Ear Buds... (Dahlia~)

[ilina yuliana arnaut.]

The front yard was huge. Not like "wow this really is kinda big" huge, but "oh my gosh how many lakes have run dry to keep this thing watered" huge. Illi was, quite frankly, surprised that it was just so... Massive. And green. It was really green, at that. Almost as if some small man came in now and again to paint the grass. She wondered who cut the grass. Poor that person. That job must be absolutely awful. If not that, it must take ages. And then, what if you lost track of where you've mown? Then you have to basically start over unless you have an eye for detail. Then you could probably see where the grass was shorter. But that must not happen. The front yard was basically perfect. In every way. A couple more people were here, there was a breeze going by and Illi had on a hoodie and a nice pair of jeans. It was really a wonderful day out for sure. And with a wonderful lawn like this, and plenty of room to run around in? It made for an absolutely extraordinary thing, really. Almost magical. Like Illi was a little kid again. But Illi was a teenager. And, at that, she wasn't running around and having fun.

She was playing Audiosurf.

She knew she was supposed to be keeping an eye out for someone or something. She was, apparently, going to be shown around this place. Illi had learned a bit from just exploring and going around the place, and she had managed to find some of the more essential places to be found, but there were probably about three point four trillion little nooks that she hadn’t seen yet. But she was going to. And she was so pumped. So pumped for being shown around that, in fact, she wasn’t even using her sound blocking ear buds! She was using those ones that... Well, don’t block sound. And fall out of your ears. Constantly. Oh, that pushed Illi’s buttons. She was messing up all over the place because of those darn things, and she was always having to put them back in her ears. At least she’d be able to hear the person approach her. She was never much of a conversation starter, so doing something like this would be right up her alley. She figured she was recognizable enough. Just in case, she took her hood down and discovered that the breeze wasn’t going to whip her head around and mess up her hair. Sure, she didn’t really do much to it at all besides brush it, but it just bothered her. She liked long hair. She didn’t like long, tangled hair.

She finished the song and decided that she was going to quit it. Her score was terribly low. She tried to exit the program before it was submitted, but it was too quick for her. Sadface. Once the program was down, she decided to simply sit there and stare at the scenery while listening to music. Illi thought that this would be a nice place and time for a nap, but she was just too darn excited to even bother thinking about naps! Wait, what? She just... Nevermind. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember the girl’s name. She knew there was a girl coming to show her around and such, but she didn’t remember much else. Well, once the conversation starts, she could totally find a way to subtly ask for a name. A little thought floated about in the back of her mind. What if Illi had the wrong date entirely? Or the wrong time? That would be kind of bad. No, no, she probably didn’t. No way. This was way too important and exciting to miss!

[dahlia steffanie summers.]

Of course, being one of the longest-lasting students at PA this year, it was typical that Dahlia would be asked to show around a new student or two. This would be her last year at Power's before she left for the real world- for the empty expanse of time and people that she was completely unprepared for. Power's Academy had been her home since she was twelve years old. That was one third of her young life spent in the safety of these halls and the wall that surrounded the campus. Where some students saw it as a prison, she saw it as a haven. As long as she was here she was safe. Out there... once she was forced to leave once and for all in a few months time, she didn't know how she was going to survive.

At the end of the last year she'd been elected Student Representative Council president, which was probably another reason why Miss Mays had contacted her after classes yesterday and told her to show around a new student. She was supposed to be a leader, a shining beacon for other people to follow. So she should naturally have no issue with social interactions.

The thing was, she did.

It was oh-so-convenient that Dahlia's power was to hide away from the world, completely unseen by friends and enemies alike whenever she wanted to do so. It fit her perfectly (or maybe she had just molded herself to fit the power). She wasn't one for social interaction, except with the few people that she'd known for a long time, like Jake. She liked the familiar order of the SRC, or the routines of drama productions. But when it came to sports and parties and randomly chatting it up with people she'd never even seen before, she froze up. She was pretty sure that that would happen today. Even though she'd been around other kids regularly since she was twelve, she just couldn't be outgoing.

But she had to suck it up. This next year, as President, she'd be expected to lead Pep rallies, arrange clubs, and help everyone out. She had to get used to her job now, though it was only the beginning of the school year. Start by meeting with one person today, end up interacting with tens of them at once by the end of the year. She could do it.

The girl was supposed to be waiting for her in the front yard, so that was where Dahlia headed. She slipped into invisibility as she walked, helping her maneuver around the other students in the halls easier. There were a few random kids here and there along the front yard; lounging in the sun or just hanging out, but only one student was alone. Dahlia accurately guessed that this was the girl she was supposed to lead around. Ilina, her name was, right? Yeah, that sounded like it. It wasn't a name you heard every day, that was for sure.

"Um... hey there, Ilina?" she asked as she came close enough for the other girl to hear her voice. The thing was, in her focus on remembering the girl's name, she'd completely forgotten to come out invisibility, which made her voice come from midair.

[ilina yuliana arnaut.]

Did she hear something? Totally. Something tried to greet her, and even used her name. So, obviously, it was whoever was sent to give Illi a little tour! So, naturally, she paused her music, took her earbuds out, and turned her head to the source of the greeting. Illi was pumped! She was going to see things she probably hadn't even noticed before! She was ready. She wanted to get out into the school and explore. It wouldn't be like exploring to her leader, but it would to her! And, after all, she knew she was kind of young, she might have a more youthful view on things! If not that, at least more positive than most people. More... Lively? Well, no matter! A few minutes around Illi usually brought people up in their spirits. At least a little bit. Maybe they tried to hide it, but she always left people with a smile. If not a happy one, at least a grin that said how weird Illi was. A smile was a smile and Illi was fine with that!

However, she wasn't smiling when she turned and saw nobody there. She raised an eyebrow and a perplexed look graced her features as she looked about for anyone there. There was nobody. Nobody at all. She definitely heard her name. And she definitely heard a 'hey there'. Now, what in the world could she have mistaken for 'Ilina'? Not many things sounded like Ilina. Especially because it was a very European sounding name. It wasn't something you heard every day, less so something you'd say every day. It appeared as if she had a ghost on her hands, and that prospect made Illi very happy. Still, this was confusing!

"Wha...?" she said, looking all around her. Nothing. Nobody. There wasn't a darn thing there! Now this was certainly weird. She had heard of ghost stories and all, but nothing outside the forest! This was definitely the weirdest thing to happen to her in recent memory.

Now, what was her gosh darn name?

She thought hard. She absolutely had to remember it, she wouldn't just let the conversation go on with Illi not even knowing her name! She thought hard. What could it be? There were millions of names, finding one in a name database would be out. She thought even harder. Did it start with a B? No, nobody in their right mind names a girl something that starts with B. What names even started with B? Betty? Yeah, great name. B was definitely out the window. But it was something kind of like B. Maybe D? Yeah, it sounded right. A D, for sure. So, there was one letter down. But what was the next sound? In her mind, she tried different vowels with a D. Day... Dah... Dee... Deh... Deh was definitely out, that wasn't even a name! Definitely not the beginning of one, that was for sure. But it was either Dah or Dee. One of those. So, she had two branches to go with. Two options. This was pointless.

"Anyone there?" she asked to whoever that was. She didn't mind that she probably looked crazy. After all, this was Power's Academy! The school for kids with powers and stuff! Maybe they projected the message right into her brain. Now that would be something! Though, Illi didn't want anyone messing around in her brain. It was just weird. And, plus, they probably would find that everything with Illi wasn't always happy. Aw, well, most things were! Like coming here, this was a great experience. Just to be with people with powers, just like her! It was great, and as an added bonus it made her feel a lot better about herself and her power. Her power was kind of lame, though. She had purified one thing in her life, and it was because she went camping with her brother one time and they got lost. Illi got a little thirsty, so she just... Took a big drink from the nearby pond. Of course, Ilarion freaked out, but Illi was fine. She couldn't get sick, ever! It was great in that sense. But it wasn't one of those... Explode-y powers. If Illi could make things explode she'd always have a bag of confetti on hand. Just so, when she entered a room, she could throw all the confetti. And then make them all explode! What an entrance that would be! Now that she thought about it, making glitter explode would not only get rid of the glitter, but it would make some of the coolest fireworks that had ever existed ever. And yet here Illi was, literally stuck throwing dirt. Awesome. Oh well. It wasn't totally useless. She could make people not sick! Now that was a great power right there, she didn't like seeing people sick. One touch later, and then people were better! So, maybe her powers weren't so bad after all...