Fancy meeting you here! [Natalia, Mei]

[k]

Mei hummed a catchy tune, the one she'd heard over the radio that morning, as she washed her hands. She was the only one in the bathroom, something which she found a bit odd because it was lunchtime and, well, didn't a lot of people go to the bathrooms during lunchtime?

It was a laugh the way she'd dashed around trying to find it, the bathroom. She didn't dare ask for directions either; someone was bound to tell her, "Hey, newb, didn't pay attention to the tour, did you? Serves you right!" if she'd asked them about it.

She turned off the faucet and wiped her hands dry with her handkerchief. She looked up to check her reflection on the mirror. "So far so good," she told herself. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She smiled.

For a school for kids with powers like her, it seemed like any other ordinary school. The whole school certainly didn't seem out of the ordinary. The classes were mostly just like the classes she used to have in a normal school.

But there was something about the students here. It was that very same something that had made her different from the other kids back then. So she supposed that this was an even better school than the one she had before. Because everyone was different, she thought, so different that what was odd became the norm.

She laughed. Just a few minutes alone and look what happened to her.

[Deleted]

Natalia had looked and looked, but she could not find her brother anywhere, nor could she find her twin. She sighed, not knowing what to do with herself. She had already eaten, and since school had just barely started, she hadn’t had much work to do.

So she wandered around the school idly before coming to a restroom. Well, why not? There wasn’t anywhere else she could really go at the moment, and she didn’t hear the usual chatter of other girls that would normally be heard in a bathroom at this time. At least she could just sit there in silence, by herself.

She pushed open the door, feeling the coolness of the door against her hand, and she cringed at the thought of germs. Disgusting. She would have to wash her hands… There was someone in here already and she frowned. Great. Couldn’t even just sit in silence.

Irritably, she figured she’d just wash her hands first off. Germs were something she thought of often, considering what she had to do to use her ability. Disgusting. She envied her brothers when it came to this. They did not need to worry about germs so much.

She glanced over at the other girl. It didn’t seem like she was going anywhere anytime soon. Splendid.

[k]

The girl, thought Mei, would have been beautiful if she didn't look so angry. Or intimidating.

Perhaps she'd just gone through a bad day? Er, morning, considering what time it was. Maybe there was a pop quiz and she hadn't studied the night before? Or, most likely, she'd gotten into an argument with someone -- a lot of people argued over the littlest things.

She probably just needed someone to put even the littlest of grins on her face. Mei decided that that someone would be her.

She put her handkerchief back in her pocket and faced the girl. She smiled what she hoped was a friendly smile -- well, judging by how she felt that the room was suddenly too small for the two of them, what with the intimidating aura, she wasn't quite sure what her smile looked like -- waved her hand a little.

"Hi," she said and then didn't know what else to say. She hadn't exactly planned out that far ahead. She could be such an idiot sometimes, couldn't she?

Her eyes landed on the faucet. "Oh," she began again, "it's a bit weird how there isn't anyone else here, is it?" She chuckled. "There isn't an assembly or something is there?"

[Deleted]

Natalia raised an eyebrow, regarding the cheerful girl with a frown. What the hell kind of person makes conversation in a bathroom, anyways? All she’d wanted was to just get away from people and here was this girl, here, trying to speak to her.

“Oh, it’s a bit weird how there isn’t anyone else here, is it? There isn’t an assembly or something, is there?” What sort of question was that? Natalia raised an eyebrow, not understanding why it would be weird that nobody was in the restroom.

“It is lunch hour,” she replied simply. “Of course there is nobody in here; they are eating lunch. Is that not what you do at lunch hour? As for an assembly, I was not aware of such an event. I did not hear any announcement for such, nor did I receive any notifications in my dorm.” Her voice was cold, emotionless, just as always.

She was at a slight loss as to what to do. She had come here to be by herself [and to wash her hands; germs, you see. They were everywhere and something she was conscious of. She’d been told long ago to be careful with germs. They were easy to get when you get blood on your hands often.] and this girl standing here was a wrench in her plans.

[k]

Mei's smile faltered and then she laughed somewhat nervously. She lightly tugged on a lock of her hair. The girl did have a point; it was possible that not a lot of people would gather in the bathrooms because they would be too busy eating and if there was an assembly, surely they could have bothered announcing it over the PA or they could have stuck a note about it in the bulletin boards.

Silly her. She should have thought through what she was going to say.

"Yes, erm, you're right," she said. She smiled again, a little hesitantly this time around. Even though there was a point to what the girl had said, Mei still liked to think that it was a little weird that there wasn't any hustle and bustle in the bathroom during lunch period. After all, girls liked to go to places where they could be alone and exchange girl talk with each other without the danger of being interrupted by boys. "Still, I've... I've noticed that bathroom usage peaks around this time. Some people like to think that bathrooms aren't only bathrooms, that bathrooms can also be used as discussion rooms--" She knew that she was babbling at this point. Damnable nervous tic.

Not at all a good thing to do. The girl seemed like the sort who didn't do shop talk. Or any kind of talk for that matter. That was kind of sad, wasn't it? So then this putting an end to this not-talking-the-talk stance was probably a job for her to do. A job which she liked to think was something only she could accomplish.

She could start this oh-so-important job by not being intimidated.

[Deleted]

"Yes, erm, you're right. Still, I've... I've noticed that bathroom usage peaks around this time. Some people like to think that bathrooms aren't only bathrooms, that bathrooms can also be used as discussion rooms--" The girl seemed to struggle, at a loss of words, and she looked very nervous.

Natalia stared at the squirming girl blankly as the cheerful smile drooped a little bit and she began to babble something about the restroom being a vicinity for conversation among girls. It sounded rather disgusting to her, and she found herself remarking, “is that not unsanitary? Why would you come here to convene? That is disgusting and not to mention less than savory.”

Natalia was not familiar with the Lunchtime habits of students in most schools, but she was incredibly disgusted with the possibility of the restroom being a meeting hall of sorts. How is one supposed to have privacy? She would have to keep this information in mind so she wouldn’t make the mistake of coming here for recluse again.

For now, however, she was stuck here with this babbling girl who looked as if Natalia might rip off her arm any moment. While the idea was sounding quite appetizing at the moment, Natalia knew she had to behave herself or her siblings may be disappointed in her for acting so rashly so early in the year. She sighed, wondering how she was supposed to go about this situation she found herself in.

[k]

Maybe she was doing something wrong. Maybe the two of them weren't meant to be friends. Maybe their not understanding each other was brought about by cultural differences; there was always the possibility that she'd been, all along, making gestures that would be considered rude in the other girl's country.

But then Mei had already gone over all of those possibilities. "The thing is, you've got to pick one and test it out," she muttered to herself. She pursed her lips and forced a smile on her face. She tucked that lock of her hair that she'd been playing with behind her ear.

She said, "It looks pretty clean to me." It definitely looked spotless compared to her side of the dorm. Though she supposed that a simple "It looks pretty clean to me" wouldn't convince the other to believe otherwise. That girl seemed like the sort who liked things to be as germ-free as possible.

"And I guess you can talk anywhere you want. It isn't exactly the place that matters, is it? It's the people you're talking to," she continued. "Anyway -- I think I've said this before -- the girl's bathroom is usually the place to go when you want to talk, er, girl things with others. Boys aren't exactly allowed here." She paused and tapped her chin with her index finger. "Well, there isn't anything that can stop them from coming in, but it's more of the convention, isn't it? That girls can only go to the girl's, er, bathroom and the same thing goes for boys."

Mei laughed. Her cheeks tinged pink. She was making a fool of herself and that sigh from the other girl proved it. She should just stop, really; she'd be doing both of them a favor as well.

[Deleted]

The girl kept going on and on about the cleanliness of the bathrooms and how girls go there to get away from boys, which Natalia supposed it made sense, but she still couldn’t help but feel like it was a rather ridiculous thing to do. She couldn’t understand it, but decided to let it go before the girl before her kept babbling all of this completely unnecessary nonsense.

“You have made your point already. It would probably be best if you stopped speaking now, nyet? I am certain we could both benefit from it, as you are running out of useless words and I am running out of patience for them.” Her voice was steady, and didn’t give any indication to the irritation she was feeling. She knew it probably wasn’t the most polite way to put things, but it’s how irritated she was getting with the rapidly-growing-all-the-more-awkward situation (at least for the girl; Natalia didn’t feel awkward in the least, no, not at all, honest).

“Besides,” she added, approaching the sink to wash her hands (because honestly, just standing around was only making the entire situation all the more awkward… for the girl, not Natalia, really.), “it is obvious by the colouring of your face that you are only succeeding in embarrassing yourself, and unless it is a past time of yours and you enjoy it, it would be advised if you would stop contributing to your humiliation.” Though her voice did not carry any intent of insult, the words were still cold coming from her lips and she bore such a stoic expression, it seemed downright cruel. In actuality, however, she really did not think the girl should continue her babble about bathrooms for her own sake.

“It just seems like the smarter thing to do, does it not?” She asked finally, turning off the water and making her way to the paper towels.

[k]

Mei pursed her lips and her face slowly began to redden more and more. She had been wishing for the girl to talk some more so that she wouldn't feel as if she was facing a wall -- one that was cold and said only one-liners -- and now that her wish had come true, she thought that perhaps she had been better off without that wish coming true.

She lightly tugged on a lock of her hair and then twirled it around her finger. She did this a couple of times more before she realized two things: she hadn't responded, which was probably what the girl wanted, and she was doing that silly habit, which she had been trying to get rid of because it seemed so childish to her.

She placed her hand to her side again only to find out later that this had caused her hands to grip her skirt. She wasn't acting a lot like herself. Where had all her confidence gone? Or was it just possible that this was the first time she'd met someone like that girl, pretty yet too cool and cold and somewhat angry-looking.

Most people who were pretty were somewhat accommodating, at least the ones Mei had already met. Of course some of them were vain and arrogant and simply too much, but even then they could pitch in a word or two or a hundred more in a conversation and act a little nicely or politely.

But not that girl. Perhaps she wasn't that interested in her public image?

"Yes, erm, yes then." She peered at the girl.

The girl appeared to be on her way out. After all, she'd already finished washing her hands. Mei had most likely hindered her on her quest for cleanliness and then a quick getaway.

The battle, however, was not over yet!

"I'm... Mei. Would it be alright if you told me your name as well?"

Even the name was fine. After that, she'd feel as if she'd done at least something in the couple of minutes she'd spent talking with (to?) the girl.

[Deleted]

Natalia watched as the girl seemed to struggle inwardly as she dried her hands (frowning at the rough paper towel in turn, briefly if it was really all that sanitary), her usual stoic expression on her face. The girl seemed to go from one nervous twitch to the next, from twirling her hair to wringing her skirt. Did she really make her so nervous?

Not that it mattered; Natalia preferred it this way. She was getting irritated, and would prefer people avoid her instead of incur her annoyance and their own embarrassment. It was pathetic to watch, in her opinion. That, and she didn’t need to be reminded that she was scary to be around.

“Yes, erm. Yes then.” It seemed she had been nervously scrutinizing her, and Natalia decided she was done with this. She was proceeded to begin her walk past the girl and out the door when she was stopped once more.

“I’m… Mei. Would it be all right if you told me your name as well?”

“Mine?” No, Natalia. Someone else who happens to be in the bathroom that is rather empty at the moment. How stupid of her. She sighed, and turned back to the girl. “I am called Natalia, and if we are ever to run into each other (though I highly doubt we ever will), it would be preferable that you refer to me as such. If you refer to me at all.” Which I would prefer you did not, but there is no point in telling you that, I am sure.

With that, Natalia continued her walk to the door, pausing only a moment before opening it, then slipping out in search for one of her brothers yet again.

The girl in the bathroom called Mei disappeared from her thoughts as they focused solely on her precious older brother. There was no point in her remembering someone she would most likely never see again.

~
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