xp_logs | Ty & Hope | Exploring the Snacks (Backdated)

Ty's hungry. His search for the kitchen leads him to Hope.

He really hoped he remembered the way. The tour had been rather
abrupt, and he hadn't left his parents' guest suite since they
arrived. He wouldn't have left them sleeping alone, he didn't want to
scare them again, but he was so hungry. He turned down another
corridor, hoping it was the right one.

With a bit of a sigh, Hope just managed to pull back inside the wall
on time. She had caught the rumors in the house about a new boy
around, but her ghost form was not the best way to meet someone for
the first time. So with another quick deep 'breath' and the picture of
leaves settling down after being thrown up on the wind in her mind she
returned to her body and stepped out into the hallway.

She brushed of her clothes and, mindful of the confused mess of colors
she had seen swirling around him. she followed him, gently calling
out: "Can I help you?"

Ty whirled around, jumped back as if seeking cover. Once he got a good
look at the girl, he relaxed, but stayed close to the wall. He very
deliberately recalled every bit of speech therapy from grade-school
before he spoke. "Kitchen?" he asked carefully.

"Down the stairs, the left hallway and then it is the second door to
the right." Hope explained. "I can show you if you want though. It can
be confusing till you learn to find your way around."

He stepped gingerly forward and offered her a cautious smile and nod.
He swallowed, attempting to clear the knot in his throat. "I'm T-Ty,"
he said.

"Hello Ty, it's nice to meet you. I am Hope." Hope slowly started
walking, heading down the kitchen. The new boy seemed very... it
wasn't quite shy, but a very cautious. "How do you like the mansion so
far?" She inquired.

He fell into step behind her, content to let her lead the way for now.
"Warm," he said shortly. Especially compared to New York in the
winter. He shivered at the memory. It was nice, being warm all the
time.

Not quite sure how to answer to that, she simply gave him a nod and a
smile. "Here we are. Would you like me to show you where everything
is?"

Ty stared at the kitchen, rather speechless at its sheer size. You'd
think he'd be used to it, but the prospect of all that freely
available food still boggled his mind. He said the first thing that
popped into his head. "Sandwich? P-p-please?" He cringed as he got
hung up on that stupid P.

And that probably also explained why he had spoken so little. "Of
course." Hope chose to ignore the stutter and quietly slipped in the
hostess role she had been trained in for so long. Pulling open the
fridge she quickly looked over it's contents, already pulling over a
few staples like lettuce and tomato. "What would you like on your
sandwich?"

Ty gave her a deer-in-headlights look. There were choices?
"Meat?" he asked helpfully.

"Of course. Hmmm..." Hope gave the fridge another glance. "I have an
idea. Do you also like cheese and an boiled eggs?" She already started
pulling a package of sliced ham towards her and when she had it, she
quickly popped a baguette in a small oven to finish baking.

He just nodded, willing to agree to whatever she wanted. It wasn't
every day a kid from Blue Hill had a beautiful girl making him a
sandwich.

He might just be a little in love.

"Alright then. Why don't you take a seat?" She gestured at the table,
one boiled egg in her hand. When the oven pinged, she quickly buttered
it, put on some lettuce, layered on cheese and ham, a few slices of
tomato, grated carrot and cucumber before topping it with a sliced
boiled egg. "Here you go, Ty. I know it's a lot, but if you cannot
finish it, we will wrap and you can take it with you upstairs if you
want."'

Ty's eyes widened in utter joy. He concentrated on his next words.
"I've been really h-hungry," he said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Ty." She took a seat across the table and watched for
a few moments how he almost attacked the sandwich. As soon as he
slowed a bit, she carefully ventured forward a little. "May I asked
where you're from?"

He finished chewing, recently reintroduced to manners by his mother,
before he spoke. "Boston," he said before he took another bite.

She left to eat him to eat in peace for a bit, diving back in to the
refrigerator to pour a sparkling water for herself and a huge glass of
milk for her companion. "I have not had the chance to visit it. What
is the city like?" She kept the question as open as possible while she
put the milk down in front of him and took her own seat again.

There may actually have been stars in Ty's eyes as he looked between
the fresh glass of milk and Hope. "T-thank you," he said. He finished
chewing another bite before he risked speaking again. "How l-long have
y-you been here?"

"Hmmm I think it's about..." Hope paused for a moment to think. "It
has been a little more then a year and half now. My parents sent here
after I manifested." She explained briefly.

Curiosity made him forget his nerves for a moment. "M-manifested?" he
asked. The girl from the church, she'd done something weird. They said
this was a mutant school.

"It's often the first time when a mutant experiences his or her
powers." Hope explained, a frown flashing over her face. She had
thought someone would have explained things to him, but she didn't
know how much. "Though in some cases it happens far more gradually."

Hungry shadowed memories crowded his mind, but Ty firmly pushed them
aside. "S-sounds scary," he said quietly. Not a chance in hell would
he even think about what happened that night.

"It can be scary." Hope agreed, thinking back to her own experience of
suddenly finding herself floating above her body. "I was scared, but
here they helped me to show I didn't have to be afraid."

He stared at the last bite of his sandwich for a long time before he
screwed up the courage to talk again. "What do y-you do?" he asked,
then crammed the sandwich into his mouth to distract from the shaking
of his hands.

"It is called astral projection." Hope explained, sipping from her own
water. "That means my spirit can leave my body and I can walk around
like a ghost. Or at least something like it. And what is it you do,
Ty? If you want to tell me. You don't have to."

He swallowed his last bite and did not look at Hope. "They made
a m-mistake," he said. "The g-girl with the light did it."

The girl with the light? There was only one he could have meant with
that. "Do you mean Tandy? What did she do?" Hope inquired gently,
getting a little confused.

Ty stared fixedly at the table. "She h-hit me with the light. Then the
sh-shadows came. And the asshole was gone."

"The shadows?" Apparently Tandy has used one of her daggers on the boy
and someone had disappeared, but that part of the story was not making
much sense to Hope. "What did they do?"

"Turned out the lights," Ty said, confused. "The g-guy who f-followed
me was gone when the l-lights came back."

"That is strange." Hope agreed with him. It almost sounded to her like
he had been the one who did something with the shadows? She was fairly
familiar with what Tandy could do and controlling shadows was not one
of them. No need to scare the boy with that though. "People here will
help you figure out what happened if you let them."

Ty relaxed, looked up at Hope again. There was time, it might take
them a while to figure out they were wrong. In the meanwhile, there
was food, and it was safe. "Thanks," he said.

"You're welcome, Ty." Hope let the topic slide and cast around for
another topic to shift the conversation to. "Have you already had the
chance to meet some of the other students other then Tandy? The girl
with the light."

He shook his head. "Been with my p-parents. Supposed to move into dorms soon."

"I might have an idea. Why don't you introduce yourself on the
journals before you move into the dorm? Then people will have a bit of
an idea of who you when they meet you for the first time."

"Th-they said something about that." He reached into the deep pocket
of his hoodie for a piece of paper. He flattened it out on the table.
There it was, the journal system and his username and temporary
password. "Everybody uses th-this?" he asked.

"Some use it more then others, but I think everyone at least checks it
somewhat regularly. It also will give you a bit of an idea who is who
around the school." Hope explained. "Do you have something you can go
online with?"

He nodded. His parents had negotiated the laptop as part of his
tuition payments. His typing was definitely rusty, but he could figure
it out.

"Good. Don't wait too long though." She gently warned him as she stood
up from the table and moved toward the cupboards, gathering a variety
of things. "I know Tandy has been wondering where you are and others
might get curious." Finally she pulled out a small basket and piled in
her things. Some fruit, a bag or two of nuts, a package of jerky, a
few sweets and some other things that would keep outside of the
fridge. "Why don't you take that with you when you go back upstairs? A
few snacks in case you want them."

The food disappeared into his pockets. He knew his expression was
pathetically grateful, but he couldn't help himself. "Thank you," he
said very carefully, before he went back to the guest suite where his
parents waited.