Salty, Aren't You?

Percy harumphed as Nicolai dodged him. No one disobeyed him! If Nicolai wanted to be friends he was going to have to learn to please Percy more. They couldn't be friends if Nicolai was going to be so antisocial. Percy was a social butterfly and needed to be able to spread his wings every once in a while. Okay, every day! Percy didn't hear Nicolai clearly the first time he spoke but he definitely heard him the second time and was able to gather what he had said. "Oh please! I have blue hair! Why would you choose such a wonderful color if you weren't going to flaunt it?" Percy asked, shifting his weight to his left foot while throwing his hands onto his hips.

This time Percy rolled his eyes at Nicolai. He was very charismatic, why was he such a shut in? "Who on Earth would target you?" Pop asked, realizing they were shutting out Chloe a bit by having this conversation. But introverts got on Percy's nerves and he needed to know why Nicolai insisted on being this way. He could charm the lady into helping them after he figured this out.

"First, I originally dyed it pink on a dare and then I decided I liked it. Before I discovered my power. Second, old habits die hard. I had to hide from everyone in my old town," he muttered. "I'm only charismatic when I'm talking to a woman, mostly because I... Never mind," Nicolai trailed off, quickly shutting himself up and sticking both his earbuds back in. Chloe didn't seem to mind and smiled at them both.

"I'll take you to the main office when you're ready, I'll be right there," the smaller girl smiled, pointing to a bench that was a few feet away before going over and starting to form various objects, practicing her powers.

Huh? Percy screwed up his brow and crossed his arms at Nicolai's explanation. Okay, so he understood what Nicolai was saying, but he was still being super vague and Percy hated not getting a straight answer. He didn't even notice the girl say she was going to wait for them when she did. He needed to know what the heck was up with Nicolai. "If you like it now, why do you hide it? Is that the old habit? And why would anyone in your town make you want to hide? Sure, your power can be dangerous if used on people, but that's no reason to hunt you down or anything." Percy stated matter-of-factly as he responded to all the things Nicolai had said. A real explanation was being demanded, whether Nicolai wanted to give one or not. His next statement was a little out of place but added some explanation Percy hadn't asked for. But it still wasn't specific!

"One, what is with you and being vague and two, what do you mean?" He was asking Nicolai about his statement about being charismatic. It had struck Percy but he hadn't asked about it though it brought up another question Pop just needed to know the answer to. He normally didn't ignore people like the way he was ignoring Chloe, but Nicolai suddenly demanded more of his attention than he could give.

"My old town had less than a thousand people in it. One stop sign, if you drive by and blink you'll miss it. Anyway, when you're the only one with a dangerous power like mine people start calling you cursed. It's not pleasant to have people pulling their children away from you whenever you walk by for fear of you killing them. My power was pretty unstable back then, after all. I'm vague because I've had people get too close too quickly and they left me hurt and broken. And finally, I stopped myself for a reason, but if you really must know, I'm gay, so it doesn't make me nervous to talk to women." Nicolai tugged his hood up further. "The old habit is hiding, not dying my hair."

Well, it seemed Nicolai was willing to give an answer after Percy's pestering. That was definitely something he had been looking for, but quiet Nicolai didn't seem capable of saying as much as he had. Percy had expected a 'people hate me so I hide' statement and then that would be that. Pop would have been pleased with that answer but was interested in the fact that he had broken Nicolai so wide open to get him to rant to him in the way he had. It made Percy extremely happy and somewhat drawn to Nicolai. "See, that wasn't so hard! I guess I've never had that extent of hate, though when I'm angry, upset, or frustrated I tend to give off not so pleasant smells. But, hey! Life goes on and now you're somewhere with others like you! You have no reason to hide anymore, Nicky." Percy had no problems making up nicknames even though there was a likely chance Nicolai wouldn't appreciate it.

Grinning from ear to ear he spread his arms wide and laughed. "Well I'll be! I'm gay too! That information will not in the least improve this situation but now we have three things in common: awesome hair, our music, and being gay!" Granted that was all they had in common, it was enough for Percy to feel a little more like being Nicolai's friend. Just a little bit. "How about we go find that office and get ourselves settled, huh?" Percy said, turning back to the girl they had ignored for the past few minutes. "Thanks for waiting through that!" Percy said with clear charm and a rich boy smile.

Well, I wasn't expecting that, Nicolai thought, his eyes wide at the statement. And the fact that the energetic boy was suddenly so... bouncy. "Dint ever call me 'Nicky' again. If you need a nickname for me, use 'Nick', although I'd prefer you use my actual name."

Chloe looked up at them again and smiled. Although she'd tried not to listen to their conversation, it had been a bit loud. She figured that the meaning of a few terms was getting lost in the translation, but she stood up anyway, still smiling brightly. Chloe was a very smiley girl. "This way!"

Nicolai was still trying to decode this boy's rapid mood swing until he realized that it was because he'd given him the information he wanted. Well, that was certainly worth knowing. This blue-haired rich kid craved attention. Half of him felt like exploiting it, but he mentally scolded himself. Even if the kid was too nosey and too social, it wasn't right to do something like that.

((I need to have Nicolai take his test, too... I'm lazy))

Sometimes Percy reveled in the fact that he could surprise people. Yeah, he had become more energetic because Nicolai had finally answered his question, but this was how he normally was when people did what he said. Upon first meeting Nicolai he had treated him as any regular maggot below him in station. But Nicolai was pretty interesting and they had more in common than he had originally thought. So treating him more like his friends back home was a choice Percy had made upon his answering his question after much pestering. "You're no fun." Percy pouted, crossing his arms as they headed toward the office with the girl.

"Thank you, miss." Percy said as they walked in that direction. Percy was unaware that Nicolai was analyzing him as they walked, though he didn't mind that Nicolai had become interested in him. He had basically worked his magic on this pink haired maggot and he was no longer the pretty rich boy to him. He was possibly more. "I don't believe we caught your name." Percy pointed out to Chloe as they walked, trying to recall the events preceeding the question and answer session they had just had.

"Chloe Leyroy. Nice to meet you!" she smiled, glancing back at the two boys. Part of her was curious about whatever was going on in the shy one's mind, but it was rude to ask questions where she obviously wasn't welcome to. The other boy also puzzled her, but she supposed most males did. She'd never quite understood any American's mannerisms, much less those of a man.

Nicolai sighed. "My sister always called me Nicky, I hated it. She never got the hint. My real name is by far preferable to a female name." He liked to think that he was good at reading people, but this kid wasn't doing him any favors, and it honestly annoyed him a bit. Still, Nicolai was just the weird kid who turned stuff into salt -- it wasn't really his business.

Percy grinned wide at the girl who introduced herself. How sweet of a name! "What a nice name! It's nice to meet you too. How long have you been at Beata?" He asked, trying to make friendly conversation with her so that Nicolai could go back to his silly, brooding self. Percy didn't understand those that sulked such as Nicolai did. Having friends and being loved was by far something Percy enjoyed the most about being human. Granted Nicolai probably wanted to keep others at arms length due to his gift, if he made friends and stayed at Beata eventually he would get to hug them and be intimate with a special someone so why not start being friendly now? It wasn't like he was in the town full of people hunting him anymore. Pop thought these thoughts without the slightest idea on how difficult it was for someone of such introvertedness to become as outgoing as he was in the time Percy excpeted. He thought, since he was an extrovert and loved people, that it would simply be as easy as flipping a switch to make Nicolai like him.

How sweet! It was a nickname from his sister! Percy scoffed at Nicolai's words and shook his head, blue hair falling in and out of his face as he did so. "Please! Nicky is not a girls name, it is an endearing nickname. I know I allow everyone to call me Percy, but my full name is Percival. I mostly go by Percy because who would want to be called Percival all the time? No, adding a Y to the end of a name or nickname is endearing and shows you are close. But I suppose Nicky is also a girls name. But calling you Nick would be like calling me Perce and I am not an accessory." Sometimes Pop could be very long winded and that was rarely a good thing. But everything Nicolai said made him want to rant to the world on how wrong this pink haired boy was. Granted this was an opinion thing, Percy always insisted his opinion win out in the end, that was just how life went for him. He didn't care if they disagreed.