Reading Up On Yourself.

The library was busy, as usual at this time of day. Alastair had a cup of salsa and a bag of chips to his side while he read intently. He library was almost always filled up this time of day but the chairs around A were empty. As if he noticed, his head was shoved into his thick yellow bound book. It's pages were glossy and thin, as if he were reading a text book. He reached for a chip, scooped up the salsa and shoved it in his mouth without lifting his eyes from the pages. The boy blinked, looked just a tad confused, scratched his light brown locks and then continued reading, his lashes making light brown crescents on his face as he looked down at the literature. He reached for another chip.

James walked into the library, lost since his arrival. He held up a card and put it in his back pocket "This place is way too big." He looked around to see the place busy but quite a lot of empty seats. He scratched his head and saw a guy with a bag of chips and salsa. James's stomach growled and James went towards the boy. "Hey is it cool if I get me some of that salsa and.. what kind of chips are those anyways?" James knew he was being intrusive early on when he just arrived but he was starving and still hasn't found the café.

Startled by the sudden change in noise, Alastair looked up at the new kid, pointed to the seat across from him, and scooted the bag and bowl towards the middle. 
"They're salt and lime. Just a little sour, hope you aren't picky." He said, while crunching on yet another chip, his eyes now glued back to the book he'd been reading earlier. He raised an eyebrow, leaned back in his chair, and propped the book up on his knee. You could just make out the title on the binding All About Deer. He flipped the hair out of his eyes, revealing the smudge of a tattoo under his left eye.

James watched as the boy pointed to the seat across from him. He moved to take a seat and grabbed a couple of chips and placed them in a pile in front of himself. James watched as the boy kept his eyes glued to a book. He wondered what book he was reading when the boy raised his book on his knees and it read All About Deer. James repeated those words in question. He ignored the tattoo that was faded on the boys face. James took another chip and waited a response.

Alastair peered up at the guy in front of him just starring at him. 
"You can uh... help yourself man I don't care." He said, somehow not being able to focus on his book anymore. He marked his page with a slip of paper and nodded to the boy. 
"New here?" He asked.

James grabbed another handful and smiled brightly. Nothing got on James's good side more than the offer of free food. After the stuffed face and a lightly covered burp muffled behind James's right sleeve. "Why yes I am. Is it that easy to tell?" James smiled and laughed a bit and held out his right hand in an open palm and mimicked the exact voice of the boy in front of him "My name is James, but you can call me Jem." James let out a large smile that sparkled with delight.

Alastair smiled. He'd had a chicken salad for lunch so he didn't mind sharing his salsa with the poor boy who was just like him, new. James seemed nice enough, but all of the sudden, Alastair recognized his own voice instead of James's. His eyes widened, then narrowed, and he leaned in his voice in a hush.
"My names Alastair. You can call me Alastair. You know its against school rules to use your powers outside of training right Jem?" He didn't mean to be such an uptight arsehole but he didn't want James to get in trouble, A wasn't sure how strict the staff was here.

James leaned back in his chair and tossed a chip into the air and caught it in his mouth. "No harm done with a little talking, right?" James looked at Alastair and raised an eyebrow. "Anyways. What's up with the book on deer?" James used to see deer run around his uncles house up a few states. He grabbed another chip and crunch. He wiped his mouth and repeated a few more times waiting for a response. He started tracing circles on his leg and whispering to himself. Its just something he picked up when he was a kid. Its more of a bad habit than an actual problem.

Shaking his head, Alastair laughed a little to himself, then flipped his hair out of his eyes. 
"I guess not, that's a neat talent." He commented, picking up the book James had just commented on. A smile spread across his face as he ran his fingers over the cover. 
"It has to do with my powers. I'm a shape-shifter you see, but I'm trying to expand my shifting to other animals. And it usually only works if I'm really familiar with the animal. Like for example, I can shift  into a golden retriever. It was the first animal I turned into, but I've had a golden retriever named Chess since I can remember. He's an old fart now. But I was always around him, always playing with him... So I was pretty familiar with the animal. I'm trying to broaden into something with a little more speed, so a deer would work. That's why I'm reading this." He motioned to the book, looking back at James. So far, Alastair could only form into a hawk, a golden retriever, and a small wolf.

James crossed his arms and chuckled "Man that is really cool man. All I can to is copy things like if I hear them that's it. Its a cool party trick but not really useful other than to fake a call or something like that. You are amazing bro, you get to turn into animals when ever you want to. Its quite irritating that you have to remember what your own voice sounds like." James placed both of his hands on the back of his head and looked up at the ceiling. "I would love those kind of powers."

"Your powers are a lot more useful than you make them out to be. Plus were still young. What if you develop shape shifting into any person you see in general? That'd be so much cooler than animals." He said, dipping his chip into salsa, and crunching in. He scratched head, pulling out a loose feather, and tossing it to the floor.

James chuckled as Alastair tossed a feather to the floor. He took another chip and dipped it in the salsa and took a bite. And by force of habit James also scratched his head. This whole mimicry thing really got out of control at times. Especially with small actions like this. "Maybe im just being modest but hey, shape shifting is extremely useful under stress. My mimicry can't work under stress."

"Well that's the thing," Alastair admitted quietly, "I can't really control it all that well yet. You see, if I was put under a lot of stress or got angry enough I might just sprout a tail, ears, wings, and so forth. Or I might just shift altogether." His cheeks blushed and he looked back down to his book, tracing the etching of a deer that someone had done on the cover with a pencil. Leaning in to whisper, he looked at Jem.
"Sometimes I even go primal." The look in his golden eyes was distraught, as if a simple word could scare him.

James shrugged like it was no big deal. He knew it was a big deal on Alastair but to James nothing ever really seemed like a big deal. He took another chip and crunched on it and almost choked on it. But like always James didn't really care, he just sat idly by and looped at the back of his hands. "Hey I have a question for you." James asked "How about you show me around the campus so I don't get lost again? Or at least let me mooch off your extra food."

The boy seemed... indifferent about most things. Alastair liked him, but he kind of ran a one man wolf pack. Lololol if you know what I mean. He wasn't used to being so, friendly with another person. But to hell with it, new school, new habits. 
"Yeah I don't care." He chuckled to himself, another downside of being a loner. "Except I can't afford to share anymore food. I have the appetite of a growing wolf. Literally." Alastair said, putting the book in his bag. He was about 3/4ths of the way done. 
"Where do you wanna go first?"