xp_logs | Julian and Callie: How to Get Along With Your Roommate

Julian seeks out Callie to talk to her about Doreen and something neither of them expects to happen does.

Unless he was mistaken, or the laws governing the universal constants had suddenly been changed, Callie had to be around the mansion somewhere. Julian had already checked her room and the library, but she was no where to be found. It was a gorgeous day outside, meaning the next logical place to look would be outdoors. With his new sunglasses in place, he made his way out into the bright midday sun to find the cause of his other friend's distress.

After taking Doreen to the comic shop the day before- which had been both enlightening and terrifying- Julian learned that Callie was behaving oddly around the feral. After the way they had been treated back in Beverly Hills, he was not willing to let Dori suffer the same treatment here. Sure she was a little odd, nerdy and had a tail, but that was no reason to ditch your roommate.

Unlike many girls, Callie didn't mind the dirt, in fact she relished it. Any opportunity for her to get outside and get down and dirty so to speak, she was on it. Which was why she was currently dressed in her oldest, rattiest jeans and t-shirt kneeling in the dirt, pulling up weeds. It was back-breaking work, but nevertheless she enjoyed the repetitive actions; it allowed her to meditate and contemplate everything that was going on.

As she made her way through the flowerbed, Callie sang along with her iPod to pass the time. "One, two, three, four, tell me that you love me more...."

It took nearly a half-an-hour of walking around to find Callie in the garden. With her iPod blaring in her ears, Julian's only choice was to make physical contact. With a sigh, not really wanting to do this, but needing to, Keller approached the pink girl and tapped her on the shoulder. Once he had her attention, he uttered the four words that nobody likes to hear, "We need to talk."

"What about," she asked as she removed her earbuds and leaned back to maintain eye contact. She was rather confused as to why he sounded so grim, but Callie supposed she would find out soon enough. Slowly, she rose to her feet, not bothering to wipe the dirt off her knees. After all, they were just going to get dirty again. "What's up Julian?"

Julian took a breath and did his best to smile, "Your new roommate." He paused before going on, "Doreen and I have been friends for a while, since before she came here actually- didn't know if you knew that or not."

"Okay... that's cool. You know you're totally allowed in the room as long as I'm decent right?"

"Not what I was getting at," he smiled for a moment, trying to imagine Callie non-decent was more difficult for him than some of the mansions other residents. "I think you know what this is about, but do you want me to say it to make it easier on you?"

Callie wiped her head, trailing a bit of dirt onto the sweat that dotted her forehead. "If you would please Julian, because honestly I don't know what you're talking about."

Becoming a bit more confrontational about it, "What's your problem with Dori? Why did you run out of the room when you met her?"

"I don't have a problem with Doreen," she replied flatly, her arms crossed over her chest. "I didn't run out of the room when I met her either. Why? Did she say I did?"

"No, she said you suddenly had to leave and were incredibly polite about it, but her mind...it works differently than most. She also said you haven't really been around since then, but excused it as you being too busy. See, Doreen's coping mechanism is for her to think that everyone is being nice...even when they're not." Julian sunk his hands into his pockets and kept eye contact, noticing the change in Callie's demeanor. "So...what's really going on?"

"I've been in Mister Beaubier's suite then I went to the city with my dad," Callie calmly explained. Clearly Julian was busy leaping to conclusions in his head, and was acting hostile as a result of them. "I was trying to be nice. The squirrel freaked me out so Mister Beaubier let me crash in his suite. That's it. I don't hate her and I wasn't trying to be mean. You honestly think I would do that Julian?"

With a sigh Julian shook his head negatively, "Honestly, no, which is why I had to talk to you." Breaking eye contact he looked toward her gardening, "I'm sorry, Callie, I shouldn't have assumed." He knocked on his head, "Sometimes I'm not all here, ya know?"

Callie shrugged as she scooped up her water bottle and took a long drink. "It's fine," she assured him. "A little hurtful, but that's what happens. I know, I've done it too."

Resigned, Julian pointed toward the garden, "Want any help? I'm not much of a gardener, but I'm a quick learner." He also wanted a chance to explain what things had been like for Doreen back in Beverly Hills. "I promise not to ruin anything at least."

"That would be great!" She smiled widely, signaling to him that she wasn't mad at what had just transpired. "Come on I'll get you some tools and we can start."

Julian took off his jacket and accepted the tools upon Callie's return. Holding up the spade he arched an eyebrow, "This has to be the worlds tiniest shovel."

She laughed as she knelt on the dirt beside him. "I had a smaller one when I was younger, they make them for kids as well. You might not need it, all we're doing is weeding, but I brought it just in case. If you have any questions as to what's a weed and what's not, let me know so you don't pull out the plants."

After watching what Callie was pulling and avoiding, Julian started up to, taking care to keep from pulling the wrong thing. He wasn't really sure how to bring up explaining why he was so protective of Doreen, so small talk won out in the end, "What did you plant?"

Callie sat up and thought for a minute. She stared at the little green shoots sticking up out of the ground. There weren't any buds on them yet, but there would be in a few weeks she figured.They were yearning to grow, to reach toward the sun. "I don't remember what we planted here, but we should find out soon." She closed her eyes, racking her brain as to what flowers would be produced, and wishing, nay willing them to grow so she could at least see them.

With her eyes closed, she failed to notice that one of the plants had slowly grow. Like a stop action film, a small bud appeared near the top of the plant and began to spread its golden petals out like a small sunburst.

Julian had been pulling a weed with a deep root system when she stopped talking. A cursory glance towards Callie told him nothing was up, but the sudden flash of color made him do a double take. A tiny flower had bloomed and he was near-completely certain it had not been there before. Knowing that Callie had not had access to her powers for a while, he grew excited, "Callie?! Did you do that?!"

"Did I do wh--woah." Callie caught sight of the fresh bloom as she opened her eyes to look at her friend. That hadn't been there before. At least she didn't think it had. Or maybe she was just forgetting that it was there. But had it been there she would have been able to identify that at least some of the plants in the bed were marigolds. "I... I think I did?" It didn't make sense, but it was the only explanation that fit.

Beaming at her, Julian brushed the dirt off his hands, "Callie, this is huge! What kind of flower is it?"

"Aqulegia canadensis 'Corbett'," came the rote response. Frankly she was too stunned to formulate any lengthy response. "Gold Dwarf Columbine."

He quirked an eyebrow, "Riiight, I'm just going to call it a daisy, okay?" His eyes rolled and landed on one of the other stalks, "Can you...do it again?"

That remark earned Julian a look. "It's not a daisy, it's a columbine. They're different." Then a smile broke out across Callie's face. "I don't know. I'll try? How's that?"

"Yeah, totally," the excitement of the moment had pushed any thought of having a conversation, that could defiantly wait for another time, out of his head. The grin on his face was barely adequate to show his excitement for his friend.