Phobia - IC

“No, no, no worries,” Rikst assured Tessa. “Happens to me all the time. Saying more than I mean to, that is. But I’m sure it won’t be so bad – although, this is high school,” she added, making a face. And case in point, she thought guiltily, because as much as she was trying to be comforting to Tessa, the last part probably had the opposite effect. Happy to change the subject, she turned to the questions her roommate asked.


“For me, it took an insufferably long flight over from Europe,” she answered, cringing a little at the memory of pre-, intra- and post-flight panic. Though now that it had been a few hours, she also felt a little pride at having pushed through it.


“I’m looking forward to the classes and getting to know everyone, but mostly to see what kind of amazing miracle treatment they supposedly have here. It’s–” She was cut off by the announcement over the intercom. She looked up and then back at Tessa.


“We better go to that, do you know which way we have to go?” She leaned forward and started to get up from her bed, slowly and steadying herself on the edge of it.


@Scheani
 
Blinking in surprise at the sheer thought of the distance that the girl had to have traveled to join this school, Tessa shook her head in awe. "Oh, thats amazing." She exclaimed. "I could never do that myself but the idea that anyone really could go through that and still be so-- Okay is appalling. My cousin had nearly become an insomniac when she returned from a modeling expedition in Romania." 


Hearing the announcement as well Tessa wracked her brain a sheen of panic crossing her mind but rather than an answer to the girls question she pulled up blank. "Oh-- I'm so sorry. I don't know." Wringing her hands nervously she glanced towards the door also moving to stand at the door, "B-but we can-- We can ask around?" Her hopeful expression burning behind the sheen of fear that glazed her eyes.


 


I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm horrible. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.


@Iskander
 
 Eli shook his head, chuckling. "I think that finding a counselor should be our first prority then." He smiled a little. "At least you said 'please'. It's Eli. Short for Elliot. You?"  


@MuffinRPs
 
"Beau, short for beautiful,"he flipped his hair and smirked. He was flirtatious when he wanted to be, "Finding a counsellor is for losers; finding our own way is better," He ran ahead a little, smiling.
 
“Well, I may look okay now,” Rikst laughed a little, “but me and my parents stayed in a hotel for a night so I managed to get some sleep. In a few hours I’ll probably turn into a zombie again.” She walked to the door and glanced into the hallway. Looking back at Tessa, she could tell her roommate was getting nervous. A little unsure what to do, Rikst tried to sound comforting. “That’s okay, I’m sure we can find someone to point us in the right direction.”


She stepped out of the room to see a handful of other students already making their way out of the dorm wing. “Or we can follow everyone else,” she added. At the other end of the hall she could see a woman pointing students towards, presumably, the cafeteria. She glanced at Tessa, to make sure she was coming and set out towards the dorm building’s exit.


@Scheani
 
Eli grinned at that. "Well, if we're going to get lost, can we at least be lost and outside? I don't really feel like walking through crowded hallways, or a crowded library, or a crowded whatever unless I really have to." He didn't explain himself further, tilting his head back to look up at the main building as they neared it. "I'm sure almost everyone will be going inside to look for counselors, so going around the school the long way will be different than what everyone else is doing." He glanced meaningfully at Beau. He was manipulating him, or trying to. He was also fully aware of this, but had no regrets. He'd feel bad about it later, when he wasn't facing death by touch.


@MuffinRPs
 
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Nodding slowly in response to the Rikst's suggestions Tes pulled herself together before straightening her attire and grabbing her 'stylish' chain that held the aged key on the dip. Finishing straightening herself in a few short moments the blonde closed their door firmly before slipping the key into the keyhole to feel comforted that her things as well as her roommates things would be safely protected behind the somewhat obnoxiously creaky door.


Dropping the long chain down her shirt Tessa glanced up in time to see Rikst glancing back at her, anxious to not take too long she adjusted the 'Love bracelet' that unlike others of its kind was about 1 1/2 inches wide titanium secured by a lock that was also titanium. Though loose it had been stuck on her since her eleventh birthday when her mother said it was a gift from her-- you guessed it. Grandmother. She usually wore it with a few others but decided against it the ovular bangle was bad enough. Turning swiftly Tessa moved to join Rikst a smile once again on her lips.


@Iskander
 
Eli grinned at that. "Well, if we're going to get lost, can we at least be lost and outside? I don't really feel like walking through crowded hallways, or a crowded library, or a crowded whatever unless I really have to." He didn't explain himself further, tilting his head back to look up at the main building as they neared it. "I'm sure almost everyone will be going inside to look for counselors, so going around the school the long way will be different than what everyone else is doing." He glanced meaningfully at Beau. He was manipulating him, or trying to. He was also fully aware of this, but had no regrets. He'd feel bad about it later, when he wasn't facing death by touch.


@MuffinRPs

Beau clenched his fists, "W-Whatever suits both of our needs." He stuttered. He hated it when he stuttered. It made him seem afraid which he shouldn't. There was nothing to be afraid of. He didn't have this phobia. They just wanted to contain him with a bunch of psychos; but there was one problem about this theory. Eli seemed like an okay guy. He bit his lip and decided the best thing to do was to stop thinking and keep walking.
 
Eli's grin vanished the longer he looked at Beau, and he frowned. "Yeah..." He rubbed the back of his head, circling the main building instead of going inside. He sighed deeply, staring down at the ground. Beau's stuttering made him feel bad and well, he did deserve it for doing that "Look, sorry. I won't do that again. I was just thinking of myself more than you and being selfish and-" He shook his head. "It just wasn't right." He tilted his head away to look at their surroundings. "You think they're going to be doing some kind of group tour thing in the cafeteria? I mean a more advanced on than the one done at orientation." 
 
Beau shrugged, "The other kids can do what they want. I don't really care as long as I continue along the path of awesomeness." He moved his hair out of his face and clicked his fingers.
 
"Ah," Eli said, though he wasn't sure how to continue the conversation from there. He stopped next to a building at random, making a big show of looking around. "Yep, this was a bad idea," He looked at Beau, smiling. "If I keep leading us, we'll just end up back where we started, or worse, in town. So how about you pick a way to go, and save us both from dying of starvation, or dehydration, or sore feet?"
 
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Beau sighed. Eli was too cute to deny, "Let's go...left." he walked onwards and followed his instincts which were great considering how he was more brute force than study and wisdom.
 
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Stepping outside took some mental effort. For a moment Rikst felt the rising anxiety in her stomach, but she made her best effort to suppress it in front of Tessa and anyone else who was around. She took a deep breath in an attempt to clear her head of images of what could happen – loose stones would trip her up, she’d break an arm, or worse. She managed not to look scared, she thought at least, although she was walking a little slower now, careful to keep every movement safe and under control. She kept her eyes on the ground in front of her, while still trying to look around and take in her new surroundings. Glancing quickly to the left, she could see the students start to trickle to the main building from the boys’ dorm. One rather stood out with his bright hair.


Rikst felt an immediate surge of relief once they reached the academy building, glad to be among walls and furniture again. Of course they brought different ways of hurting yourself, but they also gave more opportunities to grab onto something. Now, the smaller need for concentration combined with the lingering anxiety brought up her tendency to rattle.


“So I saw your violin, do you play?” she asked Tessa. “I mean, of course you do, ‘cause you have one. Or maybe it’s just for decoration, I don’t know, I’m not judging.” At the point where they reached the cafeteria, she couldn’t grab a chair and sit down quick enough. “Up until a few years ago I played guitar, but I kind of lost interest, you know how it is sometimes. Anyway, if you need to practice in our room I don’t mind.” She noticed that her hands were shaking slightly. She pulled her hands under the table and instead focused on the sounds of people talking around her, and stopping to talk for two seconds to let Tessa chime in.


@Scheani
 
Keeping the slow pace with Rikst, Tessa gazed around the grounds, her expression almost dreamy as the somewhat crisp country air bit at her lungs. The almost inaudible chime of her bracelets lock filling the air around her with the metallic chimes, distracting her from the small conversations that she could swear were about her-- She must be doing something wrong, yes, thats it she is all wrong. She needs to be more polite-- no more alternative, mature


As the avalanche of mental inconsistency's raged about her head, Tessa bit her lip as the scenery changed yet again. From the outside the building looked far smaller-- taken as she had grown accustomed to large buildings with even more spacious rooms than what she had just stepped into. From first glance the furniture and finishes on the inside where rather impressive, so much so that Tes had to blink a few times before she could focus on what her newest friend was saying. 


Pressing her lips as she waited for a pause so as she could answer the questions being tossed her way Tessa continued to wear a friendly smile, "Yes, I play the violin as well as many other instruments-- I just happen to find it simpler than that of a piano when it comes to transportation and cleaner that a saxophone when it comes to putting it away." 


Pulling a chair for herself as well she wrung her hands glancing around a bit before straightening her posture to that of a 'queen' before continuing on, "The art of music is something I use often when I have high stress, or low concentration. Its something I use to calm and heighten myself-- If that makes any sense.." Paling a bit at the way she had begun to ramble she pressed her lips again in hopes she could still hold a conversation with the girl.


@Iskander
 
Rikst sat up a little straighter in her chair, feeling slightly self-conscious about her own slouch in comparison to Tessa’s prim posture. While she was still fidgeting with her hands in an attempt to forget her previous unease, her eyebrows shot up at the list of instruments Tessa mentioned. “Wow, and you play even more? How do you find the time to practice? That must take a lot of dedication.”


She hesitated briefly at the way Tessa paled the next moment, but then, strangely, relaxed a little. The way Tessa had cut off her own sentence seemed relatable, reflecting her own hesitance from just a second ago, which made her lose some of her own uncertainty. Sitting back, she thought about Tessa’s words for a moment. Truth be told, she had never been the philosophical type, so she couldn’t say she recognized the way Tessa felt about music. “To be honest, I’ve never put that much thought into it,” she said thoughtfully. “But I can see where you’re coming from,” she added quickly.


@Scheani
 
The moments pause between the last two sentences had Tessa screaming on the inside, before the screaming dimmed to casual droning mumbles that cluttered the back of her mind. "Practice? Oh I had been home schooled after the third grade, my--" She paused before continuing, "My grandmother passed away when I was in the second grade and I always felt that she was.. Haunting me." Glancing repetitively over her roommates shoulder she began fidgeting a bit more her knuckles turning white as she fought mental constrictions that jarred her brain.


Shaking her head with her jaw clenched she let out a breath, "So once I was home schooled any time that was 'free time' was used to do something productive. Languages, extra courses, instruments, athletics.." With a stiff nod she added, "I learned it all." Her voice was anything but proud or sad, rather empty and when mentioning her grandmother hiding a hint of darkness and underlying fear.


@Iskander
 
Seeing as how he was trusting Beau with his life, and, well, his feet, Eli followed after him without protest, even though he wasn't so sure about this whole 'left' suggestion. He glanced around, trying to find a landmark of some sort, but everything only looked vaguely familiar to him. He sighed, exasperated with himself. Maybe he should have just ignored Beau earlier, and found a way to force him to look for a counselor. Eli would even settle with a box of maps strategically planted somewhere by the faculty. It was almost immediate irony when Eli looked up, and saw a sign in front of one of the nondescript looking buildings. It was an arrow that someone had taken colored markers to, and it pointed towards the 'cafeteria', written in all caps, with each letter being a different color. Eli felt like the world was mocking him, just a little.





 





"Starting now, you're in charge of directions," Eli looked at Beau. "I don't care if what we're doing doesn't have anything to do with directions, or if we have a map. From this moment on, you decide where we go." He pushed open the double doors, but stopped just inside. It was already almost full. Eli quickly moved away from the doors, since it was the quickest way for accidental contact to happen by someone bumping into him from behind. He started towards a table in a corner of the room, and then remembering Beau, and wondered if the table would somehow be 'too normal' for him. He decided just to ask. "Hey, which table should we sit at?"





 





 
@MuffinRPs 
 
Beau walked with Eli into the cafeteria. There were hardly any tables left but he knew another solution, "It's simple yet effective. Over turn two empty trash cans and there," he spoke whilst doing just that. He pushed it up against the wall and sat down, leaning against it, "It's not like we have a dirt phobia or anything," 
 
Eli made a face at him, but Beau had already walked away. Sure, he didn't have a dirt or phobia, but looking at Beau sitting on a dirty, grimy trash can that had been there for who-knows-how-long made him feel like he might develop one quickly. He sighed deeply and walked over, nudging the other trashcan against the wall. "I don't know about the 'effective' part." He made air quotes, suddenly questioning why he had given Beau the power to chose where to sit.



The room slowly quieted as everyone turned their attention to the front, where a boy in the school's uniform was standing on top of an empty table. He looked around the room with a friendly smile, specifically eyeing the freshmen. He clapped once when the room was completely silent. "Okay! Hey there! Some of you know me-" A few cheers went up around the room, and the boy chuckled. "-Most of you don't. I'm Mark, and I'd like to officially welcome all the new students to Sibyl Academy!"





 





The cheering started up again, even the faculty and staff joining in to clap. "I'm a senior, and head of the welcoming committee for freshman, and new students!" He clapped again. "In two hours, there will be a-" He paused to eye a few of the teachers lurking around. "-Ah, 'get together' behind the school! This is the only time for the rest of this year that you'll be allowed anywhere near the forest out back, so I would take advantage of it if I were you." He smiled. "If anyone has any questions, now's the time to ask either me, or well, them." He gestured towards the faculty at the back of the room. "By the way, if you were expecting this to be another tour of the school, then I'm sorry to disappoint you! Only students who missed orientation will be taken on another tour. Anyway, the lunch lines are open, and I hope you guys have a great year!" Mark hopped off the table, but stayed near it, looking around for anyone with questions. 


@MuffinRPs
 
Aiya gave a start at the sudden announcement for lunch. Taking her phone back from her roommate, she walked back to her side of the room to gather her things. "We should probably head there," she suggested before pocketing her iPod and keys. Adjusting the scarf around her neck, she gave a small nod to the other girl before stepping out of the room.


Letting her feet carry her through the crowd, Aiya reached the cafeteria without incident. Heading directly to a corner of the lunch hall, she gave one ear to the senior's speech while scanning the room. There were more students than she had expected. The majority of them looked normal enough though she knew that all of them were afflicted by one case or another. After all, they wouldn't be here if they weren't.


There was the sound of trash bins being overturned not far from her and Aiya turned to see two boys turning the bins into makeshift seats. Raising an eyebrow at the scene, she gave a small shrug and simply leaned against the wall, waiting for the lunch lines to whittle.


@S n o w@MuffinRPs
 
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At the mention of Tessa’s grandmother Rikst was silent for a moment. It was a long time ago, but she felt like she should say something. “I’m sorry,” she said, a little uncertain about what Tessa had meant by ‘haunting me’. She was afraid to ask. However, she perked up at the mention of languages, glad to find something she had in common with her roommate. “Which languages did you learn?” she asked, leaning forward on the table. “I’m a bit of a language geek myself, actually. Though I don’t speak any fluently, aside from my native language and, you know, this one,” she added sheepishly.


She glanced to the side when two boys not too far away took a seat on their improvised furniture. She really hoped those trash cans had been empty. Soon her attention was pulled toward the front of the room, to the senior standing on one of the tables. Rikst winced internally at how easy it would be to lose your balance and slip off it. During his announcement, Rikst looked over to the faculty members, tried to memorize some of their faces. After Mentally taking note of the time of the ‘get together’, she turned back to Tessa. “You wanna go get lunch?” she suggested.


@Scheani
 
Beau shrugged at Eli's comment. He listened in to a senior called Mark speak, "Get together? Ugh! Pass. Rather order Thai food and stay in." He rocked back and forth on the trash can and hummed to himself.
 
Shaking off the remaining feeling of discontent, Tessa followed Rikst's gaze to the boys on trashcans humor lighting her gaze once again before turning back to face her. "I would love to get lunch." Tes stated happily pulling herself to a standing position, "As for languages, I learned a bit of German, Spanish, Russian, Romanian, Greek, and a few older native languages from across the globe." Thinking back she shook her head a bit at the sheer amount before glancing back at her friend, "What other languages did you touch in?"

 
Eli chuckled nervously when he noticed all the attention they were getting. "It looks like we have a lot of fans," He joked, looking back at Beau. "Maybe they wish they were cool enough to sit on trashcans like us." He smiled, but it turned into a frown almost immediately when his words registered. "Aw, common Beau! You don't want to see if all the rumors are true?" He lowered his voice dramatically, almost conspiratorially. "There might be ghosts. Oooo~" He waved his arms towards Beau spookily, not caring how ridiculous he probably looked.





 





@MuffinRPs 
 
Beau took a big breath, "Being cool is stupid. You gotta keep up a status of being perfect and it's a waste of time. I'm not cool. I will never be cool so I ain't tryin'." He moved his body away from Eli's arms, "I don't care about ghosts. If they exist, they exist; if they don't, they don't. Simple...And you being hot as fuck ain't gonna change anything." Beau was never afraid about what he had to say and he didn't really care either.
 

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