[Aran K. Ziota]

Aran sat in a corner of the greenhouse directing a small rain cloud to water the plants that needed it and avoid the plants that didn't. It was a simple task but it kept her mind off things. She'd been spending a lot of time up here recently trying to avoid coming in contact with anyone. She had been called back home over the summer to visit with her family as it seemed her father had wanted to assess her progress. She clenched her fists at the memory. She’d been at this school for an entire year and had yet to gain any more control over her abilities, it had been apparent by her dust covered figure. She still could not understand he slight electromagnet field she seemed to emit which collected dust and debris like a static charged balloon. She knew there was a relation to it and the fact that she wasn’t really affected when struck by lightning but she wasn’t sure of what it might be. J had thanked her for her gift and showed her the box he had made to store all of the letters she wrote to him in. If nothing else Aran was glad she had been able to visit with her brother, he was growing so quickly she wondered if he wouldn’t be taller than her soon.

But that wasn’t the only reason for her hiding away in the greenhouse today. Upon returning to the school she had been informed of some strange happenings, students were disappearing and the entire establishment was under investigation, she didn’t really understand the details but what bothered her most was that her own roommate was now one of the missing persons. She’d missed Jade a lot over the summer and had considered writing letters to her like she did to J but wasn’t sure how to go about it as she’d left on such short notice and wasn’t sure if she should without giving prior warning. She had eventually sent a letter saying she would be returning soon but with all the happenings around the school she hadn’t seen Jade much and now she was missing.

She stared at the floor sullenly; the raincloud had ceased to water the plants and was presently turning into a small thunderhead and letting out little flashes of lightning over Aran’s head as the rain poured down on her. She was sopping wet but she didn’t really care at this point. This school was supposed to be a safe place where she could make friends and get along with people but so far that hadn’t really happened for her. She knew it was partially her own fault, she’d made more enemies in her first week than friends, but she wasn’t yet ready to admit that she was the one at fault.

[Sol Eran]

Eran sat on the floor of the space, the water falling periodically around her. She ignored these actions around her, since her emotions were so deep and radiated. She did her best not to cry, but failed miserably as tears rolled down her sleek yet soft facial features.

It was at this moment that she heard the sniffing of a the large creatures she thought she would never see again. The part dog, part peacock-like creatures were not of this planet, to hear one almost made her wonder if she was going delirious with emotion. Something she had heard could happen, but she herself had never experienced.

Eran's body still ached slightly, but it was highly related to the fact that she had also done what she could to find her brother. Oh, the ache in her heart was so deep and resounding, it made her want to cry to the heavens in elegy. Hope that the elements of nature could hear and console her. She beat on her upper chest trying to get ahold of herself, but fell to the floor with her face in reverence and prayer, seeing as this must be some sort of test of her resolve.

As the rain became more steady, she just let it all roll out, her tears releasing torrents of water, as she began to cry loudly, bringing her arms to her face. It was at this moment that she felt the brushing of feathers against her. The half-beaked beast of gentleness, the bi-gendered species that had proven to be such a grand companion to her brother. It nudged her, and then licked her.

When the animal realized it could not console her, as she wept louder, it stopped and merely lay next to her. It ran it's tail against her, trying to at least offer comfort. The creature could sense through touch that it wasn't doing much to help, but it also knew that she would be worse off if she felt she was alone.

“Mi, Chia na-thu,” She cursed to herself, as she heaved in sorrow.

The creature nudged the girl's head, and then she finally acknowledged the creature's presence. She grabbed it around the nape of the neck, and hugged it. The small metal placard on it's collar labeled Aon. She hugged it tighter, unaware that she was in the space with anyone else. She turned around when she heard light shuffling of clothes behind her. Eran's ears perked up, and spoke as cordially as her emotions would allow, “Hello.”

[Aran K. Ziota]

Aran heard a wailing voice nearby but at first she couldn't say that it hadn't been her own. She then heard someone speaking, or more correctly the wind carried the sound to her. The first bit she couldn’t understand but she could tell that the person was in distress and was certain now that the wailing had come from this unknown person rather than herself. Aran wasn’t the heroic type, she’d even been labeled a bully by some but she wasn’t really a cruel girl and even though she wanted to wallow in her own misery for a little longer she couldn't help being bothered by the thought of someone else in pain. There was also a small part of her that was worried she may be the cause.

Realizing that she was soaked through Aran drew a rush of warm air throughout the room, quickly heating and dissipating the water from her hair and clothes as she walked in the general direction of the voice, the wind guiding, practically pushing her along. It really was nosy but she wasn't so hesitant to follow as she used to be. One thing she was learning from this school was that she shouldn't be so afraid to follow the direction the wind gave her, it really wasn't trying to harm her as she had once thought.

She paused, not sure of what she was looking at. Aran had not had the opportunity to meet many of the students at her school, most of her acquaintances were still very much human in appearance, but what bothered her most was the strange animal next to the strange being. Aran was rather afraid of animals. She kept her distance absentmindedly directing the wind to dissipate the puddles of water that had accumulated on the floor. The rush of warm air was bringing the green house back to a more normal temperature with a good dose of humidity; she wondered if her hair wasn’t a frizzy mess but supposed it didn’t matter, she didn’t feel like bothering with appearances at this point.

“Hello.” She said, returning the greeting keeping her eyes on the stranger while trying to avoid looking at the animal. “Are you alright? I mean, I hope I’m not disturbing you, I was here to water the plants but I became distracted and seem to have made a bit of a mess.” Aran wasn’t sure how to deal with people in distress and it was obvious the girl wasn’t alright or else she wouldn’t have been wailing so loudly, she’d never had a lot of interaction with others and her roommate, Jade was usually the one helping her with her troubles. She clenched her teeth slightly as she remembered that Jade was currently missing, possibly in danger and she wasn’t sure what she could do to help.

This post has been edited by Aran K. Ziota on Sep 20 2011, 12:12 PM

[Sol Eran]

Sol Eran rotated around her head until she saw the person who uttered the greeting. She quickly tried to dry her eyes, but didn't do very well. “I am fine, my brother and my best friend Rohesia Omnia went missing with the others. I didn't even know my brother was here.”

She then sat down on the ground, “however, you were not disturbing anything particularly important. I was merely crying. I am actually somewhat glad that someone else was up here. I have become somewhat alone as of late.”

“I can sense your own nervousness relating to the situation, your thoughts and emotions are subtler than some, but evident,” Eran said quietly with an oddly cute but wise tone.

As she thought about the girl in front of her, she realized she carried no watering can, and she was claiming to have been watering the plants. She thought warmly to herself, this girl must have some form of control of the elements. It was a school for the gifted, it made sense that the students here wouldn't quite be normal. She approached the girl's direction as she pushed herself up from the ground, “I am Sol Eran, I come from a different world. Far far from here. You may call me Eran.”

The height of the girl was now noticeable, since she usually stood at least a foot or two above most people, amongst her own kind she was average height. But here, she typically hit the mantle of doors. It hurt a lot to have that happen, it was the thing she had to spend the most time getting used to as she was growing up.

She looked at the girl, Eran's tail hanging behind her, just above sweeping the floor. The girl had a sort of worried but stiff-ness about her, oddly it fit with her own personality a bit. Eran extended her hand, as she thought was typical of a greeting for most humans. Whether the girl would reciprocate would be another thing. Eran just hoped she didn't offend her, it was not expected to see anyone up here at all.

She hadn’t even expected the animal to be up here. The animal, now standing below her waist, now nudged her legs, it was hungry. Eran pulled a bag of pretzels from her pants pockets and poured it onto the ground, and let the animal eat, “it should be busy with that for a while. Aeon is quite fond of hir food.”

[Aran K. Ziota]

Aran kept her face as blank as she could but her eyes did widen slightly as the other student mentioned her thoughts and emotions. Aran tried not to let her emotions get the best of her as they were so intricately tied with her powers but meeting someone who seemed able to read her thoughts was extremely unsettling and more than slightly frightening but the honesty of the response she had received made her a bit more comfortable. It was rare to meet anyone so willing to admit to a weakness such as crying, at least Aran viewed it as a weakness, and especially strange for them to tell a complete stranger about it. Such a thing would be impossible for Aran. She couldn’t even confide in her roommate whom she considered to be a very good friend.

Realizing the other student had just given her their name she nodded in response her words coming out a bit shaky, she had been thinking of her own brother when Eran had mentioned hers was missing and had only marginally noticed the other’s approach. “Ah, I can understand that. Despite the number of people who occupy this building the size of this place makes it very easy to feel alone. It is nice to meet you Eran. I’m Aran Ziota, I generally go by Aran or A. My friend Jade is also among those who have gone missing.” She said looking up at the alien girl before her, wondering at the similarity in their names. She shook the hand that was offered to her, grateful that the animal’s attention was now occupied with something else.

“You read the thoughts of others?” She asked, curiosity coming over her as she pushed away her nervousness, trying to ignore the animal even more. Eran had brought an idea into Aran’s head. She was curious about implementing it though; it would be extremely difficult for her as Aran often had trouble dealing with her pride, as an aspiring actor it tended to be a great downfall.

[Sol Eran]

“Aura's and emotions mostly, the thoughts people seem to project,” Eran said.

It was considered rude amongst her people to do much more than that. However, even that seemed to be something that humans had trouble with. They seemed to think everything in their minds was precious, secret, without a listener. If they had entered the interplanetary worlds beyond, they would know there was little by way of privacy of the mind beyond what you protected there. She however, only knew of a few other space faring species, and they spent decades just to make it to another world. It was nowhere near what earth's science fiction depicted. It was not fast, it was not militarized, it was too costly for that.

“I am unfamiliar with this Jade, but you seem to be coping alright. I had no idea that my brother was alive until I heard he was missing.”

Aeon picked up one of the snacks on the ground and goose-necked it into hir mouth gently. As though using a pair of pliers to pick it up. It was awkward to watch the creature eat, since it wasn't really the typical animals here, but it was a gentle reminded to Eran that she was not from here. Something she frequently lost track of.

Still standing, Eran petted the animal with her tail and met eyes with Aran.

After the animal finished, it wandered around a corner in the garden to a place that had been prepared for it. A small place, that had a small clearing and a bed of knee high grass that seemed to be planted specifically for the purpose of providing the animal with somewhere to sleep. Her brother must have been involved in that. The animal was not something humans would be familiar with enough to create appropriate accoutrements for. She smiled painfully at the thought. She really wanted to know where he was. However, she tried her best to keep on subject. Wiping her eyes, she looked back at the girl from the beast. Smiling, she tried to stay upbeat. Nobody needed to be as sad as she was now. And if they could distract each other for a while, that would be nice.

“Do you have any specific hobbies? I enjoy many of the arts, and acting and singing being amongst my largest interests. Something about being from another world makes it seem like I'm less alien when I am someone else in performance.”