Elek knocked at the door, even though he knew that no one was inside. It's a bit of a habit, and so he just opens the door, making a mental note to try to break that door-knocking habit.
The place was... alright. Had a fair amount of technology, but Elek was never the one who cared. There were a couple of house plants on the other wall, besides the window, and he noticed that they were real plants and not those plastic fakes. Good, that means he has some dirt to work with if there's ever an emergency and that he won't need to carry a jar of sand around him like... what was that anime character again? Oh yes, Gaara. It annoyed him that he had some trouble remembering something, but disregarded it since it was something he really didn't care much about.
He scans through all the rooms through his X-ray vision; a decent bathroom, two bedrooms with two beds each. Elek would prefer separate bedrooms for everyone, who knows if someone would try to look through his stuff?
Elek puts his stuff, unpacked, on the bedroom with the (slightly) larger window and lays down on the couch. He makes a small layer of dirt on one of the house plants levitates and swing around while wondering who his roommates would be. He hopes there would be at least two girls, considering that the dorms are co-ed, but actually doesn't care that much. So long as he doesn't end up with someone who pisses him off, he's fine.
In truth, the Dutchman was rather looking forward to getting it all over with. He could finish up school, and do some good in the world and--right, like that would happen. He wasn't excited, he was just glad it was coming to an end. Who really liked highschool anyways?
He had a duffle bag full of things hoisted over his shoulder, and he was sort of wondering what his roommates would be like. Whoever they were, he was expecting they wouldn't bother him at all, just as the three dorms he'd been placed in to over the years. He didn't like to talk, and before his roommates were often too afraid to speak with him, so it had worked out pretty well. This year, hopefully it would be about the same thing.
Entering the dorm room, he was already raising an eyebrow. For some reason, there was dirt flying around in the air, and that just... was not normal. He raised an eyebrow before noticing the brunette on the couch, realizing that he must be the source of it.
"Hoi." He briskly greeted him. "What room did you take? I take it no one else has been around yet."
This was the only interaction he'd really need with someone else.
The sudden, unexpected introduction surprised Elek and the dirt almost dropped on his face. He manages to catch most of it, though there was a bit on the carpet. Eh, it's not much. He moves the dirt back to the pot with a command of his finger. Elek sits up straight and blows his side bangs from his face.
"Oh, hey there," he smiles, "Yeah, I took the one on the far right." He thinks he sees a current of electricity jump from one hair spike to another. It was... weird, but pretty cool at the same time, "Do you have electricity powers or something? Seems pretty cool."
The guy looked as if he didn't want to talk at all. Perhaps he was a senior, or just didn't care about school and wanted to act all cool. Well, there was a bit of an arrogant air to him, but not enough for Elek to really care. The guy probably wasn't that fun anyway, but there were still two roommates to go.
Post by stomachpains on Jan 17, 2011 18:48:39 GMT -5
[[ OOC: The lat two paragraphs are respondable... I tend to ramble guys, I'm sorry.]]
Airplanes are fantastic; notably the lesson of the day. Sure, airplane rides were almost second nature by now, the was still such agreed thrilled. From the moment the captain would announce that it's time to take off, announcing to shut off all electronics, making sure that everyone was seated, to moment where they were speeding down the runway, racing for the sky, to the graceful and majestic ascension into the sky. They was truly nothing more breathtaking than being able to look out onto the vast world beneath, to see rolling plains, majestic mountains, sparkling seas, in cities all lit up like a birthday cake, waiting for the dreary breath gone to blowout the lights; what a treat for the eyes! What a thrill for the soul! How lucky were they, the human race in general, that they could see such amazing sights… How lucky were they, who do not need to use an airplane to see these things. How lucky were those who could fly!
Yes, they were blessed, they were among the lucky ones, the special ones, the heroes… They probably wouldn't marvel over this; they were probably used to this. To a certain extent, he was too… But he only took an airplane when he was traveling, he only got to see these things when he needed to move… That wasn't very fair… But then again life wasn't fair; there were some people who had no powers at all. That wasn't fair for them, so why complain about not having a certain power when you already have one… And in a way, no power was better than another; it was all about the user, wasn't it? If one person had speed, and the other strength, the only thing that would make them better or worse would be how they used it, and how well. Or maybe that's just sidekick's point of view.
It's almost sad when these are students thoughts on his first day to school. Such happy optimistic thoughts, turned gray and dismal and worrisome; and yet such was normal. It was, in a way, Toris' way of getting his mind off of things. He would talk to himself, or just think about things, because he thought you could do when you didn't know anyone. But as roommates were for! And Toris was looking forward to his roommates. Something told him that he was in for an interesting year, so he came to his room and have already people inside something inside him leapt. Be it joy or nerves, Toris felt his heart lurch. A small, humble hand-me-down bag on his back, holding only clothing, books (especially dictionaries), and toiletries, Toris was traveling light. And from what he could tell, he was the only one; everyone else seemed to have brought their entire life with them. Perhaps these items were Toris' life.
A surge of shyness came over the normally personable Toris; the young man in this room were his roommates? The were so… Confident… They exuded confidence. And he was little meek Toris, who could barely speak English, let alone speak to people with ease. So rather than say anything, Toris snaked his way around the taller man – not that he towered over him, but he was still very tall–and silently made his way to place to put his bag down.
"L-Labas…" Toris managed to mutter, but that was about it…
As much as he probably shouldn't have, the Dutchman did give a small chuckle as he realized he seemingly made the other teen lose focus on his powers. All he knew that he wasn't going to be the one to clean that up, unless... Actually, he probably would if the brunette wouldn't, he couldn't stand living in a messy place.
It was then that he noticed the potted plants around the room, and his lips twitched in to a small smile. He didn't know if they were just the other roommate's doing, but he really was one to enjoy gardening. At the moment, he was figuring that the other teen's powers were probably something to do with psychokinesis.
"The one on the far right?"
His own powers were much more obvious, it seemed. Not many people paid that close of attention to his hair, but if they did, it was rather clear that it wasn't being held up by a ton of product like most suspected it was. He snapped out of his small smile, looking back to the other boy and giving a nod.
"Ja. Electricity manipulation. It's okay." It was pretty cool as the other had said, but he wasn't going to stroke his own ego yet. "Telekinesis?"
Willem just noticed then that there was another person in the room. Another brunette, since this place seemed full of them, and he looked a bit of a pushover. It was painfully obvious that either he was a sidekick or one of those heroes who seemed unimportant until the situation called for it and the turned into a giant pile of maneating rocks... But Willem would bet his money on the first. The other had sneaked around him, saying something, but the young man really couldn't catch what was said.
"La-what? Did you say something?"
Practically barking his question at the other, he briskly walked ahead of him anyways. Surveying the other rooms, he threw his duffle bag on to the bed of one of them. Their wasn't much of a difference between the rooms anyways, and he figured that whatever room he ended up stuck in, as long as it was a place to put his head down at night it'd be fine. He crossed his arms, standing outside of the door. Leaning against the wall, he waited to see if there'd be any more conversation or if he could get to unpacking his things.
"Hm? No, I have Earth Manipulation. Though, telekinesis would be nice." Elek wasn't surprised by the newcomer, since he saw the other walk in shyly through the hallway. It was weird how he was traveling so light, maybe the guy just didn't need to bring their whole life like some others do.
"Hey there!" he waves to the new guy,"Labas, Kaip... jūsų vardas?" Elek's pretty sure he messed up in the pronunciation, seeing how most phrasebooks failed at that (he was looking through a couple when he was bored on the plane.) Did the new guy speak English? Elek was pretty sure that's a requirement, because if it wasn't, communication would be pretty hard, "That's how you say it, right? I don't know Lithuanian, besides a couple of phrases. Sorry."
He noticed the blond guy throw the duffle bag onto one of the beds. Elek wants to look through it. But no, not now. The others might notice and then things would just get awkward. Ugh, he hated awkwardness. Second worst feeling in the world (next to boredom.) He taps his foot on the ground a couple times. It's carpet, and probably wood under that. That sucks, he wanted to make an underground base.
Reggie was kind of excited to be here, in a way. Of course he missed his home in Jamaica. His mother and his father and his aunt. But it was a new school year and he was back with friends. Allie had already texted him for a deal and he would be meeting his roomates for the year. He hoped they were chill and wouldn't tattle that he had a plant growing in his closet. Other than that he really didn't care. He could get along with just about anyone. And if they were too much to deal with well...there was always his old friend Mary Jane to chill him out.
So he stumbled through the door with his unweildy plant in his hands, backpack slung over one shoulder, and suitcase strap biting into his arm. He could barely see through the leaves of the plant tickling his face, but what he could see was kind of...not cool?
His roommates seemed alright, that is, but they were just kind of standing around awkwardly. He immediately gave in to the urge to break the ice. He grinned widely and set down his plant and bags and grabbed their hands each in turn, shaking them. "Reginald Graham. Call me Reggie. Nive to meet you, man." He said, Jamaican accent still thick after years in the school.
Post by stomachpains on Jan 18, 2011 18:31:13 GMT -5
There wasn't much shock in the taller man's response. Toris had a feeling that he would be brash from the get-go, there was just something about him that gave him that thought. Toris could be a good judge of character at times... Even so, though, he jumped slightly when the man barked at him. He was just saying hello... it wasn't that difficult to figure out... Toris sighed, keeping his wits about him. That was one thing he'd always be good at, staying calm. If only THAT was a super power... Rather than giving Toris the chance to respond, though, the larger man turned and entered a room. From the sound of it, he had tossed his duffle bag onto a bed. Hopefully he would be able to get a different room from the man; he didn't seem the friendliest in the world, nor the most patient, and for a young man who had difficulty learning the English language, he would need someone with some modicum of tolerance. As it stood, this person did seem to have that... Similarly though, Toris couldn't help but assume that he was perhaps a little stressed about moving in. Everyone had good inside them, this man was no different... right?
However, joy of joys, he heard familiar words. The accent was heavily... not Lithuanian... more south than that... not Polish, perhaps it was Austrian? Perhaps Hungarian... Either way, he understood what was being said. "Eh, Taip-- yes... Ze pronouncing is, eh, how to say... all wet. B-but, taip, mano-- my name, eh, Toris Lorinaitis..." Toris said, a pleasant smile on his face, a light shade of red on his face. He was...flustered to say the least. Here was someone who knew his language, or at least enough of it, AND English... and the only knowledge he had was... of languages that were not helpful to him here... Unless anyone in the room spoke Polish, Russian, French or German... "Vh-vhat is... your name?" Toris asked. Was it obvious of his difficulties yet? At least with many English speaking people around him now, he could learn a little more easily; hearing a language in use was one of the best ways to learn, he had read in a magazine in Moscow. If that was true, he'd be a master of English in no time...
Then, all of a sudden, a huge plant appeared in the room. Now THIS would prove to be very interesting... It was such an interesting plant, that was certain, unlike anything that Toris had ever seen; being an avid gardener, he had knowledge of a lot of different flora... Before Toris could manage to say anything, though, the man grabbed his hand, shaking it vigorously. "H-hallo, R-Reggie. Are you not, aha, a live-vire..."[/color] Toris said, shaken by his personality, but endeared at the same time. "T-Toris Lorinaitis... I am... apology to you all. I am not good speaker in the English."[/color] Might as well get that out in the open...[/size]
Last Edit: Jan 19, 2011 19:16:54 GMT -5 by stomachpains
Elek was rarely ever surprised and amused at the same time. The odd plant that came with the new roommate (another guy, that sucks) did raise an eyebrow. He hadn't been looking through the wall since he was trying to say a phrase in Lithuanian, a language he thought he never needed to use.
He glanced at the brunette and heard him stutter as he spoke to the even newer person. Poor guy, he seemed to be the only one without that much fluency in English. Elek remembers a lot of embarrassing moments he had when he was learning English, though it wasn't nearly as much as his bad moments with German. Apparently the dialect spoken in western Hungary was pretty different from standard German which led to a lot of problems when he once traveled to Berlin.
He wonders if the guy... Toris, that was his name, knew any other language. People in small countries tend to be multilingual. Elek just hoped it wasn't something like Russian or Polish, since he doubted anyone in the room could speak those.
"Hey man, the name's Elek Héderváry," He smiled at the newest person and shook hands firmly. The guy's accent was thick when he offered to shake hands. What was it... Jamaican? "Nice plant you got there, where's it from?"
It was amusing how this dorm room seemed to have a lot of plants compared to the other rooms. Good. He hated it when everything felt all artificial and man-made.
For a moment, Willem was glad that it seemed like perhaps the earth manipulating brunette seemed to know whatever the hell language the new kid was speaking. He raised an eyebrow when Lithuanian was mentioned. Wasn't that some tiny country up near Russia? The kid did look pretty meek, though, it was believable.
He looked like he'd been oppressed for the last--fourteen? fifteen?--years. If he didn't know English well, at least it meant he couldn't bother Willem much, and that was what was important to him.
He listened to the new brunette stutter through introducing himself and more... what was it again, Lithuanian? Well, they could get along like two peas in a pod then, that would be fine.
The Dutchman was ready to head back in to his room to unpack when their final roommate made his entrance.
That was certainly something to behold, the leafy foliage crawling up near his face even. Willem watched him set the plant down, and when the other teen reached him, he half reluctantly shook his hand back. Reggie, huh? Well, Reggie just made this school year very interesting it looked like...
Willem almost wanted to comment when the Lithuanian explained he wasn't good at speaking English. A simple and sarcastic 'no, really?' was at the tip of his tongue, but he held back.
"Since everyone has introduced themselves, my name's Willem Jansen."
There was one thing he couldn't hold back on though.
"Call me Will though and we'll have a problem."
That was his only pet peeve about the English language. His name wasn't William, but for some reason, everyone thought Will was somehow an appropriate substitution. It was worth it to point out, before someone began calling him that with the best intentions and he started complaining. There was nothing wrong with a name being two syllables, it wasn't that much of a problem.
Looking over to Toris, Willem figured he might as well ask.
So one of the new Roomies wasn't English proficient? That was ok, he supposed. He didn't speak anything but English, so he doubted that any other languages the kid spoke he would share. But judging on the way the Super Seiyan kid was eyeing his plant, they shared a common language. He gave him a grin and turned to the Elek, wondering what exactly he should say to answer his question.
"Oh, Mary Jane? She come from the tropics, man. Mexico. This one I been growin at me home, though." He answered. "Now which beds be taken and which be open? I need a place to lay me things down. Can't leave em out in the open or they be pinched, yeah? Not that I'm callin any of you theives, just don't trust me things to anyone but me. Specially the plant."
He slung his bags over his shoulders and picked up his plant, choosing a bed that seemed empty and dumping his things there, placing the plant at the side of the bed farthest from the door. He would move it somewhere else eventually, but for now this seemed as good a place as any.
(Fail reply is so fail. I'm sorry. But I am /exhausted/)
Post by stomachpains on Jan 20, 2011 3:57:23 GMT -5
How could anything but a smile find its way to Toris' lips. Everyone seemed to be getting along already, and that promised for a good year. Indeed, having quarreling roommates proved to be something that Toris feared a bit, not liking negative confrontation if at all possible. Add in super powers and a simple argument could become hell on earth in a matter of moments... Oh, how Toris prayed that wouldn't be so. Should it happen, Toris would only naturally wish to help... and healing always ended up as such a pain. Literally.
The taller man seemed friendlier now. Perhaps he had been alleviated of whatever ailed him prior, and now felt it appropriate to associate with the others... Or perhaps Toris' nasty habit of over-analyzing certain situations had come full circle again... either way, he found himself wanted to hear what the other said. He seemed the sort to grab the attention of people without much effort, or need for effort, having some innate ability to exude confidence and command of a situation. Sharing a room with him would prove interesting...
With ALL of them it would prove interesting. The young man who spoke Lithuanian, Elek could manipulate earth? What an interesting ability... he was probably a hero... The taller man, Willem as he introduced himself, had to have been a hero. He wouldn't be shocked if Reggie was a hero too, with his domineering personality and all... Did that leave Toris as the only sidekick in the room? How terribly embarrassing... If only he had a more confident personality... a little more faith in himself and his abilities... That might've qualified him for heroism. Toris had convinced himself that it was the strength of power or intention that made someone a hero, but the strength of their personality compared to others... "It is, eh, a pleasure to meet you all!"
When the question of languages was brought up, Toris' head went to Willem with a glow that indicated that this was something that rather interested the young man. He nodded, glee in his eyes and a smile on his lips.
"Y-yes, I do! I also speak Polish, eh, German, French, eh.... oh, end Russian."[/color] Toris said, slightly disdainful of the last one. It wasn't his greatest pleasure learning the Slavic language, having been forced to learn it in the early to late teens. He had come to the school only a few weeks after visiting home; he had been back and forth from Lithuania to Russia for a good five or so years, and the language came very easily to him as a result. English, though... was different... in many ways... "Vut of you, Ponas Jansen? Do you speak other languvages?" Toris asked, accent spread over his words like Nutella on bread.
When Reggie questioned the rooming plan, Toris remained quiet. He didn't know what was going on as far as that was concerned, and even so, he didn't know if he necessarily used the right words...
Elek pointed towards the beds that were vacant on the left, "You can choose one of those beds, though I'm not sure if your plant can get much sunlight in there."
Elek's ears perked up at hearing the languages the Lithuanian knew. Five languages (including Toris' native language) and now learning a sixth one is a lot. He himself is trilingual and was impressed that the guy could speak that many, since learning a language is anything but easy.
"You speak German?" Elek hoped he heard right, since if Toris was any better in German than English, at least he would be able to communicate with him, "That's great! Are you fluent?"
He wonders if Electricity Guy is monolingual or not. He didn't seem to be American or British from the way he spoke. By the way he looked, Elek would guess that he was either Scandinavian, Dutch, or Belgian.
Through the walls, Elek thinks he sees two guys bickering in the next dorm. It wasn't loud enough to hear what exactly they were saying, but it was obvious to anyone who could see it that it wasn't nice chit-chatting. Elek would rather not have anything like that occur here, although he's confident that he could win any fight which could occur. Toris and Reggie didn't seem like the aggressive type in the first place, and electricity wouldn't have much of an effect on earth in most cases.
"What are you guys all just standing there for? Sit down, there's enough chairs for everyone."
"That's fine by me, I got me own rig in me bags I can set up when I get the time." He answered Elek. And he did, a whole array of UV sunlamps was sitting at the bottom of his biggest bag, nestled in a bed of towels so they wouldn't break. He'd used his powers more than once to keep a plant alive when there wasn't much or any sun while he waited for a replacement bulb, of course, but he much preferred to have some sort of lightsource be it natural or electric.
Rather than go through his bags, get out the lights, set them up, and proceed to unpack, he decided that his first course of action should be to inspect the houseplants he'd seen in the dorm earlier. He was positively pleased that there were plants here. It made it feel that much more like home. His dorm last year hadn't had any plants at all and he'd had to bring in a bunch of his own. It had kind of sucked. And on top of that, one of his roommates had had a pollen allergy and he'd been severely limited in what plants he could bring in.
He stooped to inspeact the poor scraggely thing, frowning when he realised that whoever had been caring for them had been underwatering the poor things. The dirt was distirbed too, though that was probably for the best. It was good to get oxygen in around the roots from time to time. He sent a bit of his power into the plant to fortify it and make it perk back up a bit from where it had been sagging and weak, then fished around in his bag for a mason jar he sometimes kept seedlings in and went to the bathroom to fill it with water for the plants.
While he was watering them, he fired off an off-hand comment to Elek. "You the one been disturbing the dirt, man?" He asked, meaning to thank the boy if he said he had. It certainly saved him the trouble of doing it himself.
Oh. Oh, just great, he spoke German. Any sort of excitement that showed up in the Lithuanian's face, Willem entirely ignored it, dreading the damned language he hated so much. There was no way that he was going to be spending a lot of time forced to speak German just because everyone around him didn't know English. In his mind, if they couldn't even speak it, why were they here? Surely the school must have made kids take some exam to show they were proficient enough in English since the classes were in English...
Hell, he'd been to Germany plenty of times before and even refused to speak German, nevermind that he was fluent in it.
"Yes. My native language is Dutch, but also I've been studying French for years... and even some Japanese."
The Dutchman shrugged, nonchalant as always, just trying to show off a bit of his skill. He left German out, not wanting to have to stoop that low. "At least if we have to talk, we can converse in French, right? He offered to Toris, because even if his French wasn't exactly perfect, it sure was a lot better than using German.
Although, as it seemed, apparently Elek knew German as well... Great, just awesome, Willem begrudgingly thought. No doubt they'd always be using it, if for nothing else but to clarify things that were said... He hoped that it didn't come up often. He could only hope that Toris wasn't actually fluent...
German would be his absolute last resort.
He didn't want to take a seat though, if he did, it just might require him to be a bit more sociable. The attention of the room would probably get shifted on to the poor plants, probably, and their rather abysmal state. At least nobody seemed bothered by the plethora of plants, he'd be able to bring in his tulips and no one would complain it seemed like... Not that he'd care or listen if they did complain. Willem stayed where he was, wishing that Elek and Toris weren't about to become bestest buddies over that terrible language.
(ooc: the pretty orange color is Dutch, red is Japanese, and the flouncy pretty pinkpurple is French \o/)
Last Edit: Jan 21, 2011 22:35:43 GMT -5 by stomachpains