Log: Julian and Sarah

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Techno and the Teek. Sarah meets Julian in the rec room.


With a better grasp of the mansion's layout, Sarah easily found her way to the rec room - having only made one wrong turn, the technopath was quite proud of herself - though once at her destination, she was a bit surprised to find someone else already there. Brown eyes gave the older boy clicking away on his laptop keys a once over before she stepped into the room. "Um, hi," the brunette said with an awkward smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interupt you. You don't mind if I look around here for awhile, do you?"

Julian glanced up from the story he was writing- the semester may have been over, but he'd actually enjoyed some of the classes to the point he was doing some writing for enjoyment. He didn't recognize the girl in front of him, which could only mean one thing, "New girl, right?" He offered her a winning smile and slowly shut the laptop. "Not at all, hasn't anyone given you the tour yet?"

"Sarah," she corrected. The term 'new girl' was going to get on her nerves quite fast, she could tell. "Or Sa, I guess. Either's fine. But um, yeah," the girl continued, still with her feet planted near the door. "The guy with the arm? Ford or something? He showed me around, well, kind of, after I did some exploring and then he put a map thingy in my phone." Of course, the effectiveness of maps always depended on the reader. "I can leave if you want the room to yourself."

"If I was looking for privacy I'd be in my room," he set his laptop aside and stood up, walking over to her and extending a hand. "Pretty sure it's just you, me and Callie around right now anyway, so I'd love some company."

"Good point," Sarah replied with a small chuckle as she took his offered hand with her own. "Would be helpful if you reminded me who you are and what you do. Sorry, everything's been sort of overwhelming with everyone and everything in the last day or so," she apologized.

"I'm Julian," he let go of her hand and gave her an appraising look, "Julian Keller. As for what I do," he shrugged and looked around, "the semester is over, so this is pretty much it. Can't go home...speaking of which, where is home for you?"

"DC. Not far but it's farther than I've ever been without my parents. Dad works on the Hill with lobbying and stuff which is how we found out about this place. Through the different Rights Groups and all," she explained, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "And I didn't mean like your job. I mean your powers."

"Oh, well that makes more sense." He looked around the room and spotted the still empty TV stand. "I do this," he exerted a little bit of concentration and lifted the oak entertainment center off the ground, a light green glow surrounding it for a few moments before he set it back down. "What about you?"

Brown eyes sparking with delight, the younger mutant pulled her iPod out of her pocket and set it in the boy's hand after flicking it on. One earbud was offered over with the other put in her own ear before she pressed a finger to the very corner of the music player. "Zeus," Sarah said in a firm but friendly voice, "I'd like to hear 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' by U2, please."

The screen blinked and a moment later the first strains of the song filled their ears causing a brighter grin to cross Sarah's lips.

Julian swayed with the melody for a moment, also smiling before taking the bud out and tilting his head slightly. "That's cool...technopathy?"

She nodded as she wrapped the cord around the iPod and slipped it back into her jeans. "Yeah. Or that's what I was told it's called. I can talk to machines and sometimes make them do what I want them to."

She didn't look like she was any older than Doreen, "What year are you, Sarah? When did you get your abilities?" Seeing the glint of nervousness in her eyes, Julian smiled and held up his hands, "This is actually small talk questions here, or so I'm told, seriously."

"It's cool. I'm going to be a sophomore in the fall," Sarah answered, tucking her hands into her pockets as well. "And I got them in January so I'm still really new at all this powers and mutant stuff. There weren't a lot of people around who could help me so my dad, he works on the Hill and he found out about here so..." She gave a little shrug. "Here I am. How about you? When did you find out you could pick stuff up with your brain?"

The Hill and she was from Washington D.C., Julian pondered what she meant, silently, while a beat of time passed. It took him a moment to realize she'd asked him a question, "Oh, yeah, sorry- got lost in thought there for a moment. Telekinesis, the art of making big objects into smaller ones with your brain."

"Yeah, I know what it is. I asking you when you found out," Sarah repeated, her brow furrowing some as she looked at the older boy. "Are you okay? You're not sick like the pink girl in the journal are you?" She took a step back on reflex and rubbed her hand against her thigh, trying to rid her palm of any germs he might have passed on. Getting sick a couple of days into her move wouldn't be a good thing at all.

"Callie? No, no, no. At least not yet- I've been spending time with her, so who knows." He gave her a wink and chuckle to let her know he was joking. "I was just trying to figure out what your dad does that he works on Capital Hill. My parents don't want me home this summer, so they're really not worth talking about."

"Callie. Right. Sorry, I'm still bad with the names. I'll get them eventually," she promised with a half smile, not quite sure what to make of the wink. "And my dad is a lobbyist. Mom's a consultant but yeah, Dad's a lobbyist with the National Education Association. I... I'm sorry about your parents not wanting you home but can I ask if either of them are in politics and that's why you asked about my dad?"

"Again, the answer is no. My mom doesn't do anything aside from working with non-profits and whatever. My Dad is the CEO of Keller Industries." He shrugged off the pity and kept smiling, "Don't worry about it if you forget my name, it happens a lot around here." Turning back towards his computer, Julian paused and turned back toward the new girl, "Who else have you met?"

She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, pondering why he'd been so curious about her father's job before letting it go with a little shrug. "Mostly just talked to people in the journal but I met Forge. And Ms. Frost - she picked me up at the airport and read my watch," Sarah told him, closing her other hand around the unique piece of jewelry.

"Whoa," Julian leaned in closer, trying to figure out what kind of watch she had on- the intricate craftsmanship was impressive. "That's quite the watch...where did you get that?"

"My sister gave it to my. Our birthday was on Sunday and this is what she gave me," Sarah told him, more smiles as she lifted her hand to give him a better view of the cuff decorated in a distinct steampunk style. "Handmade, or well, reconstructed, by some lady back home. Jessie thought it would be a cool gift for me because of my powers and all."

"You can talk to watches?" He held up his own, a digital sports watch. "Or is it just computers and stuff?"

She gave a shrug. "I talk to machines. Electronics. My iPod and my laptop and my cell phone. I controlled my mom's car once on accident. I kind of have to form relationships with the things in order for me to be able to control them - some don't like taking orders from a teenage girl - but I can communicate with them, mostly. Sometimes."

"Wait...so...you're saying they have personalities?" They were inanimate objects. They shouldn't care who they were taking orders from. "That's...wow."

"Not personalities per se, but there is some individuality. It's kind of hard to explain," the younger mutant sighed, blowing a curl out of her face. "I mean, I can pretty much communicate on a basic level with most machines, exchanging some open and free information but like, I can't break code or passwords or anything. Or at least, not that I've managed. I have a theory I could do it with my laptop to get to someone else's like a hacker but I've never tried because there's never really been a reason, you know?"

Julian fought back the laughter, "You might find a reason to soon enough around this place." Spotting her confusion, "Do you like hot chocolate?"

"Isn't it a little warm for hot chocolate?" she chuckled in return, shoving her hands back in her pockets.

Julian shrugged, "It's never too warm for hot cocoa. Come on, I'll show you the kitchen." He started toward the exit, leaving his laptop behind him.