A new start

Eric's reason to the Administration office was an unfortunate one. He had hoped not to see these boring, grey offices for as long as he could manage, but only a few weeks into his schooling and Eric discovered he might not have all the course credits he needed. Changing from school to school meant a change in curriculum, and that meant on occasion a change in necessary coursework. Eric really didn't want to add another science class...

So, there he arrived. Right up to the lobby to find out there was no one there, just like Elizabeth before him, and the boy groaned. He didn't have time to sit around. He wanted to get back to the gym as soon as possible. He could feel his muscles weaken every breath he took.

He was about to turn away when he got another look at the other person waiting. At first, Eric mistook her for a boy. Short, bobbed hair, more muscular frame than curvy, and a distinct lack of any frilly fashion. But Eric had a good pair of eyes, and he saw right through her inadvertent disguise. She was a girl, and girls were always worth talking to when you were Eric.

“New here, yeah?” Eric smiled. The easiest tell was the luggage she was carrying. Fresh off the bus, basically. She also had a bit of wrinkling in her clothes, suggesting a long time of sitting in not entirely cushy spots. Those were the sorts of things his eyes could tell him. The rest he'd find out when she spoke.

Eric himself wasn't exactly clean. The jacket of the school uniform was tied around his waist, leaving the top just a button shirt left undone at the top two. He had a bit of a scent to him, and his body glistened mildly with sweat. His breathing was a little quicker. Eric had been working out just before arriving.

“Know when anyone's coming back? I don't want to be sitting here for an hour, do you?” Eric crossed his arms and grinned, leaning back against the wall across from the stranger.

Eric didn't lose that smile of his. It took more than condescension to ruin his day. And of course, Elizabeth wasn't the only one who could play a game of passive-aggressive welcoming. But Eric was nice, nice enough not to try and make an enemy of her just because she was upset with sitting around for who knows how long.

“Whatever works for fun I guess,” Eric shrugged, his smile creeping along the sides of his face. He examined Elizabeth a little more, studying her, weighing her as though his eyes were scales. Her own eyes were trained to the floor, up until Eric opened with a new line of questioning.

“Well, you either expect them back soon or your best form of entertainment is staring at the floor. Next to carrying bags around,” Eric pushed off against the wall, taking a cautious step to his friend. Well, not really friend. Not even a polite acquaintance. He wasn't used to someone being so abrasive so quickly.

But hey, he wasn't doing either of them favours by snapping back. He extended a hand to Elizabeth, at least as an offer of non-aggression. “Welcome to Starlight Academy, mademoiselle. You may hate me all you want, but at least you can learn to love our home.”

There was always a little more to see. Hesitation, maybe even nervousness. They shook hands, her grip frail and her shaking quick. Maybe she was a germaphobe? Eric didn't see her wiping her hands though, so that wasn't it. However, Eric could stand there and guess everything on the planet before he figured it out.

“I thought you'd never ask,” Eric grinned and sat down right next to her. There were plenty of other chairs in the lobby, in all truth. Eric could easily have talked with her on the other side of the room, it was so quiet right now. But he wasn't like that. There was no nervousness in Eric, not even when she was being cold.

He did lean away from her, his arm draped over the empty chair beside him in order to relax into his position. Eric did have some consideration for personal space, after all. “My name's Eric. I only just arrived a couple weeks ago, myself. It's intimidating at first, just like any other new school, but you can adapt even to a weird place like this.”

A school was a school, after all. But few schools Eric knew had superpowered kids running around everywhere. However, even that would become the norm to you. Otherwise, you'd be driven insane every time you walked down the hallway and saw a student with fire for hair or maybe scales on their face.

Still no people, though. How long was lunch break, anyway? “So? Any cool powers? Bad ones? Ones you want to keep secret?” He wasn't just mouthing every variety off. With his eyes trained on her expression, Eric was trying to figure out the answer before she even told him.

“Elizabeth,” Eric repeated the name. Not really a French name, and like any not-French name it took him a bit of exercise to pronounce it not-so stupidly. He waited for her answer, but instead of just spelling it out she decided to demonstrate. Eric watched with a childish fascination. Seeing other people's powers always gave him a rush. It was the first time in a long time that he met anyone like the people in Starlight Academy, and the only others were his siblings.

He noticed the arc of electricity in between her fingers. The bright sight of it did, in fact, make him flinch just slightly. The arm nearly ready to rest on Elizabeth's shoulders was suddenly and smoothly kept to Eric's side of the chairs. He did smile, though. “You're like a taser, eh? I best behave then.”

The hand closest to Elizabeth rested on the arm of his chair now. His fingers gripped around the metal tube, and after a long moment he started to pull his hand away. The chair's metal started to bend, rising up with Eric's hand and melting away into a silvery, floating pool. A few seconds later, the silver blob reshaped itself in Eric's hand into a small knife in the shape of a rose.

He offered the 'rose' to Elizabeth, the knife edge delicately held against his palm. If she wanted, she could probably cut him right then and there. But all roses carried that risk.

“Pretty close, Liz,” Eric smiled. She didn't take the rose to his dismay, but he did start to notice a little more of her habits. She kept a firm posture away from any metal bits. If she had electric currents, then it made sense. She didn't want to touch anything that could accidentally conduct and shock someone else. Someone like Eric. How considerate. He knew some girls wouldn't have hesitated to use a power like that right in his gut. Being a flirt could fail pretty badly at times.

“I can also refine stuff, and make it stronger just by holding onto it. For instance,” Eric grabbed the rose knife by the hilt and stabbed it through the concrete wall behind them. When Eric pulled it out, the dagger had not bent at all. The metal in the chair was not nearly as tough as that.

“I can also see into the future, but not say, far enough to know when the administrator is coming back. Or if you'd give me your number if I asked.” Perfect, his masterful setup. Eric had no shortage of pick up lines, both subtle and unsubtle.