Lonely in the shadows. [Open]

The air was crisp and cold, the morning dew glimmered on the grass and, frankly, the courtyard was a mess. Broken remain of benches sat off to the side, the ground tore up in places as if vines had burst forth of it. But yet Theodore calmly moved along the faint ruins of the battle that had taken place here, shivering against the soft yet chilling morning breeze as he huddled in his light gray jacket. He did his best to avoid and ignore the chaos around him until he spotted it - a bench that had survived it all. He sighed a breath of relief as he collapsed onto it as he stared up at the faint rays of the sunrise peak over the academy.

Finally, he allowed his brown eyes to scan the ruins around him with a slight frown. He had only been at Beata for a short while and yet this last month had been more crazy then any other time in his life combined. He had been spared from the chaos at least but he was left with a slight confusement on what had even taken place. But whatever had happened, it had brought much of the school in ruins. Perhaps somebody could of explained to him what had happened but it wasn't as if he had any friends to tell him. He did not work at all to make any friends at Beata - he pushed away all that he met. It was simple nature to him to do so and he was fine with it, he knew the pain of loneliness all to well that it had become numb. After all, he knew the saying well - 'it is lonely on the top.'

Walking to the courtyard, Chance couldn't say that he was particularly enjoying his time at Beata. Being a kid, class was extremely boring and also having a child's brain affecting his normal brain, he found it hard to learn things at times, thus making his grades drop. Not to mention all the idiots that kept teasing him and unfortunately for him, being a six year old didn't exactly permit him to kick their asses.

Letting out a sigh, he looked around, seeing that the grounds were still in bad shape from what ever the crap had happened a few days ago. The small boy looked around realizing it probably wasn't the safest place to be but decided to keep going. At least he wouldn't be near all those jerks. Hearing something a little ways away, the child turned around to see a guy sitting on a banged up bench. Chance would've investigated more, but a the sight of a butterfly fluttering about some flowers, his train of thought was immediately lost and he made his way over to the bug as it landed on a sad looking flower. Ooing and awing over the little creature, he forgot about the guy sitting on the bench for the time being.

For a few moments, Theodore was unaware of the child until he lazily scanned the courtyard and noticed the kid looking at a butterfly. His eyes narrowed, confused for a few seconds - why was there a kid here? The kid looked way younger then the age limit - besides, who would let a young child wander around by himself? But after a few moments, Theodore decided that he didn't care. Any of the cold personality he had been channeling a few seconds before was suddenly gone as he stood up from the bench. If there was any type of person that Theodore was nice to, it was kids.

He had two younger siblings and in his time at Beata he had found himself missing the two of them. In fact, the kid looked to be just slightly older then his own brother Basil. For a few seconds, he fought over what to do but seeing how he was already standing...He stuffed his hands into his pocket as he strolled over to the kid with a faint smile. "What a beautiful butterfly, don't you agree?" he said softly - hoping he wouldn't startle the kid as he leaned down behind him, his eyes lingering on the butterfly. If it was anybody else, Theodore would of been his normal cold self (well, if it was a girl he was bound to flirt with her...) but when he was around kids, he couldn't help but be nice to them. Perhaps it was his big-sibling instincts kicking in.

Hearing a voice, Chance turned around somewhat surprised and was glad to see just a normal student and not some crazy monster kid. Before he could say anything, the butterfly that he'd been observing fluttered in front of his face and fly away. Disappointed that his little bug friend left and having part of a child's brain, Chance wanted to cry but held back the tears, knowing that he'd look like a loser if he cried in front of this guy. But then again, he was a child, or at least everyone thought of him as one, so what did it matter?

Giving a sniff, a few tears fell down his fair skinned face and he attempted to wipe them off with the sleeve of his specially fitted uniform. "It... it gone," he whimpered softly looking at the ground and not daring to make eye contact with the other student.

The smile on Theodore's face faltered when the butterfly flew away and the kid started to tear up. For a few seconds he was speechless. A pain flashed though his heart - feeling horrible for having scared away the butterfly as he attempted to come up with something to say. "He-Hey! Don't cry!" Theodore gasped softly as he gently raised a hand toward the kid - but refrained himself from wiping away the tears like he would of done if it was his own brother. 

What was he to say? He didn't know the kid and he wasn't used to being so...Open to other people but yet it felt refreshing not to have to put up the cold personality he tended to wear when around others. So, after a few seconds of throwing ideas back and forth of what to do, he finally put another smile on his face. "Say...You remind me of my own little brother, Basil." Was that a good idea to say that the kid reminded him of his brother when the kid was attempting not to bawl at the fact the butterfly had gone away? Of course, it was something he was sure Basil would do... "My name is Theodore, what is yours?"

Sniffling, Chance looked up at the student, sorrow in his childish eyes. This guy, there was something different about him. Maybe it was the way he talked or acted, but either way, Chance felt a sense of calm was over him as he spoke. So far it seemed like this guy liked kids, but you never knew with teenagers these days. One day they love and adore you, the next, they look at you like you're a disease.

Reminded him of his own little brother? Well, that explained a lot, this guy had a little brother to relate to. Theodore, that was a nice name. Although he was still bummed about the butterfly, the small child started to forget about it as small children did. "I-I'm Chance," he mumbled softly.

"Chance, huh?" Theodore repeated with a soft hum before he smiled softly at the kid. "Its a nice name, I like it." Tired of couching, he allowed himself to fall just slightly to the side so he was now sitting on the pavement, watching Chance with mild interest. Now that he thought about it, it seemed odd that there was a kid here at Beata. There was an age limit, wasn't there? But, he did suppose that if Chance's parents lived in Rosebury or something...Or even if his powers were getting out of control - he doubted the school would turn away kids if they really needed to learn how to master their powers even if they were under an age limit. "So, what are you doing here? Do you live in Rosebury with your parents...Or...Are you a student?" It...It really felt odd asking a kid if he was a student but he could turn into a shadow at will - logical and reasoning kinda went out the window when you went to a school such as Beata.

Having a child's simplistic mind, hearing the guy that crouched in front of him compliment his name meant the world to the small boy. Besides, it wasn't every day that someone said something nice about him instead of making him feel like a weirdo. Well, a cute weirdo. "I'm a student," he said softly, ready for what ever this guy had to say about him. But maybe, just maybe he was different from the rest since he already seemed pretty nice.

"Oh, I see." That was the only response Theodore could think of giving as he nodded softly. on the inside, he was rather shocked at the statement but years of learning how to act and seem a certain way cause him to mask it masterfully. If Chance truly was a student - not that Theodore doubted the child - then it was because of his gift. It must of been out of control if a kid this young was here but...Well, he seemed stable. While Theodore had many questions to ask Chance, he feared for hurting the child's feeling so he decided to go with a simple one as he watched him with interest. "So, Chance, what is your power?"

What was his power? Thinking about the question, he didn't really know if it had a specific name and even if it did, it wasn't like her really knew. All he knew was that he was stuck in a child's body with a child's brain and no matter how hard he tried, couldn't get out of this state. "Age inducement," he replied with a nod. Well, at least it was something. "How 'bout you?" Chanced asked, realizing he knew nothing about this guy.