survive this school you won't cross me again." Percy hissed, taking the air of authority without a problem. This was only natural, Percy did this all the time back home. It was how he made most of his friends. They just fell at his feet, begging for him to spare them. Ahh, the groveling was what he missed the most. But something caught his attention and his expression broke for a second.

Sure, he saw the bright pink hair under Nicolai's hood for a split second, but Pop had blue hair of a similar shocking neon so picking on him for it was beneath him. No, what caught his attention was the blarring music coming from Nicolai's removed earbud. He could hear the tinny guitar and drum sounds from the one in Nicolai's ear but the one he had removed blared familiar words and melodies that made Percy's cold, angry face relax just enough to be noticeable. "Is that Set It Off?" Without thinking about how Nicolai felt (why would he?) he reached for the unused earbud to try and listen closer to see if he was right without waiting for Nicolai's answer.

He couldn't help but smirk a little despite the insult. "Pretty boy likes emo music, then," Nicolai commented, mostly taunting him. "But yeah. Personally I prefer the god who is Brendon Urie, but Set It Off is pretty damn great, too."

It seemed what he had said didn't phase this boy. Those kinds of people either really irked Pop or earned his respect quickly. Based on the second course of events, one could easily tell Nicolai had quickly earned the disdainful respect of one Percy Pines. His music was one of the biggest parts of him he got to choose himself because the public didn't hear his music. When he was listening to his music it was just him and his rock. It was why he liked the moodier, darker stuff. It allowed him to vent even though he didn't always connect with the songs. Still, it felt good to know there was someone else out there with the same tastes as him. Despite his clothing choices being tasteless.

"My name is Percy. I do not appreciate stupid nicknames that insult something I didn't choose." Percy snapped at Nicolai as he listened to the song of his childhood. It had been a while since he had heard that particular classic, but the conversation sparked some enthusiasm rarely seen in Percy. "Ah, yes. I personally am a little more of a Pete Wentz fan myself, but I can get into that." Percy's fingers fumbled around his jeans pocket as he reached down into them and pulled out his cell phone, nimbly typing the password before quickly selecting the music player and scrolling to his favorite playlist. "Although I am partial to the deep, soul resounding bass of Ivan Moody" He ranted, pulling up one of his favorites.

"Listen to this." Pop was not afraid to force himself on other people and, granted he wasn't in the same genre, Five Finger Death Punch was by far one of the most encouraging groups he knew. "This is only the piano remix, but I think it makes it much...much...much stronger." Percy said as he shoved an ear bud connected to his phone toward Nicolai without waiting. There was a lot of heavy metal, punk, rock, and emo music on his phone. It was the best way he knew how to vent and these bands weren't the only ones he had. Percy could go on for hours and Nicolai had no idea how far he had dug himself, however unintentional.

He found himself nodding a bit. "This is pretty good. Not quite to my taste, but it's still a good song. My name's Nicolai. And by the way, 'pretty boy' wasn't meant to be an insult." The bright-haired boy took the opportunity to observe the big and decide if he wanted to be civil or not. Nicolai was from a very small community that could barely be called a town where people had feared him for his powers. It was difficult for him to control them even a little bit, which was bad because he'd actually discovered his so-called 'gift' that he regarded as more of a curse when he'd accidentally turned his cat into a pile of salt.

Quite the traumatic experience for an 11-year-old. Now, at the age of seventeen, he could control it a little bit better. "By the way, I could have done much worse than wrinkle your vest. Luckily, I wasn't really mad when you first yelled at me, which is why it's not a pile of salt at your feet. That's not a threat, just me warning you that I'm shit at controlling it in case you decide you want to be considered my friend at some point."

Pop was very eager to share with people since he didn't very often get someone enthusiastic about their music. He was a little too crazy about his music sometimes but that came with being cooped up in a mansion all day and a prep school other days. "The way you said it made it come off as an insult." Percy stated matter-of-factly. He didn't appreciate being called pretty boy or rich boy because people who lived in the other neighborhoods around his used the terms as derogatory when trying to get on his nerves. Often he ignored those guys but anyone he was about to go to school with needed to know it was unacceptable.

Percy had had bad experiences using his gift, but really nothing like what Nicolai seemed to have had. Percy could generate scents, so the worst it could have gotten was making himself smell bad and that didn't happen very often anymore. "Interesting. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since I control scent. But that's pretty weak. I imagine someone in here can control fire. Wouldn't that be the coolest?" Pop ignored the comment about possibly being friends, he wasn't about to let Nicolai think he liked him or anything. Which he did. He just didn't want him to know. That was how he always treated the friends he actually enjoyed being around.

"Fire Manipulation is a sacred gift. It's one of the rarest, and it's very hard to control. Still, I bet there's someone." Nicolai wasn't a very social person, so it surprised him that his salty personality didn't scare this other boy off. Of course, he wasn't stupid -- it was the music that did it. Besides, he wasn't inheriently mean, he just tended to be bristly. "Scents must be cool to control though. I bet once you learn how to use it you could control other types of gases." Nicolai decided that neutral compliments paired with his natural saltiness didn't match up well in this case.

Ooh, it seemed this guy knew more than Pop. "Really? How do you know this? Do you know someone who goes here?" Percy didn't know that much about gifts and was offended that there was someone who knew more than him. If there was a legitimate reason he knew more, than his pride would be less hurt. But that didn't mean he wouldn't try to one up Nicolai somehow. That was just Percy's nature. If he knew what Nicolai was thinking, he would agree. It was really only the music that was making Percy like Nicolai. He was still a lowly maggot with no reason to interact with someone of such high status as Percy.

"Yeah, I don't have to go out an buy perfume." Other gases? Percy had never thought he could expand his area of expertise to more gases. He had figured he was stuck with scents. "If that's the case then maybe the salt thing could eventually manipulate other particles of minerals." If scents could translate to gases, then why couldn't salts translate to other minerals? It was reasonable to Percy. As he thought these things he realized they were both still standing at the gate to the school. "That's right. Where is the main office? He spoke as if Nicolai knew where it was and was going to lead him there.

Nicolai broke eye contact at the first question. "I used to read a lot. My dad had a library, and I found some journals of my mom's in there. Turns out I got my gift from her. So I actually know that I'm stuck with a really dopey version of the Midas Touch," he laughed dryly. The pink-haired boy didn't really like Percy's attitude much, but he knew that he wasn't very likable himself and he also knew that this boy had probably been raised to be rude like this. Nicolai glanced around at other students at the last question. "I actually have no idea, but it wouldn't hurt to follow someone who looks like they know where they're going."

Whoa, so this kid inherited his gift? Percy didn't know anyone in his family like that so he had figured it was some odd, genetic mutation that only a few people around the world had. But wait, if it was genetic through family, then where did he get his from? "Interesting. So gifts are inherited, huh? Neither of my parents have gifts." Percy had only known his mom and dad his whole life. No other family members seemed to be interested in visiting. Percy didn't care at all what Nicolai thought of his gift. The comment about it possibly going to other minerals was the nicest thing he was likely to say. Percy rolled his eyes at Nicolai's comment about following someone. "Please, that's lame. If you don't know, just ask someone." Percy was unaware Nicolai was a shy, non-people person, so he walked right up to another person and announced himself. "Where is the main office?" He asked loudly, making sure they knew he was there.

OOC: This will require someone else joining

((*pulls Chloe from baseball field*))

The small girl looked surprised when the other boy asked her a question, but she turned around and smiled brightly. "Oh, I can bring you there," the Winter offered in her thick French accent, adjusting the purple flower crown she had made herself.

Nicolai sighed at this and awkwardly took a step or two closer to them, pulling his hood all the way up again and lowering his gaze. People bothered him, and girls who wore flowers tended to be bright and cheery. Besides, he was perfectly content to follow them like a lost puppy if needed. Pride wasn't really important to him -- he would much rather just not talk to people.

Ah! So there were friendly people there to do what he asked! How wonderful! Percy didn't want to get lost and would need someone to help him around until he could figure out where everything was by himself. Of course he still needed to know the nice people so they wouldn't question his constant need for attention. "Thank you very much. I'm Percy and this is Nicolai." Percy said, swinging his arm wide and taking a step back to give Chloe a clear view of Nicolai behind him. Turning slightly he noticed Nicolai had pulled his hood further over his head and wasn't looking up. "What is with you and that hood? Take it off." Percy demanded, throwing out a hand to try and remove it himself.

Nicolai ducked his head to avoid his hand. "I have an overwhelming desire to blend in and not be noticed," he murmured, knowing full well that Percy would only barely be able to hear him. "Having fuchsia hair visible is not the way to go about that." Then, the naturally shy boy looked over to Chloe, smiling charismatically despite what he had just said. "Sorry, Miss, it's quite rude of me but I don't want to be targeted by anyone. Quite a bullseye, having pink hair."

Chloe looked started at the charisma that dripped off of him while he talked to her. He didn't have that with the blue-haired boy -- Percy -- who seemed to want to stand out. Which he surely did.