Nick weets Sarah Vale

[x-wolfcub.livejournal.com]

Trying to find his new friend in the mansion, Nick runs into one of his new classmates.



It had been a long first few days at the mansion for Nick. It seemed that every day he was either getting lost for hours in the seemingly endless hallways and corridors, or meeting someone new. The latter of which had become more of a stressful event than the first. He still hadn't felt comfortable enough to tell the residents about the situation leading to his sudden appearance at the school, and would rather stay away from the topic. That's what he was doing currently, trying to track down one of his few friends that he was able to talk to. He paused in front of one of the doors in the student living quarters. After knocking, he thrust his hands deep into his pockets, a trademark sign of the Gleason nervousness, as he rolled back on his heels and awaited an answer from within.

"Coming!" called a voice from inside, followed by a soft thump and then the muttering of ones and zeros in rapid succession before the young technopath yanked open the door. "Oh... hi," Sarah said, her brow furrowing slightly at the sight of the unknown male. "Sorry about making you wait. I tripped. Can I, um, help you or something?" she asked as she shifted her weight from foot to foot, fiddling with the thick metal cuff-turned-steampunk watch on her left wrist.

Gleason froze as the door opened, his eyes opening wide in the process. This definitely was not the purple-haired mutant he had been looking for. "I uh... I uh..." There it was, the famous Nicholas Gleason charm being turned on all at once. As he tried to scramble quickly back to his senses, he thrust one of his hands into his front pocket as he forced a half-smile over his face. "I'm sorry, I was... looking for someone else." Turning away from the door, he remembered that he should at least try to be friendly to the people here, after all, he was going to be here for the next few years. "You wouldn't happen to be a student here would you?" It wasn't the greatest greeting in the world, but hey, it was a start.

"As of last week, yeah," she replied, leaning on the doorframe; her dark eyes sparking with a hint of mirth. "They said I was too young to be a teacher and you know, not educated enough so I figured I'd give the school thing a try. And you know, the powers training thing so I can take over the world one computer at a time." The younger mutant extended her hand. "Sarah Vale from Washington DC. Technopath. And you would be?"

"Nick Gleason. The Big Bad Wolf from Wisconsin." He tried to smile back at the other student, but instead couldn't manage to do with his nerve intact, and instead just ran his free hand through his unkempt hair. "So you're new here too?" It was an observation that Gleason didn't know if he completely enjoyed. Everyone else seemed to know everyone else here, and it just made it easier for Nick to sit in his room and disappear as they all went about their own business. "Quick question, do you get lost all the time too, or is that just me?"

"Seriously? I get lost all the time," the small brunette laughed. "I even have a map in my phone and I still can't find my way through this place. I'm just glad I don't have to worry about being late for classes or anything until September because I really think it's going to take me that long to really figure out how to get around here." It wasn't a joke. Every so often - even with her map and tours - she'd end up somewhere unexpected or just flat out wrong. Having to handle that on a schedule? Sarah might as well find a way to tether herself to a classmate. "But yeah, I'm new and still adjusting to living with other mutants."

Nick couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. It was good to not only find someone else that was as lost as he was, but someone else who wasn't used to have other people with abilities running around too. "Oh thank God! I thought I was gonna be the only one who ended up in French class instead of biology on the first week." Nick let his eyes fall to the ground. Even though he was feeling a little more relaxed, he probably would never feel fully comfortable around others at the mansion. "Actually I was about to go try and find the kitchen? Would you like to go on an expedition with me?" He drug his eyes up from the floor to make quick eye contact with the other student.

The smaller mutant gave a shrug of her shoulders. "Sure. The kitchen and the rec room are about the only two places I have a solid idea on where they are," Sarah admitted as she stepped out of her room, locking the door behind her after a quick check of her pocket to make sure she had her phone with her. "There's always stuff for sandwiches and stuff there which is good because I'm still learning to cook and well, I really don't want to play around too much with the different appliances just in case, you know?" Having the stove disagree with her powers could be a bad thing.

"Tell me about it. I'm just hoping that I don't have to spend the next few years living off of Easy Mac." Nick pushed his hair back out of his eyes as he began walking down the hallway, taking careful note to try and keep behind Sarah, as he still hadn't even mastered how to get there yet. "Technopath huh? So what do your powers entail other than being able to always beat your friends at video games?" A wry smile cut across the boy's face. He was still trying to gain as much information as possible about the various powers present in the mansion.

"Right now? Not much," Sarah replied, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. "I can make my laptop and cellphone and iPod follow simple commands but I can't like, hack into a bank's computer and transfer funds anywhere. And I was angry once I sort of took over my mom's car on accident and nearly ran us off the road which would be when she found out I was a mutant." Short but quick steps lead them to the stairs and down as she tried not to think about that and what had resulted - being pulled from school to be taught at home, both her parents freaking out, a chasm between her and her sister... "I only manifested in January and really don't have a lot of control yet so that's why I got sent here. What about you and your big bad wolf powers?" He didn't look like he had a tail and obviously no snout - which was good. Someone with those physical mutants knocking at her door would have been even more traumatizing than Kurt at her window.

"I'm kinda of like a werewolf that has control of when they see a full moon." As the pair began down the stairs he did his best to think through exactly how to explain his powers. "When I think about it I turn into Oz from Buffy the Vampire Slayer." He let his eyes fall down to his feet as he thought about if he should go through the entire story. "But unfortunately when I get upset I can also ruin a new pair of jeans faster than the the village klutz at a paint store." As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Nick did his best to hide the fact that he was again completely and utterly lost in the mansion. It was easy since he was also fighting the knot in his stomach that Sarah might run and hide after he revealed his powers. Despite all of the acceptance that had been shown towards him at the mansion, old habits die hard in that department.

Coming to a halt at the bottom of the steps, the smaller mutant gave him a long look up and down. He didn't look like much of a werewolf. Not that Sarah didn't believe him - hell, a blue elf man climbed in through her window and there was Nate flying around the lake in the middle of a fire bird - weird things tended to happen around the mansion in ways that weren't at all exaggerated by her new housemates. "So, like, are you allergic to garlic and all? No wait, that's vampires. Um. Silver bullets? Not that I want to shoot you or anything," Sarah amended as she jerked her head in the direction of the kitchen, leading him on after her study was complete.

A laugh quickly escaped from the pursed lips of the young student. "I actually love garlic, and I'm not sure about the whole silver bullet thing." His eyebrow cocked up slightly as the thought began to sink in. "Come to think about it, I don't know if I'd want to chance it though." As they continued on, he forced his eyes to meet those of his fellow classmate once again. "You said that you accidentally used your powers when you were angry. Has that ever happened to you any other times?" The mutant world was quickly becoming like a vast sea to Nick, and he was hoping to turn his mind into a sponge.

Sarah nodded once. "Not angry so much as frustrated. Like, with home work and stuff, but nothing bad. In fact, it's pretty useful; I couldn't find the information I needed for a paper once and I got, you know, frustrated with it and the next thing I know, my laptop pulled up the exact webpage I needed. And I'm totally not suggesting you have anyone around here shoot you just for testing," she clarified as they continued to walk. Brushing a lock of hair from her eyes, she added, "Could be interesting to see what silver nitrate does to you, or any other medication with silver in it. Do you get rashes or anything when you wear it?"

Gleason shook his head from side to side. "Not that I know of. Granted I haven't worn a lot of silver, but I haven't seen any reactions to it." Nick again thrust his hands into his pockets. "Maybe next time you get frustrated, you can try to find some modern werewolf myths on your computer." With a quick smile he turned towards his companion. "That would have come in handy growing up. I would have saved a lot of money not having to buying new controls if when I got frustrated trying to beat the last level of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles if I'd suddenly learn how to beat it."

"I can totally look up modern werewolf myths even without being bored," she told him, a more settled grin forming on her lips now that she was a bit more comfortable. "I like researching stuff. More on the computer then in books which can be a little tricky because of how bad some of the search engines are but it's fun. I can send them to you if you'd like if I find any," came the offer as they finally strolled into the kitchen. "Here we are. And I'll let you play with my Wii and XBox if you promise not to break the controllers," Sarah added with a little laugh.

"Yeah, I'd appreciate that." Nick slowly paced around the cabinets, and opened the single drawer that he knew best. "And any advice you could give me on video games would be appreciated. I haven't played in years, and it seems like that's one of the only things my suitemates and I can talk about." He turned around holding up the familiar orange and blue box of Easy Mac and Cheese. As he pulled out a pouch, he smiled towards the technopath. "See, I wasn't joking about living off this stuff."

"Hey, it's better than living on ramen," she countered, smiling again as she grabbed twice slices of bread and stuck them in the toaster before searching out a can of tuna. Sarah wondered briefly if the purple cat would show up again and debated putting aside the fish-flavored water before finally deciding she would just open another can if the animal did appear. "And yeah, I can maybe give you some tips," continued her voice while she searched out the rest of the ingredients she could need from the refrigerator. "I'm used to only playing with my sister and well, she kind of sucked at it."

With a laugh, Nick began pouring the stiff macaroni noodles into a bowl. "Hopefully I'll be a little bit more competition than she was." As he began running water into the bowl, he looked up towards Sarah. "Or maybe we could take a cooking class together. At least there we'd be on an even playing ground." As the smile faded from his face, Nick stared down at the bowl. While moving towards the microwave, he contemplated whether he should push on a topic that could be very sensitive. "You mind telling me about your sister?" Normally he wouldn't be so forward about it, but with his current situation, he thought that this could be a soothing topic for himself.

"Jessie? Not much to tell, really. We're twins; I'm a couple of minutes older but yeah. She's a bit more, um, dramatic than I am, I guess. She's not a mutant though. Neither are my parents," Sarah told him, mixing the tuna with mayo then adding salt, pepper, onion powder and yes, even some garlic powder before stiring the contents in the bowl again. "A cooking class sounds like fun, though. Mom was teaching me as part of the homeschooling stuff but I think it was more of an excuse so she wouldn't have to make dinner each night when she got home from work."

Nick pulled the bowl out of the microwave. He quickly pulled open the top of the cheese powder and began mixing it in. "My mom gave up on teaching Dad and me to cook. I think she was afraid that there would be more casualties than dinner involved if we were the ones cooking." He suddenly stopped mixing as the last words seemed to stick in his throat. Maybe talking about family wasn't the best idea. He quickly gathered up all of his materials and began crossing towards the exit to the kitchen. "Hey, I think I'm gonna go finish this up in my room, but it was really nice meeting you Sarah." Without another word he quickly turned outside of the room.

"Nice to meet you, too..." she replied, her voice trailing off as he beat a hasty retreat and a frown appeared on her lips. Weird. Very weird. Not that she had much room to talk; she definitely preferred the quiet and comfort of her own room and computer. Sarah wrinkled her nose, pondering going after him for a moment but was distracted when her toast popped, burnt to a crisp. "I know I set that on light," she lamented to no one then gave the appliance her best 'you're-not-fooling-anyone-mister' glare before deciding plain bread was good enough.