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Post by Admin Courtney on Sept 30, 2012 23:29:47 GMT -5
"Incoming. Text. From. Riley. Slade."
Mikayla's phone buzzed and she flinched as the loud, robotic female voice informed her of a new text message from her cousin. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and pulled her cell from her pocket before hitting the center button that would tell her phone to read the message to her.
"Hey. Mikayla. Miss. You. Hope. You. Are. Kicking. Some. Butt. At. Your. Fancy. Schmancy. School. We. Need. To. Do. A. Girl. Day. When. You. Visit. I'm. Thinking. Mall. Movies. And. Boy. Watching."
Mikayla's eyebrows arched and her phone buzzed with a second message.
"Shit. You. Know. What. I. Meant. Mik. Lol."
Mikayla giggled at her cousin's correction and typed a reply, glad that her keyboard was qwerty and she had remembered where each letter was years ago. She did not bother with asking her phone to read it back to her; the voice was annoying and she knew her cousin would understand if there were any typos. Once her reply was sent, she put her phone in her bag and leaned back on the grassy bank of the lake, tilting her head back and letting the autumn sun warm her face. She smiled and inhaled the scent of the fresh lake water, glad that the weather was being nice on its own and she didn't have to use her powers to clear away any clouds. It would be one of the last nice autumn days before the really chilly winter weather kicked in, and she planned on enjoying every last second of it. Plus it helped that any cool breeze that passed by reflected off her skin thanks to her powers. Controlling the weather was great; she could deal with an annoying 'blind person' phone as long as she could control the weather.
She heard her phone buzz again, but this time she ignored it. She heard someone walking along the path behind her. As much as she could put up with her phone, she still preferred that the messages were not audible for everyone to hear, especially when it was her cousin Riley who was texting here -- Riley had no boundaries with what she talked about. Instead, Mikayla ignored the "Incoming. Text. From. Riley. Slade." and listened as the footsteps came nearer and nearer, their shoes softly padding along the paved path.
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Oct 1, 2012 11:58:12 GMT -5
Andie would say she couldn't believe her luck, but she really could. It was a beautiful fall day and she didn't have classes to attend right now. She would have stayed on campus had Spiritus been exciting to her, but it wasn't. It was too strict and it felt like no matter where she went, she was being watched. It drove her mad. So she'd escaped to the town and was walking on the lake, pulling on the skirt of her uniform, which she hated.
In her hand was a deck of cards, which she shuffled in her hands as she walked. There had to be somebody to challenge to a game. She could use the pick me up of winning a game. Something crumpled beneath her shoe and she looked down, moving her foot to see a twenty dollar bill there. She picked it up and smiled to herself. How often did this happen to other people?
She was lucky by nature and could even influence her own luck or others'. Anybody who dared to mess with her would have one hell of a time.
Ahead on the path, she spotted a girl. She was in her grade, she remembered seeing her in the dormitory. She was blind and that was about all Andie remembered. "Needed to get away from Spiritus as well? Man, that place is suffocating," she said as she approached her.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 1, 2012 12:59:28 GMT -5
Mikayla smiled as she recognised the voice of one of the girl's in her grade. Being in one large dorm room with them all certainly got chaotic for her, with all of the stuff she had to navigate around when she could not see, but Mikayla did not mind it. She loved to be around people. She tried to place the name of the girl, sorting out voices to names in her mind as the girl spoke to her.
She turned her face towards the girl, but did not bother trying to look at her; she could not see and it was always so straining trying to figure out exactly where the person was standing.
"It's not so bad," she said with a light shrug. "But a break from the chaos is always nice. Especially by the lake; it's so nice," she added brightly.
Then the name hit her. "Hi, Andie."
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Oct 1, 2012 14:05:59 GMT -5
Andie grinned. If anything was phenomenal, it was how she could pick out who was talking to her. When you were blind, you were forced to observe other things about a person than just their appearance. "I just find that place hard to handle with all the rules. I mean, I don't expect us to be able to run around and do whatever we want, but too many rules." She shook her head.
"How do you do that by the way?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. It was amazing how she could match voices to faces so easily and be so sure of herself.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 1, 2012 15:38:24 GMT -5
Mikayla nodded, considering Andie's point of view. "I guess they don't affect me all that much." It was a lot easier for Mikayla to put on a uniform everyday than to have to pick out an outfit every day. With a uniform she would always have something to wear that she knew it would match. She also heard a lot of the girls complain about nail polish during class, but Mikayla could not see to put the polish on; she always had to get someone to help her, and even then she could not pick a colour. Most of the rules like that did not get in the way of her personal preferences. Plus she enjoyed school and being somewhere where if her powers malfunctioned, she did not have to worry about being called some sort of psycho. Everyone here had powers and everyone's powers malfunctioned.
"Do what?" she asked with a slight frown as she tried to figure out what Andie meant. What had she done? She racked her brains but came up blank.
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Oct 1, 2012 21:40:44 GMT -5
Andie guessed that it might be not as difficult for Mikayla, but she kept her mouth shut. The last thing she wanted to do was offend the girl. She knew that sometimes her words didn't come out how she wanted them to. "I guess I just wish I got a choice in the matter. I mean, I like that there's a special school for us, but we're not prisoners. We're students." She shrugged. Andie just didn't like structure much to begin with, so it was expected for her to complain about it.
"And sorry...I didn't mean to offend you," she said, wanting to facepalm. "I meant...it's really cool how you can match voices to people. You can tell who each person is without seeing them." She couldn't imagine what it would be like, but she'd probably go crazy if she couldn't see.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 1, 2012 22:29:46 GMT -5
"That's true; I never considered how some people might not want to attend the school," Mikayla said. "I mean, there is always the other school across the forest, Veritas. But the academics at Spiritus are better..." She trailed off, unsure of how much she could say without being biased. She loved school, and therefore could not exactly relate to those who did not.
She smiled warmly in Andie's direction and shook her head. "No, that's okay. You did not offend me, don't worry. It is helpful being able to do that. You probably would be able to as well if you lost your sight," she pointed out. "It's nothing special, really. It's just something I've had to learn. But please don't apologise; it's fine, really," she said, and meant it.
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Oct 1, 2012 23:15:17 GMT -5
"I know the academics here are supposedly better, but I wouldn't mind getting an education and having fun. We're bound so tight here. It's like I'm on a leash. I don't know about you, but I'm not a dog, Mikayla." Andie finished her rant with a sigh. So what if Spiritus was the supposed elite school? She didn't very much like it and was only forced to attend because she'd been abusing her power.
"I find it cool," she said in response. "Most people don't concentrate on things like that because they don't have to, but you're forced to be observant when you're blind." Her mind went off on a tangent, running away with her and she struggled to catch up with it, shuffling the deck of cards in her hands once more as a breeze passed by.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 1, 2012 23:30:53 GMT -5
Mikayla fell silent, unsure of what to say. She did not have much of a problem with Spiritus and did not want to argue about it. "You can have fun here," she eventually said. "There are some great people, right? And it's not like we are locked in cages in between classes," she added with a small laugh. She supposed the school might seem suffocating to some, but she found it to be freeing. She was able to exercise her power and no one was calling her weird. "I do wish we could go home more often to see our families. Having to take the powers class in the summer once a week is not all that great," she admitted. Luckily she did not live far, but it still got in the way of her summer and her family time. But she knew that power control was important, so she dealt with it.
"What's that sound?" she asked, trying to place the airy sound that was coming from Andie. The quick slapping of paper against paper... It was familiar, but she could not place it.
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Oct 1, 2012 23:36:44 GMT -5
"Yeah, sorry. I tend to go on and on about things when I don't like how they are." Andie shrugged. She knew she was stubborn and picky, but she liked more freedom, although she was glad that she had somewhere safe to use her powers, even if the power wasn't hard to control. It was just that her power didn't have too many possibilities. She could influence people's luck and her own and always win games against others, but she'd yet to find someone to play against and she wasn't about to challenge Mikayla. When you were blind, could you play cards? She wouldn't dare ask that.
"I'm shuffling cards," she told Mikayla. While she could simply sweep away an opponent and win easily, she could also make them luckier to make things harder for herself. It was a fun game, but she always came out on top.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 2, 2012 10:50:26 GMT -5
"There is no need to apologise for that," Mikayla said with a slight shake of her head. "Venting is good for everyone. I think it helps release a lot of frustration, don't you agree?" she asked. Mikayla should know; her cousin Riley's favourite thing to do apart from scout the mall for good-looking guys was vent. Mikayla was used to listening. She just wished she could relate more to help more.
When Andie explained that the sound was cards, Mikayla straightened. "Cards!" she exclaimed, now recognising the sound. "Right, that makes sense. Sorry, that must have seemed like such a silly question. So you like to play, then? Do you have a favourite card game?" It had been a while since Mikayla played cards. She knew there were braille packs available, but her affinity against it prevented her from playing any cards game. It took too long and having to feel every card to figure out what it was was extremely annoying, especially when she couldn't see what the other players were putting down and had to ask them to tell her. Her favourite game, speed, was impossible for her to play even if she did use a braille pack, so she just gave up on the idea of playing cards with people. There were a lot of things she had to give up.
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Oct 2, 2012 20:43:56 GMT -5
"Yeah, for sure. Venting helps, but it's not very fun for the listener," Andie said, only half agreeing. She knew she'd rather sit through math class over and over then listen to someone vent and go on for an hour about something she had no idea about. But maybe that was just her. Mikayla seemed a lot more patient, which she could admire.
"Yeah, I guess you could say I like to play." She smirked deviously. Honestly, she never liked cards before her power. Without her power, cards required too much strategy. Unless of course it was a game based strictly off of luck. But Andie was rather lazy in things she did unless she was truly passionate about them. "I like poker." She'd collected money over the years from foolish people who challenged her. It was entertaining, that is, until she gained quite a few enemies because apparently she'd been 'hustling' them.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 2, 2012 21:00:58 GMT -5
"Sometimes it can be," Mikayla pointed out. "I mean, if the listener strongly agrees on the topic, it makes it more interesting for them. Not that I'm not interested in listening to your vent," she added with a wry smile. "But I'd prefer to listen to someone vent about anything than have them not vent. I mean, if I needed to vent and no one listened, I would probably just end up creating a tornado or something to get out my frustration," she admitted with a laugh. She had never been able to conjure up winds of that strength, however, so that was lucky. She was terrified of her powers getting that out of hand.
"Poker was a fun game. I always lost, though. My cousin Riley is too good at bluffing. Meanwhile I always gave it away if I had a terrible hand or a good one. I guess I don't have a very good poker face," she chuckled.
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Post by Admin Sydnee on Oct 2, 2012 21:04:51 GMT -5
Andie considered what Mikayla said. "Damn...girl, you are way too insightful." She almost couldn't handle the amount of thinking Mikayla did, it almost hurt her brain to think about things in such a deep manner. "I see what you mean, venting is good for humans. Helps us not....create tornadoes." She let out a laugh. "Well, in your case. I guess for the rest of us venting helps it not build up to an intolerable level."
This girl made her think way too much and Andie was unsure of what to think of it. However, being blind had to make you think about the world in a different way. "I get a good hand without even trying," she admitted with a shrug, but in actuality, she knew her power wasn't incredibly special. It was really only useful to have fun with, it had no serious practical uses. Good thing Andie didn't believe in practical.
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Post by Admin Courtney on Oct 2, 2012 21:15:54 GMT -5
Mikayla let out a laugh at Andie's comment. "I spend a lot of time listening to people. I guess I have to be," she said with a small shrug. She then leaned back, putting most of her weight on her elbows. She wished she could see the lake; she had no idea what it looked like, but she assumed it was beautiful. She felt serene just sitting there.
"That's pretty lucky. No wonder you love to play if the cards are in your favour. Wow," she said, awed that she was good at poker without even trying. Then again, the game was mostly about circumstance. It was completely random. She didn't know how people could be 'the greatest' poker players if the cards were randomly dealt. Then again, she didn't really understand the game at all. Sometimes she wasn't even sure which was higher: a straight or a flush.
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