Alone In A New Place;; Open

[Mikhail Dombrovski]

((A picture had to be included of the hoody :] ))

If someone were to say that the young boy staring from the window seat on the train to Carsdale was a nervous wreck, they probably would have got a big eye roll at pointing out the severely obvious. Mikhail had turned his iPod as loud as it could go without the ear buds deafening him. He wasn't trying to be rude, but he was in a new country and didn't exactly want to participate in a conversation in a language he didn't really like either. He pulled the hood up of his cartoon strip hoody up and slouched down in his seat. He hadn't actually been on the train for that long, but it felt like forever. After the flight, he had just wanted to sleep. Whoever said that 2am flights for cheaper travel was a good idea was not right in the head. They were never a good idea, and if anyone booked him on another one he would mess them up. Mikhail picked up the magazine in the seat beside his own and flicked through a couple of pages. He had read most of it already, and anything he hadn't he didn't really find a need to read. He put the magazine back in his backpack and instead just stared into space as 'Dear Maria, Count Me In' played through his headphones.
What seemed like a couple of minutes past and then Mikhail heard a voice over the speakers announcing the trains arrival in Carsdale. He wiped his eye and then yawned, catching on that he had fallen asleep. Standing up, Mikhail lifted his backpack and slung it on his shoulder, before reaching up and getting his duffel bag from the rack above his seat. He held back and waited for the rest of the passengers to exit the train past him before picking up the plastic cage containing his kitten and leaving himself. Mikhail stood on the platform for a couple of minutes, watching the everyone disperse gradually and the train leave the station. Slinging the duffel over his shoulder, he finally set off through the station and out into what he assumed was the town square. It was nothing like what he had expected, it was pretty old fashioned, quiant, generally pretty. It instantly made Mikhail warm to the village more than he had previously done, it was somewhere he could see himself very happily settling into. With a smile now on his face, he walked into the centre of the square to a fountain and sat down on the fountain. He was supposed to meet his elder sister a few minutes ago, but she wasn't there yet. He set Begemot's cage down and took the Motorola RAZR out of his pocket and hit speed dial 3, then waited for his phone to connect. A couple of rings later and he got a reply.
"Hello?" His sisters voice asked.
"Hey sis, how's it going?"
"Mikhail! When did you get here?!"
"A couple of minutes ago, where are you?"
"Oh dorogaya, did you not get my text? I have forest duty today."
"Oh..." Mikhail replied, his happiness a little deflated. His sister hadn't actually seen him since he had aged, and he was weirdly excited to show her fifteen-year-old him. "Well, um, that's okay then. I'll find my own way up to the school and see you later."
"I'm sorry honey, I'll meet you in the common room at seven tonight, kay? Ya lublu tebya, Mik."
"Da, da, ya lublu tebya. Nadeus, skoro uvidimsya."
Mikhail slid his phone shut and put it back in his pocket. With a sigh, he opened Begemot's cage and lifted the kitten out. Setting the cat on his lap, he gently stroked the back of Begemot's head and stared into space. He hoped dearly that any of the shops would have a map or something of Carsdale, he wasn't good at finding things of his own accord. He pecked the kitten on the top of his head before softly promising, "It's okay, Beg, we'll be at the school soon and you'll be done with that nasty cage," and then returning Begemot to his travel home. Standing up, Mikhail lifted his bags and the cage before heading over to what he assumed was a pub. He pushed open the door and walked over to the bar. He was quickly approached by a guy behind the bar. "What can I get you?" He was asked by the cheerful man.
"Oh, uh, orange juice please... Am I okay with the cat in here?" Mikhail asked, worried in case his little friend would have to sit outside while he had a drink. The barman shook his head as he lifted a glass from beneath the counter and put some ice in it. "As long as the cat stays in the cage, it'll be alright. That'll be £1.20, please," he replied, setting the glass of orange juice in front of Mikhail. The teenager promptly handed over a couple of coins and took his drink over to a table, where he once more off-loaded his heavy bags. He took his iPod out of his jeans pocket and shuffled through the songs before finally settling on 'I Got Punched In The Nose For Sticking My Face In Other People's Business'. He took a sip of his orange juice and rested his head back. Mikhail glanced round as the door to the pub opened, but took no real notice of who entered other than it was a teenager before shutting his eyes and relaxing.

[Will Wright]

Will walked through the door of the pub. She hadn't been in here for a while. She had very, very bad memories of being in here with a certain someone. She could almost feel her cheeks burning just from the memory of it. She walked up to the counter and ordered a Rasperry and Peach still water. She drummed her fingers on the counter as she waited and her eyes scanned the room the for an empty table or seat.
Just her luck; none.
There were no free tables or seats for her to be alone. She looked for one that was relatively empty and didn't have some creep looking her up and down. She spotted a boy who had a lot of luggagewith him (including a cat) and he was going through his iPod. Maybe she could ask to join him.
"Here you are. That's 99p please?" he waited for the money.
She never got the whole 'Please' thing because it's like she had the choice of giving the money to him, "Put the change towards charity."
She grabbed the bottle and manouvered her way through the chairs and tables and bags and people before she finally reached the table.
Upon arriving she looked at his face and he looked vaguely familiar in a strange way.
"Excuse me? May I sit here?" she asked but he didn't appear to have heard her so she tapped him lightly on the shoulder and asked again.
"May I sit here with you?"

[Mikhail Dombrovski]

Mikhail was very nearly asleep ater a few seconds of having his eyes closed. The only thing preventing this was the gentle rocking of Begemot's cage as the kitten bounced around trying to escape. Or suffered an ADD attack, he wasn't actually sure of it. Briefly, he heard a voice over the sound of his headphones. It didn't seem to have any real direction to a person so he assumed it was just part of the hum that was already going on in the pub. That was until he felt something on his shoulder and the voice again. Next came the most embarassing moment of Mikhails life. He screamed. Like a girl, at a louder than average pitch. His headphones fell out as he jerked and he reached forward to grab his orage juice to prevent the glass falling from his jerked knee. It took him a second to realise that there was an awkward silence in the pub and a few people were staring at him. His cheeks blazed as he mumbled, "Um, yeah, sure. Go ahead..."
Mikhail wrapped his headphones around his iPod and put them in a pocket of his backpack. He took another sip of his juice and sat up again in his seat. He decided now might be a nice time to be social. The girl sitting with him probably wasn't sitting with him to be social though, and she might be all 'murghmurghmurgh' if he tried to converse with her. "No harm in trying..." He reasoned in his head. "I'm Mikhail, what's your name?" He asked.

[Will Wright]

Will felt embarrassed for him though she was trying quite hard not grin at his misfortune which she had caused him. She sat down on the other stool and opened her bottle and took a sip of the water.
She was about to start up a conversationg but he got to the obvious opening first. "I'm Mikhail, what's your name?"
Mikhail? Mikhail?
Where've I heard that name before?
"I'm Will. Pleasure to meet you. So, decided to join the ranks then? I wonder whose group you'll be in..." His name was starting to bug her now. Where have I heard your name before!?
Her brows furrowed and her concentration face was on.
It was going to bug her for quite some time now.

[Mikhail Dombrovski]

"Nice to meet you too, Will," Mikhail smiled. He was in a comfort zone now, the girl seemed chatty which was more pleasant than he had first anticipated. Part of him hoped a lot of the people at the school would be like that, it would make life easier on him when it came to the social department. "Yeah, it was more of a force than a decision. Major downside of having a sister at the school. I think I'm going to be in the Academics. Apparently it's the most fitting... What group are you in?"
For a second, Mikhail had a thought that Will was odd for a girls name, but then he realised he wasn't exactly in the most normal of places. Besides, his sister had a friend called Will, so it was obviously more common than he thought. "Are you German?" He suddenly blurted out. There was a distinct kick of her accent that he thought was German. He kind of liked it. Actually, he liked Germany as a whole, but that was besides the point.

[Will Wright]

Most fitting, huh?
"Hahaha, You're under Macey Deltine then. I'm not in a group as such. I'm the Head of the Carers. Will Wright. Yes, I am German and I take it you're from Russia....OH!! OH, you're Tamika's little brother aren't you!?" now she remembered.
Tammy had brought up in one of their conversations they had when on the same shifts that her little brother would be coming to the school, "Sorry, she's not here to meet you, I didn't know when you'd be coming so I gave her the afternoon shift today. Sorry," Will relaxed further more now that she was pretty sure she knew who he was. Then something he had said got to her.
"Force? Tammy, surely didn't force you to come here?" she frowned slightly.

[Mikhail Dombrovski]

"You're a head? That's so awesome. How'd you manage to get that position?" He asked. That was a pretty cool deal, he didn't realise that students could be heads of groups. Mikhail felt kind of weird that Will already knew who he was. He wondered if she knew about his... 'change' too. He hoped Tamika hadn't told people that, but wasn't really sure. He knew the two girls were like, BFF. "Yeah, I'm the little bro. It's alright, probably better I get setlled and everything before I meet her tonight."
Mikhail raised an eyebrow when Will suggested that Tamika forced him to come to the school. He wondered what on earth would have given that impression. "No, no. My mother wanted me to come here, and my grandmother. They didn't think it was best for me to stay at home after... The aging..." Mikhail explained. He was going under the assumption now that Will was aware he was four-years-old a few months ago.
"So what gifts do you have?" He asked. It was a good conversation question at a school like this, right?

[Will Wright]

"I have no idea. I was just appointed the position...I'm not sure how it works to be honest. And I have to say, it's not the best...there's so much work involved for all of us but we've managed with the help of everyone in our groups, friends and with the teachers help so it's good." she stayed quiet for a few minutes while Mikhail told her about why he was here and asked what powers she had...as did everyone who came here.
"Aging? What do you mean by that?" she asked curiously before answering his question, "I have Molecular Combustion, Premonitions, Pyschokenisis and and Pyrokenisis or if you want to go with Fire power where I can create and control fire then that does it to, haha," she smiled and took another sip, "So instead of asking it again I shall go with, the same question,"

[Mikhail Dombrovski]

Mikhail listened politely and with interest as Will explained a little about her role as head. He wondered to himself if the school had made a good decision appointing students as leaders, what with all the added stress of the job, but didn't dwell on it for very long. He did made a mental note to read up about the groups though, especially now he had this new snippet of information. May as well do something worth while when he had free time.
Govno... He thought to himself. Well, that was what he got for assuming. Showed what he thought of his sister as well and her big mouth. Oh the joy of siblings. "Yeah, like seven months ago I was only five. Some freaky family aging shît..." Mikhail told her. He was quiet once more to listen as Will explained what powers she held. He felt jealous pretty much straightaway. She had uber awesome powers, he didn't. Life was a bîtch. "I have the Shining like Tam. The aging thing was one of the gifts as well apparently, which kind of sucks. Oh, and I have an eidetic memory. Yeah, nothing really exciting..."

[Will Wright]

Will stared at him with a blank face. He was only five years old, seven months ago? Wow..and girls thought they were aging to quickly.
"I have the Shining like Tam. The aging thing was one of the gifts as well apparently, which kind of sucks. Oh, and I have an eidetic memory. Yeah, nothing really exciting..." Will just nodded in response and then she realixed she didn't understand the last power of his.
"Eidetic memory? What's that?"
She knew some powers but it really wasn't her strong point, at least not the powers that resided in the human side of things.

[Mikhail Dombrovski]

"Anything I read I can remember perfectly, word for word. And any pictures I see. That's why Academics was a fitting group for me. It's really frickin' crappy though, especially when you see or read something that just needs to be banished from memory..." Mikhail joked, although that was a downside of it. Bad, bad times with google...
Mikhail stared into his orange juice for a few seconds before taking a sip of it. He was pretty bad at coming up with conversation when it was unexpected. "So, um... How long have you been at the school? What's the school like anyway? I never actually heard anything except it was old and full of gifted people and I had travel to go there..." It was a pretty rude way of getting it brought upon him. One minute, he was online looking for a pair of jeans, the next his laptop was pushed out of the way and a plane ticket was thrust in his face.

[Will Wright]

"So, um... How long have you been at the school? What's the school like anyway? I never actually heard anything except it was old and full of gifted people and I had travel to go there..." he trailed off.
Will gave a small smile, "A little over two years." pause, "The school is, well, old and full of gifted people as you heard. It's the best d**n school anyone could go to leaving aside the on-going war and it's filled with ghosts and has a lot of history to it which i'm not going to get into otherwise we'd be here till the end of the year and probably into next year to and yes, if you don't live near the vacinity of it, it's quite a pain to get to." she finished and took another sip of water. Her throat was so dry...
"So, what's your feline called?"

[Mikhail Dombrovski]

Mikhail's face dropped as Will spoke. She just informed him of an aspect of the school that he had no idea whatsoever about. "War...?" He squeaked. What on earth did she mean by that? If it was an uber serious thing why was the school still going? On a less important note, why didn't his sister inform him of this fact? "Like, a real war? With death and nukes and plotting?" His eyes flickered around him to the rest of the pubs occupants. Were they aware of this and just turning a blind eye? Hell, who did the school even have to go to war with. Well, at least I have something to think about tonight... Mikhail thought sarcastically.
He wasn't still quite over the thought as he answered Will's next question. "He's called Begemot. Much to my mothers dislike. She doesn't think that I should have called him what translated to 'Hippopotamus', but I thought it was a cute name... Have you got any pets?"

[Will Wright]

Will laughed.
That was a good name for a cat. A good name for any animal is to name it after another one. So the strange sense of humour that lay with her best friend was also with her baby brother. Runs in the family I guess.
"Yes. I have a Chinese Firefox called Terrio and a Theastrel called Coashea. Terrico's usually around me but he's been away of late and Coashea...well, she's hiding somewhere waiting for some word from me to come out," she smiled grimly and nodded.
Truth be told, she actually hadn't seen either of them for nearly four months now. She was starting to get very anxious. If something had happened to either of the-
Stop worrying about us Will. We're both perfectly healthy.
"Terrico?" she said loudly and looked around as though she was expecting him to be sitting behind her. It was not to be.
I'm telepathic. Remember?[/color]
Yeah, sorry...
She looked up at Mikhail and gave him an awkward and embarrassed smile, "Sorry. Terrico's telepathic and decided to send me a message via said power to me just there. I wasn't expecting it to be that clear."

[Mikhail Dombrovski]

Mikhail blinked a couple of times, and was silent as he searched through all the data in his young mind, wondering what on earth a Theastrel was. It sounded like a bird of some breed, but then he had no idea what weird and wonderful new breeds of animals he could be introduced to at the school that had names like that. Deciding it would do no good for his minds ego to hazard a guess - he was rather proud when it came to knowledge and wasn't fond of being told he was wrong - and so decided to ask Will what her pet was. "What's a Theastrel?" He asked, then unleashed the excitement that had been held back about her Firefox in favor of thinking. "Ohmigosh, a Firefox?! That's so awesome! What does it look like? I've never seen one in person before. I've seen a Mandarin duck, which is of course completely unrelated. It's from the same area though! It was my pet for a while when I was about three, then my mother decided it was too much of a hassle, so she gave it to some farmer from the countryside..." Mikhail blushed a little. It kind of occured to him how he had been going off on little rambles with Will, and he didn't want to come across as ADHD or something...
With the next part of their conversation, he was trying to be a little calmer in his question asking. "Telepathic pet? Waow, that's cool. Does he speak english? Or german? Or chinese? Can he speak to you aloud in person or does he make fox noises and speak to you only telepathically? I'd love to be telepathic... Although, technically I am I guess with the Shining. Very restrictive though. Are you telepathic with Coashea too?" Well, Mikhail officially failed in his attempt to be more normal. He really felt paranoid now, he didn't want to put his new friend off. All the flight attendants had gotten annoyed with him on the plane because he was chattering and asking so many questions. They could only get him to be quiet by letting him read a manual from the cockpit. He now knew how to fix most of the flight equipment and control dangerous situations, but had a little dent in his chattering confidence. "I'm really sorry if I'm talking too much. Just over excitable I guess... What other classes does the school have? Aside from the obvious power control classes?"