Relaxing in the Lounge

Malik walked down the halls of the East Wing of the Dorms where his own room, which he settled in, resided. The boy had managed to unpack all of his belongings upon reaching his new living quarters. The room itself looked very spacious for one person. It had plenty furniture for the him and any guest to sit on while they conversed. There was a kitchen for storing food, condiments, silverware, and other such things. Along with it is a dining room for him to sit and eat his meals as well as any other visitor that decided to stop by and hang with him. Though, being that he has just recently enrolled in Starlight Academy, he has yet to make any friends as of yet. Hopefully, he will meet some friendly faces. He might be able to go on some stunning adventures with them as well. Connected to the kitchen and dining room is he living room. It had a rather large television, which everyone can watch from. An interesting part about his living quarters is that it has two rooms. One place this large should be shared. Malik will get lonely, then again, he can always go over to a friend's place. That is, if he can make any.

The young electrokinetic was brought out of his thoughts as the lounge came into view. It had accommodations similar to his dorm, but more suited for the many students that live in both the East and West Wings. He saw quite a few televisions along with couches and chairs to provide seating for the residents. He can also see computers in case he wants to get a quick access to information he would normally find difficult looking through the library. Malik know well on the mechanisms of a CPU. He even knows how to fix one with a problem. For now, he just wants to sit down on a couch and read. He doesn't to surf the worldwide web for any particular info or discoveries right now.

The boy has a different book that was held in his right hand, one that told about the natural disasters of nature and other phenomena. It was one of the books, which was part of his belongings when moving into the academy. He already knew of the weather and what could possibly happen in certain parts of the world. He just wants to have a refresher to keep his mind up-to-date. He was a smart young man and wants to keep it that way. The lounge grew closer and closer with each step. He looked around the place were students mingled, searching for a comfortable seat to sit in. He gaze fell upon a comfy couch that stood well within the center of the room. It appeared to be well-suited for his reading session.

'Hmm, that seating arrangement will do well. It looks very appropriate for me to sit down and read one of my favorite books. I have been wanting to relax, since unpacking my things.' Malik thought, wanting to unwind and read happily. He felt slightly stiff from carrying his stuff for so long ever since he had arrived at Starlight Academy. After unpacking all of his belongings, he felt relief from the removal of the excess weight.

Malik walked to the center of the lounge, his desire to sit down and relax as he re-read about the forces of nature. When he reached the couch, he sat down and opened his book to the 21st page. The section was about tornadoes and how they formed. This natural disaster occurs in sever thunderstorms. Tornadoes are much like hurricanes , but smaller and more narrow. It is also less destructive in comparison. Tornadoes form from a funnel cloud as a result of the rotation created by the wind shear. It spins faster and with the assistance of the rain and hail, it touches the ground. Those with the power to control wind can create tornadoes, with enough mastery, of course.

The boy continued to read through his book on natural phenomena relating to nature as he continued to relax while sitting in the comfy couch in the center of the student lounge. He turned to the 22nd page in the text. The information in the book hardly caught his curiosity. His interest lies more with the supernatural and uncommon events that happen in the world. He was basically reading the pages to refresh his memory on what happens in nature and how. Tornadoes are very dangerous, he is glad that storms of such resulting magnitude don't happen here. That would bring in the possibility of the school being destroyed. Now that Malik thought about the subject on tornadoes more, this could give a wind manipulator or aerokinetic an idea on how to utilize their abilities in a more destructive way. Of course, with the power and turning force this natural disaster possesses, it will take a great deal of mastery to create such an event.

He skipped the pages to something more of his taste. Tornadoes seem interesting, but they are not his favorite. He was looking for a subject that peaked his curiosity more, something relating to lightning. Malik has always liked the element he controlled, since he was a child. It was his favorite and with it's versatility, it had many uses he has yet to discover. Malik ended up stopping on the section of thunderstorms with the book. This gave the electrokinetic a slight smile on his features. A thunderstorm is a storm involving mostly thunder and lightning. These events occurred on Manta Carlos and Malik would always look up to the sky within his house and witness the flashes of electricity in the atmosphere. The lightning always made him feel calm and happy, the same with his father. He wonders, if other electrokinetics got the same feeling watching a thunderstorm.

Moments have passed and the boy was already on a different page within the book. He continued to read about electrical storms as he relaxed in the soft furniture. He then, noticed a colorful light on his left side. He turned his attention from his book to see where this shine came from. Down a hallway was a girl who appeared to be manipulating rainbows. He could see small, white butterflies flying beside her. They were actually the ones responsible for the multicolored light that bounced off many areas from which he could see. As Malik gazed closer at her expression and tried to see what pattern is there to the actions that took place, he saw that she was bored.

'Maybe I can make friends with her. The only other person I know here is Professor Silivasi. I consider her a friend, but we hardly have any time to talk to each other, what with her job and all. If this girl doesn't want to be friends with me then, I am no one to change her opinion forcefully. Though, it would be nice, if she did.' He thought as she drew closer to the lounge. The boy decides he was going to speak to her. With a deep breath and exhale, he placed a blue bookmark in his natural disaster book, closed it, and stood from the couch with it in his left hand. He wanted to use his right hand for a handshake, if one should arise, of course. He was going to read more of the book later, right now, he should try and get to know the students living here.

He turned to the hallway the girl was coming through and began to walk to her. He grew nervous as he found it hard to talk to strangers. Malik was able to converse well with Aurora due to his anticipation and excitement. Now that he was calm, he was finding his introduction slightly more difficult. He took small, but slow breaths and exhaled, trying to calm himself. He is trying to work up the courage to speak to this girl and begin the conversation on a good impression. When he was finally close enough to her, he decided to speak.

"Um, hello there, it's nice to meet you. My name is Malik, I'm one of the new students here and I wish to get to know the other students here better." He said in a friendly tone. He was still nervous, however. The girl could react different to what he would exact. He wanted to get off to a good start with her.

The young electrokinetic became less nervous seeing that the girl, Pham Thi Anh Sang introduced herself. He was relieved that she didn't reacted negatively to his words. Speaking of words, her own sounded slow and slurred with a certain accent. English was most likely not her native tongue, otherwise she would be talking faster and without hesitation. It is easy to say that she came from a certain place where his own language is uncommon. He wonders, if she could understand what he was saying. There were people in the world that don't understand English words tat much and as a result, don't understand the speaker in question.

Malik quickly thought of what to say next. An interesting aspect about time within one's mind and the same continuous force outside. What seemed like minutes to the boy was actually mere moments. Thankfully the Pham Thi Anh Sang will not get impatient on wonder why he is taking so long to say something. Despite being less nervous after the girl's introduction, he still felt slightly anxiety, but it was now unnoticeable. He then, noticed two butterflies, which he noted were pretty in his thoughts. He decided to complement them, since they do have beauty that should b respected. These interesting insects were the reason for creating those rainbows down the hall as well.

"Those butterflies around you are beautiful. Also, I've noticed that they were making those remarkable streams of colors across the halls. That was very cool, I must say." Malik said, commenting on the rainbows the girl had made were impressive. The slurring in her voice and the accent got him to think on her origins. Where was she from, her wonders.

"Um, I was wondering, where are from? I mean, where did you used to live before coming to Manta Carlos?" He asked. Malik moved to this island when he was 10 years old. Before that, he lived in Maryland, in the world outside of Manta Carlos. There the gifted are forced to conceal their powers to avoid discrimination and prejudice. It was this very reason that his family now lived here in this haven for super-powered individuals. The question that came to him was the girl's reasons for coming here. Right now, it was a puzzle to him. Also, the fact that she might have some trouble speaking Englsh could pose a problem in terms of language and understanding.

'If she has trouble speaking my own native tongue then, this can be difficult, unless she can understand me. I just hope I can be able to converse with her. She seems like a nice person, and colorful. Even if she does have trouble speaking English, I can teach her. Conveniently, I have a book or two suited for that purpose. Of course, it is up to her to decide not me.' Malik thought, thinking of a to have a friendly conversation with her as well as having an idea on how to teach her to speak his language.

Seeing his new friend turned to the new individual behind them, he also looked. His eyes slightly widened at seeing the extra features to the boy's body.He had read much folklore and can recognize any supernatural being from detail read. If Malik wasn't mistaken, he was gazing at a nekomata. The boy had only seen what this race looks like from text as well as seeing alternate versions of them as two-tailed cats. There was no denying that this boy in front of him and Anh Sang was one of them.

Speaking of the 10 year-old girl in front of him, she was making jerking motions at the boy's tail and ears. Along with her squealing, it appears she happens to think he is cute. Malik, on the other hand, thought it was cool. He wondered what it would be like to have extra animalistic features to his own body. Would he gain animal attributes, display their habits, or would they be just for show was what he thought.

Malik gave a slight grin, happy that Anh Sang took the complement in a positive way. Her butterflies were really interesting as well as he place she was from as well. From the way her name sounded along with the city, she was assumingly Chinese. Insects that could create rainbows were certainly rare. of course, gifted were rare as well. It's not everyday you see a boy, like Malik, who can fire lighting out of their palm or discharge electricity from their body. Though, on the island of Manta Carlos, gifted were more common compared to others living outside of the land mass's parameter. However, living in the United States or any other national country is not easy when you possess special abilities. Gifted are often treated as if they don't belong with regular humans. Malik can probably understand the discrimination on others, like him, with his high intellect. It could be that some human don't understand the gifted or jealous of their power. Either way, he see that it is wrong to treat those who are "different" from you so harshly.

"I hope to see your rainbows when you are putting more effort into it. They were magnificent enough when you were not even trying. Also, hearing that your are from Vietnam is pretty interesting. Since you told me where your from, I should tell you of where I used to live. I came here from Maryland when I was at the age of 10." He said, also explaining on his own origins leading up to him living in Manta Carlos and attending Starlight Academy.

He decided to turn his attention to the nekomata named Kuro. It was quite rare, well, more rare to meet a being such as him. Nekomata are supernatural beings from Japan and as such are more common within that country than outside. He didn't think he would meet someone, like Kuro, so soon. It was certainly intriguing to behold. Malik waited for Anh Sang to finished her introduction, so he could speak next. When she was done, he decided to iterate his own greeting while corresponding with the girl's own.

"If I'm not interrupting, I would like to introduce myself as well. My name is Malik Roberts, it is nice to meet someone, like you." He said in a friendly tone towards the nekomata.