New Faces [Freya, Open]

[argent]

Horatio Steed walked, alongside his new friend Freya Elensar, into the school which would soon become his home. His coat was zipped, but his companion gave off an aura which took the bite out of the chill. He was comfortably toasty at the moment, and gave no indication that he was actually cold. There were benefits to having a friend who could adjust temperature.

The X-Mansion was much larger than he'd anticipated. He'd expected for it to be more like the size of a school, but it was like a college campus. This was explained to him when Freya replied to his observation by telling him patiently that there were many, many students. He knew there'd be a lot, but these were many, many more than he thought.

Alex's face filled with awe as he looked the enormous foyer over. He hadn't expected his. He looked to Freya. "This place is... wow," he said. It was all he could say, for it would be his home. If he was going to be living here... Life would be great.

Regaining his composure, he asked the pyromancer, "So, who do we need to meet to set this up?"

[Freya Elensar Ashe]

It had taken more time then Freya had thought to get a taxi driver willing to take them all the way to North Salem, since most drivers weren't willing to take you over an hour out of the city. When the finally did get to the place it was just about dawn as they reached the school, Freya not showing any signs of fatigue from the all nighter.

In the school, she couldn't stop herself from grinning at hi awestruck expression. If he thought the school alone was amazing, he'd really go into shock when he met some of the students. Or worse..... The rooms beneath the school and all the hidden corridors. "This is nothing. Just wait until you see more of it."

Freya was staring up at a clock, her stare intent. So intent she didn't even look back down at him as he asked the question. "That depends on who we find first. Most of the staff is able to enroll students. We just have to find one of them." A small pause. "That shouldn't be to hard. Classes start in an hour or so. I'm pretty sure at least half the school is awak-"

Something moved in the corner of her eyes, a figure appearing from a doorway down the wide hallway. It would be hard to make out the figure except that they were female, probably of student age. When the person was close enough to distinguish.... Freya started grinning. It wasn't a saintly grin either.... Horatio just might learn first hand why she was called the Dragon Lady.

"Gisli!" The female student froze as Freya quickly covered the distance between herself and the student. With out any hesitation Freya grabbed the collar of the girl's shirt, pulling her along back to Horatio. "Keep an eye on him." Her voice was suddenly commanding, another sign of her bipolar nature. "I'm going to go try to find someone that can enroll him. Don't. Lose. Him." Then, as if the girl weighed nothing, she pushed Gisli towards the young man her own age. With out anything else, she turned on her heels and casually wandered down the halls, trying to find someone.

[gisli]

Gisli hated how early classes started. She was rarely even fully awake for the first two! Today though, she managed to wake up early enough that she could actually get something to eat..... She should have just stayed in her dorm...

When she left the kitchen, her head lowered a little as she stared down at her phone, typing up a text to send to Shakaku..... When she heard her name.... Yelled by the one person she wished she could have avoided for the rest of her life. She froze, staring wide eyed at the approaching redhead like a deer in headlights. Well, if she hadn't been wide awake before, she was now!

Before her possum act could wear off she was being dragged behind the woman, pulled along like a rag doll, and sent stumbling in the direction of some complete stranger. And then.... Just like that, Freya was gone. Still wide eyed, Gisli watched as the woman retreated, a pleading look in her eyes, as if completely traumatized by the idea of even being this close to a stranger!

A moment passed, Gisli forcing herself to take a few deeps breaths, before she was finally capable of looking at the person she'd practically been thrown at. It was a guy.... Probably only a little younger then her. Instantly her cheeks turned bright red from embarrassment. She had to converse.... with a complete stranger..... The one thing most people couldn't get out of her, no matter what.

[argent]

Alex nodded. Made sense that the school hired from their students. He would too, given the option. It ensured that the staff member in question would know how things went and would be able to explain it to new students. It was a sort of selective breeding, in a sense.

Alex was surprised, though, to see Freya act so violently toward the girl who popped up. He noted, however, that the girl was quite attractive. Judging by her looks, she was a year or so older than him. However, her looks also told him that she was waaaay out of his league. He'd never had a girlfriend before, and didn't expect to any time soon.

So, when Freya left the two strangers together, he was silent for a moment. "Er... Hi," he said simply. "I'm, uh, Alex," he said. He forgot to use his legal name until it was too late. He fumbled for a way to correct himself, but his old home nickname would be in her mind. How awkward it'd be to explain that to Freya.

"Alex Steed. Er... What's your name?" A million different other questions also popped in his head- about powers, history, relationship status, preferences... nothing he brought up just yet.

[gisli]

To say Gislli was surprised was an understatement. She looked absolutely terrified. Horatio didn't know Freya's reputation after all.... And Gisli had heard far to many horror stories about the woman from Shakaku.

In those moments of silence that followed Freya's exit, Gisli still looked traumatized by the whole ordeal. Even with her calming breaths! It was only then that she heard the guy, whoever he was, speak up. Her face turned even redder. Saying she was shy was an understatement. This girl died of embarrassment from any stranger just saying hi to her! "..........!" Several seconds passed, that deer in the headlights look back with a vengeance.

Finally though.... her lips parted. "H-Hello......" Her words were quiet, unusually quiet. In so much that it would be hard to make out a word she said unless you were paying very close attention. Another few moments of silence passed, longer then it should have taken a normal person to respond to these questions normally. At last though, she spoke up again, in that same shy voice. "I-It's Gisli...... Allenforth..." With each word she said, her face seem to turn even redder then before. Soon, it didn't even look like her cheeks could turn a darker red....

[argent]

At first, Alex expected her to be a preppy sort of person. Or one of those with few social inhibitions. Someone outgoing. However, the nervous, evidently paranoid girl whom he saw was a complete surprise. She was nothing like the sort of people who she looked like in Alex's eyes. She was actually reserved. Maybe this school would be more difficult than he thought...

And when she spoke so quietly, with almost a whisper, his inferences were proved even more. Who knew? And her face, so red... Had she just eaten pure capsaicin, the 'spice' of chili peppers, or was she actually nervous to meet Alex? Literally no one had cared so much before. He was a bit flattered, but he didn't let it show. If he was this impressive at first, he didn't want to ruin it. Even if he wasn't the mysterious new kid the whole time, he couldn't see it hurting too much to play with it.

"Nice to meet you, Gisli Allenforth. Interesting surname; it sounds..." he trailed off, not having any idea of the ethnic origin of such a name. "Australian." He had no clue what an Australian surname would be; he just needed something to use. "So, how long have you been here?"

[gisli]

Gisli wasn't.... Paranoid, exactly. Just terribly, painfully, shy. Amazingly though, she could warm up to people quickly once she got on a name basis with them. How quickly? Well, she wasn't blushing nearly as much as before. That didn't mean she wasn't blushing though. It would take much more work to get her past the instant embarrassment that came with talking.

"Eh...?" Gisli eyes widened a bit at his comment. She'd never considered where her 'surname' came from. "I wouldn't know.... I wasn't born with it..." Now she was curious. Why hadn't she ever asked her adopted parents before now? She didn't even know where they came from! Of course she knew where she was from, it wasn't that hard to know when your older sister refused to speak to you in English, but that wasn't at all useful in this current situation.

"Since I was 12...." Gisli paused, doing the math in her head. she was 17 now, so that would be.... "So..... five or so years...." Another short pause. "And.... You're new...." it wasn't hard to guess. He'd come with Freya after all, and Freya had gone off to find a staff member...

[argent]

Seeing as though he was staring at her quite expectantly- and hiding it horribly- Alex noticed that her blushing lessened. She looked less like a beet and more like a very ripe apple. It was a bit cute, actually that she was acting this way. He blushed after realizing that he actually thought the word 'cute,' giving his face a reddish tint almost as much as the one Gisli had.

So she was adopted... Or so he gathered. He'd have to talk to her about it at a later time. That was, assuming they became friends. As far as he could see, he was off to a good start. Then again, he'd also thought he had a chance with a cheerleader in eighth grade. That didn't work out so well.

She confirmed that she was a year older than him, which made him happier. And when addressed with the observation, he nodded. "I learned that I was a mutant earlier. Well, yesterday, I guess. I haven't slept in almost twenty-four hours..." It was sort of lame, since people stayed awake for much longer. He'd done so himself before. In any case, he needed something to break the ice.

"So, where are you from," he asked. Gisli was still exotic, more so than Allenforth.

[gisli]

Gisli didn’t seem to mind the staring… Or better yet, she didn’t even seem to notice. Half her attention was on trying to stop the blushing even more, the other half was doing as Freya said and make sure she didn’t somehow manage to lose track of him…. She was terrified of what might happen if she did lose him….

Wait, so this guy, Alex, was a new mutant? Really, what were the changes of him being found so quickly after developing his power? It was surprising, to say the least, though Gisli’s face didn’t display it. All she did, was blink, her lip twitching a little, as if wanting to smile but self restraint stopped it from showing. “Twenty-four hours isn’t that bad. It’s when you get close to forty-eight that you should worry….” A short pause. For some reason…. She felt like she had an obligation to share how long she’d been a mutant…. Seeing as he’d already told her…. “You’re lucky, finding out about this place so soon. I knew about my… differences… for over a year before coming here.”

She knew this question would sneak it’s way into the conversation sooner or later, so she was more than prepared for it. “Iceland.”

[argent]

Having continued staring a bit- well, staring wasn't quite the right term. It wasn't in a creepy, intense way; more like an interested, conversational way. At least, he hoped so. In any case, having continued looking at Gisli, Alex noted the mouth twitch and interpreted it in the same way that it actually was. He smiled slightly subconsciously as a result. He had a tendency to do that sort of thing a lot. "Iceland? Wow, how did you get here?"

"I've stayed up for about forty-eight hours before. Partially for a 'school project,' partially for a new video game. My parents didn't believe me about the first thing. Guess I should have considered the fact that it was the middle of summer vacation."

He smiled a bit wider now, actually meaning it. "A whole year? That must've been hell... If you don't mind me asking, how did you learn that you could... well, do whatever it is you do?" He didn't want to intrude, but he was curious. And he actually hadn't thought about asking what her power was before; it hadn't crossed his mind. He knew that his mind worked oddly, but he assumed that that would be one of the first things he asked of people. Seems that he was more sensitive than he'd have guessed.

[gisli]

"......." Gisli was blinking in surprise again. She almost thought it was obvious how she'd come to the states and didn't have much of a trace of her former accent... "Foreign adoptions." It wasn't very common with Technologically advanced Countries, but it wasn't completely unheard of. "My sister and I were brought over..." She'd only been five at the time, young enough that she couldn't remember Iceland that well, but enough that she still had very faint accent. Most people didn't even notice it unless they were trying to hear it.

Gisli's lips twitched again, followed by a small shrug. "I don't think school projects here will keep you up that long...." She paused.... a smile finally showing, even if it was faint. There weren't that many 'normal' classes after all. Most homework was able done in class, only a few giving out of class assignments.

Her smile vanished as quickly as it'd appeared, with absolutely no trace of it. The year before she came to the school.... Really had been Hell. Her gaze dropped to the ground. "My power.... Doesn't hide well. The first time or two.... We thought it was just a coincidence. One time someone fainted when I was angry, another person just felt sick.... It was obvious when people started getting hurt..." Her power would be hard to figure out off of such vague details, and he might think it was more physical then it really was. In actually, she was just a Empath. All she did, was trick the senses and force emotions on people...

[argent]

Alex nodded to her answer. He figured it was either the foreign adoption or just moving to the US. He'd met a couple of foreign exchange students in his school the previous year. He made good friends in particular with one from Spain, which contributed to the amount of Spanish he knew. He wasn't that great, but combined with his one year of Spanish as a freshman, he had a decent vocabulary in Spanish.

Alex was rather glad that no projects would keep him up that long in this school. Not that he had an option. Of course, it wasn't like he'd been serious, anyway... He wouldn't even pretend to do a project that concerned that much work... Unless he planned it out and did it over a long period of time. Then again, he'd probably procrastinate and stay up all night to do it anyway... It was just in his nature.

Finally, Gisli showed a smile. It was a nice one, too. Alex thought she looked quite attractive. However, he'd never say so to her face. They weren't quite friends, but hopefully they would soon be. He didn't want to get off on a bad start with the first teenage mutant he met. Well, the first teenager he knew was a mutant... He wondered if he'd meet anyone he used to know that 'moved' and ended up here.

"Anger and sickness? Sounds like the apocalypse," Alex said with a smile. Then he dropped it a bit. "They were hurt? You mean like physically or like you said, by way of anger and sickness?" This was basically another way to ask her power, but he didn't know if it was bad manners or something in the mutant world.

[gisli]

Gisli wasn’t the only foreign born student at the school. There were many, making up a third of the schools body, both student and staff. Just because it was an American school didn’t mean it was strictly for Americans. After all, he’d already met two foreigners. He’d been brought here by Freya Elensar, a French woman, and was currently being watched by an Icelandic native. Soon he’d find himself meeting students and staff from every region of the world imaginable… Still though, Americans did seem to make up most of the population.

She was running her fingers through her hair, trying to come up with an understandable way to explain what her powers did, exactly. Sure, saying she was an empathy would explain part, but it wouldn’t explain the other half. “Not exactly.” She paused for a few moments, letting out a sigh. “It’s…. Hard to explain.” Yet another pause.

“It’s kind of like empathy, manipulating emotions-“ She wasn’t sure if he even knew what empathy was, best to play it safe and explain in her description then after. “But I can only manipulate negative emotions, and when I do it…. It becomes overwhelming. If I want someone to be depressed, they won’t be able to get themselves out of bed. If I want someone to be afraid, they can faint.” She paused for a third time. “And if I want, I can confuse senses. I can make people think they’re hurt, small or big, or lack of energy, to the point of not being able to move, or…. Other things.” She paused the fourth, and hopefully last time. “What about you? You know about my power. What can you do?” He’d only just discovered his power though… So it was more like What did he think he could do at the moment?

[argent]

Though he'd had limited exposure to foreign peoples (but not a very small amount, considering that he lived in New York City), Alex was quite interested in meeting them. He liked learning about global cultures and history, and he thought it'd be interesting to learn about customs which differ between his home country and other foreign ones. It somewhat related to one of his possible career choices.

He nodded through her explanation. It made enough sense to him. He could see how it was hard to put into words, though. "So it's sorta like being able to influence peoples' thoughts. Sounds cool to me." Of course, she inquired about his power after.

He exhaled, then inhaled. "I'm not entirely sure. You see... Yesterday afternoon, these guys started picking on me," he started. He left out the fact that they beat the living hell out of him. He wanted to look good, even if he was a mutated freak. It was a matter of principle. "At one point, I sorta lashed out with my mind and they complained of pounding headaches. Then they accused me of being a 'dirty mutant' and... well, the rest is history."

Alex waited for her response.

[gisli]

Gisli's mouth twitched again from a smile that refused to reveal itself. "No. That's Telepathy. Empathy has no influence on thoughts, just emotions. Your thoughts won't match the emotion your feeling." The 'cool' part, made her hesitate, her gaze dropping. "It's not. How can it be when it turns on me almost as often?" He'd learn sooner or later that sometimes, powers had a habit of attacking it's user often if they didn't have control. But how could Gisli learn control if she refused to use other people as dummies? She couldn't practice on anything but living beings after all!

Her gaze lifted as he started to share what he knew about his own power now. The way his power developed was a familiar story. Peer Pressure in some form. "......." Her expression was hard to read. "You would think the humans would learn by now that if they'd just leave alone they wouldn't have to worry about mutants popping up out of no where...." A small, hesitate pause followed. "I'm sorry.... I didn't mean to sound rude..."

Did he even know about what made mutants.... well mutants? It wasn't something they taught outside of here. At Xavier's though there was a whole class on the subject.