ic Shadow Matter

[Glass Clown]

August 14, 5:46 PM
Main Quad, Claremont Academy

The boy, sitting on the dorm's roof, looked below, watching his peers: some were walking around normally, others where using more... peculiar means of movement. A lot of them tough, were wearing the blue and gold colored school uniform, like Eli himself was. "I still can't get used to this bright uniform, it's so... four color..." said the pale, lanky Erebo looking at it. Part of him liked it, but something about his mind wasn't right since the accident, and he knew it. He hoped it was just his imagination, and not the dark energies infecting his thoughts... he had heard so many terrifying things about the place where he got his powers from since he came to that world.

"This is so unbelievable" he sighed full of incredulity. He could not believe that just a few days before he was stuck between a family that hated him for his passions and a world that hated him for his family. No, no more, he said shaking his head to clear it: it was time to be a hero now, this power wasn't a curse, it was an immense gift, one Grazia made sure her little brother could receive in spite of everything. That did not mean he did not have to be weary of what his power could do to him tough.

With a thought, his body was covered by the blackest shadows one could imagine, shaped roughly like his favorite turtleneck'd casual attire, and a pair of large, crow-like wings sprouted from his back, carrying him to the campus grounds below and then folding back into nothingness.

What a time to be alive...

[TheAbsurdist]

Corinne rarely wore the uniform, if she could help it.  Today was such a day.  Of course, she was returning to the school from going for a gnosh off campus, or five.  She had some more studying to do, and she planned on ending the day with some sketching and music.

 

Assuming there wasn't, like, some sort of guinea pig based monster coming for her, and Percival (her nonheroic hedgie).

 

She was wearing her straw pork pie, that seemed to be a constant for her, her blonde hair slicked back, and wearing an off the shoulder blouse, and khaki shorts, going along with navy blue yacht shoes.  All long legged, and possessed of a bit of a face that is a bit severe, she shoulders her small purse and continued on her way across the quad, to hit the main hall, and head towards her room.

 

Only to stop, and look at the... winged?  Some guy drop out of the sky and land.  "Uh..."  She should be used to this by now.  It still wasn't really sinking in, or making that connection.

[Glass Clown]

Eli turned quickly, eyes wide and somehow menacing, with their all too black, all too big irises.
"Hi..." he said, unsure. He could have swore he did not see her there, it wasn't in his plans to have to interact with such a beautiful, damn it!
"Ehm... my name's Eliseo?" he almost stuttered, trying to catch the right words in the fish pond of his mind, but failing miserably at it.
Instinctively, to look less intimidating and odd, Eli dissipated the shadowy energies cloaking his figure, and straightened his back: damn this girl was tall!
A hand instinctively went to the back of his head, scratching nervously. "Ehe, sorry if I upset you, I can make this sort of first impressions..."
 

[TheAbsurdist]

Corinne stopped as she was being addressed by the... um, guy?  It was hard to say, he was tall, sure, but he was also... odd?  It was a hard to pin down on her immediate examination, but he made her feel a little... uneasy.  "Ah, hm, it's, like, okay?  I mean, welcome to Claremont population weird..."  She trailed off meaningfully, as she glanced off to the side, where there happened to be a glowing animal looking person, that bounded through the grass, and then up the facade of the building before sliding into an open window.

 

"Like so."  She gestured, and shrugged in an expansive manner.  "I'm Corinne, I am new."  Then she laughed a little bit at that, and she shook her head, ducking her chin and closing her eyes.  It took the edge off the resting b**** face she seemed to have.  "To the school, and this sort of end of the world, I guess.  Or whatever."  After a moment, Corinne, brought her eyes back to him.  "So I guess, welcome?  I am not the best welcoming committee here."

[Glass Clown]

Eli was more shocked than the girl, and it showed. For her, he was just another weird super being, even if seen up close, but to him, this situation was... "Dio mio." he sighed, letting his native language punctuate his feelings. "Sorry, I guess I am not really one of the best examples of... whatever really."
He looked up, quitting his relentless navel gazing, and saw that the girl... that Corinne was as tall as him. "It's been a while since I could look someone in the eyes like this though. You should know... tall people problems, ehe!" he tried to squeeze out a laugh awkwardly, but all that resulted from that effort was a pathetic excuse of it.
"Some welcome is better than nothing I guess, you know... I am kinda-sorta not from here like... at all."

Edited August 15, 2017 by Glass Clown

[TheAbsurdist]

"Neither am I."  Came her response, fortunately she had eaten, an obscene amount of carne asada fries and horchata, so she was in good spirits.  "I mean, there is a guy who is from, like, a dimension that's like two down on the street, but kitty corner?  Atlanteans.  Me?  I am from Los Angeles, so... I mean... yeah."

 

"Unfortunately, my Spanish sucks, like i can go all, 'Mas tacos por favor,' but that's it." She got it, she was just five-ish months from getting powers, her world changing, and all of it.  So her nerves were still not the best.  "But you got the uniform, so you can't be that new.  I would recommend not pull the wings on all the time, as displays of power can be weird, and you may want a mask.  You are kinda obvious."

[Glass Clown]

A sigh escaped from Eliseo's lips: "It's not really... it's not Spanish, it's Italian." He covered his face slightly with his left hand, and when he removed it, a back, swirling mass of darkness covered his face. "Is this enough?" He said, his voice slightly distorted but still somewhat recognizable. 

 

"I am from a world where there are no... super shenanigans so to speak, and since I was an avid comic book fan this... I wouldn't know if I should define it as amazing or terryfing." He let the shadowy mask dissipate. "Probably some sort of mix of both."

 

"So what do guys like us... with powers I mean, do to socialize here? Should we find somewhere to sit maybe? You seem like an interesting person... mostly because you did not get scared away as soon as you saw me."

[TheAbsurdist]

"Well... I am worse at that?"  She hedged her response a bit, "I never had to take a foreign language..."  And then he was changing his face, and she blinked a bit.  So this is what it feels like for others?   She frowned a bit, and she shrugged, "This world is filled with it.  We just talk to each other, really don't know what else to say?  I am new, and this stuff is new to me...  I mean, I found out who my father was, and I get powers from him, so there is that..."

 

"I mean, I can't really help you get acclimated that well... I am in the middle of that myself.  So I am gonna say, 'I dunno' a lot."  She tried to spin that with a sunny smile as she looked at him, and hoped that would satisfy what he was pushing for.  Or something akin to that.  He seemed nice, and inoffensive, apart the horror movie power set.  But... then Winifred...  

[Glass Clown]

Another sigh came from Eli, flowing out like his soul was in it. "I... sorry, I am really bad at making conversation aha..." he said moving quietly about.
He was beginning to calm down, probably thanks to the influence of his powers: the more he used them, the more his mind became distanced from all that was normal.
Normally, he would consider it a bad thing, but for now the effect was helping him, just like a medicine: too much is toxic, but a little can help with the pain.
"I'm sure you do not have such problems, being... well... radiant as you are. Most guys and girls would probably be attracted to you like moths to a flame."

Eli used his power once again, covering his body in his shadow garments. Suddenly, everything looked much cleaner, like it had some purpose of sorts, and yet it had none.
Complex, yes... he was complex, and so was that girl. He felt something was hidden, something more than other people had: was it something normal to feel when you faced someone beyond the norm of humanity?

"But every flame casts a shadow, you know?" he said, pensive.

[TheAbsurdist]

She shrugged a little bit, "Social cues are, like, complicated?  I mean, you're Italian, so stuff's a little different."  And then it got awkward, and she blinked a little bit, "Uhm..."  So she fidgeted a little bit, normally there was a bit more lead up to that.

 

"Well... thanks?  I am hardly fire.  Like, literally, there are other people who deal with fire."  She didn't reach into her own power, she was genuinely scared of it, and what came with it.  She sort of took a step back from him, not that she was judging, but she didn't have full control over her powers, and it was safe to assume this boy didn't either.

[Glass Clown]

"I'm sorry if I scared you, I did not mean it in a... romantic way." Eli said, fidgeting with his long fingers in a somewhat elegant manner.
"I just felt like you needed to talk like I do, although maybe about different things... though I might be wrong." He sighed "Like you said, social cues are hard to grasp, especially for me, since I got these abilities." The boy made a small cube flow out of his hand and spin just above it. "I tend to talk too much, especially when it's about my thoughts." His eyes are a little sad, though not impressively so. "Let's start this from the beginning: my name's Eliseo Milioni, I come from an alternate Earth, the trip got me some unexpected stuff, as you can see. I like comic books, reading and sports, though I may not look like it, I practiced urban exploration and parkour a lot on my Earth." He let a puff of black smoke escape his index finger. "oh, and despite the looks, I don't consider myself a goth!" He added, laughing sincerely.

[TheAbsurdist]

"It's fine.  It wouldn't have been the worst, or creepiest pass at me that I had heard."  Corinne was not someone who pondered overmuch on the matter of people's psychology.  She was a teenager, after all.  One who didn't perceive herself as exceptionally enlightened.

 

"Well, that's... I really don't know what to say.  I mean... like..."  Corinne stumbled and searched for a response to that.  "I dance?"  There ya go.  That was her, in a nutshell.  She danced, a lot... and... "I like food?"  There it was.  Of course, she had spent a lot of time, for her, in recent memory disgorging personal information.  "I guess it is normal for people like us to use the whole power thing to relate.  I am just not too comfortable with mine."  Intending on leaving it there, but he was talking so she had to respond, right?

[Glass Clown]

"I am trying to be with mine though, even if turning was... traumatic to say the least. I have to, otherwise I would throw away what was given to me for a reason... or at least that is what I tell myself every time I see this creepy blackness around me".

 

Then he paused a bit, pondering what the girl just said, and laughed again: "You like... food? Ah, sorry, I must be the weird one, always overthinking stuff and all". The boy passed his fingers through his hair, and added: "I am not a particularly good dancer, but I wouldn't mind... you know... chilling a bit... is that what you call it when you relax and do nothing?"

 

A sad gleam passed through his eyes, invisible to most in those black pools. "Not that anyone would want a dark weirdo like me at a party..."

[TheAbsurdist]

Corinne pressed her lips together as she looked at him, her hands going to rest on her hips.  "I mean, we're all weird.  Wait until you meet Jann, he is a birdman.  You are not the outcast here.  My dorm mate shoots rainbows."  The irony of her being more accepting of other people's angst towards their powers versus her reaction to her own was maybe lost on her in the moment.

 

"We have, like demons here, I am sure there are vampires.  Really, there isn't a... leg to stand on when it comes to 'oh woe is me.'  There is probably someone here who has gone through what you have, or... knows someone that does."

 

She pursed her lips, as she regarded him.  "Just, like, follow me, we'll go sit in the cafeteria."

[Glass Clown]

The boy looked relieved, at least for a bit. "Sorry, it's just that my standards of normalcy have yet to be adjusted to... well, this whole world!"
A doll like mechanical smile opened slightly on his face, as he added: "Though i doubt it will take that long, if all people here are like you..."
He follows the girl looking straight ahead, eyes fixed forward and focused on a point that did not actually exist: "thanks." He whispers under his breath.
Trying to ride his emotions while the ebbed and flowed furiously in the darkness of his heart was... troublesome.

[TheAbsurdist]

"They're not."  It was a curt response, admittedly, but it was true.  After all there were a judgmental types here.  That was a truism all over, especially with teenagers.  The hippie-dippy dancer girl wasn't precise the best example of others, though she got the self-loathing, her mother had assured her it ran in the family.

 

"I get the whole 'not controlling your power.'  I mean, the teachers are helpful, and the counselors.  They've met with, they've dealt with people like you.  Or, maybe even are like you.  But..."  She trailed off and she looked at him, as she kept walking, "We're, like, teenagers.  We're awful, by and large.  So some classmates are gonna be jerks and stuff.  But everyone here is dealing with stuff, so don't internalize it too much." 

[Glass Clown]

"I will try to hold your words dear, thanks." Said Eli looking at a random fixed point in space, trying not to let his gaze intersect with the girl's. He was a shy guy, all in all, and his powers did not make it easier. Still, this short conversation was having an unexpected effect on his morale: he wanted to try something.

 

"So, what about this: you forget me being a depressed lame-o, we become "pals", and I owe you one on top of it... deal?" 

This time, he was trying his best to hold eye contact with Corinne.

[TheAbsurdist]

Corinne shrugged a little bit, and she laughed slightly at his assertion that he would try to hold what she said, like she really knew what she talked about. "Or just, yanno, do your thing.  I mean, I get that pressures from others is a thing, and it can get to you, but yanno... stop fretting so much?"  Her brows arched a bit.

 

"I mean, we can be pals, don't worry about owing me one.  I mean, I am not someone who really knows that much, just, you're not abnormal here.  That's all I am trying to do, don't worry about having moments, a lot of us do."  She shrugged a little bit, and then grinning at him briefly, as sh moved to keep going towards the cafeteria, not that she needed more food, but it was a neutral space, and she could always eat more.