A rainy day and a crappy cup of coffee {intro thread}

The wind was cold as it whipped across Sorin’s face. He turned up the collar of his black jacket to block the wind, but it really didn’t bother him. By now he had become a master at thermo regulation. That was one of the easiest things to learn to do with his power. Even without the sun he could warm or cool himself to how ever he wished. At first it had taken a lot of concentration but now that he was older he knew what he was doing and he could regulate himself with out even thinking about it. The only down side was that when he was his power was technically “on” while he did this and if he lost concentration or there was a quick change in emotion it could cause, what Sorin liked to call, a solar flare. He would heat up and become unstable. He had always been able to stabilize himself afterwards but you never knew what the initial damage was. So while he was self regulating, he was also vigilant and cool headed to safe guard any “solar flares”.

He was out in the streets of Berlin. Yah it was a bit a ways from home, but that is where Sorin wanted to be. He had run out of money again, work was hard to find for a wandering teen. Berlin wasn’t job central or anything but the train had ended here, and that was all he needed to know. Albeit a brit himself he knew the German language well. His friend Benjamin was German, and he had helped him in his studies. His parents made him study multiple languages, German, Romanian, French, Greek, and Latin. Although he was quite sure they couldn’t speak it themselves. This was an advantage he had thought, Sorin smirked as he thought of the times he and Benjamin would talk away in German whilst his parents looked on helpless. At the time it had made him smile, and it still did, but he supposed it was one reason they hated Benjamin, he was friends with Sorin and they would talk for hours and build things and read things while his parents often only got a cold “Good Morning.” from Sorin.

They had wanted to become close to him like Benjamin, and Sorin never let them, praise God. He shook these off as he ducked into a cramped little kiosk with a main counter, two small tables and chairs and a little tubby Iranian man, to grab a newspaper and coffee. He furrowed his brow, recently he had been thinking of his past, Not that it didn’t plague him every day but something in his head, in his dreams was…touching him? That sounded strange but it was the only thing Sorin could describe it as, some thing was touching or prodding his brain and it made him restless. He tossed his now murky blond hair out of his eyes, it was getting long, as he asked for coffee and newspaper. Taking it he went to one of the plastic chairs at one of the two rickety tables and commenced reading, maybe it would get his mind off things. He peered over his paper, it was raining outside, the sun hidden behind grey clouds.

Charlotte hugged her big charcoal jacket closer to her. Jeez it was cold and windy and the rain was like frozen pellets against her face. She hurried across the wet streets (narrowly missing a few cars which the drivers did not seem to mind yelling at her in German.) to her starting point. Her blond hair whipped around her face as she tried to go as fast as she could dodging people (you know those who dared to venture out) and other objects. God she hated big cities, Berlin was no acceptation. People, around her, it made her shiver. Really she was afraid of what might happen, she had seen the movies where the super-heros save the city….while destroying half of it yet the mayor still gave them the key to the city. It didn’t make sense to her. They smashed into building after building and damaged cars and stores and houses, millions of dollars in damage and they still get applauded and ever one forgets about the ruined bank/10 homes/porche/court house. She didn’t mean to sound like a downer but her point was it wasn’t like that in real life where you pay the consequence of your actions 7 fold, Charlie learned that the hard way.

She shrugged it off and hurried into the kiosk where she had last heard the mutant was going to. It was small, cramped, and rickety, welcome to down town Berlin. She supposed the mutant she was after didn’t have a lot of money so high end places weren’t top priority, but come on couldn’t you ever run into a trust fund mutant kid every once and a while? As she stepped into the store and shook her wet hair out she noticed it was warm in there, remarkably. And she noticed the kid in the chair. Handsome like her brother, but her had similar hair to hers but more…golden, hers was more white. He looked tired and harried, and warm, like a furnace. She ordered her coffee and sat in the only other chair at the only other table and took a sip of her coffee, never taking her eyes of the guy. Oh God this is disgusting she thought and put the concoction down but kept her frozen hands around it, it was warm at least. Her hazel eyes were slowly turning a bright green as they watched him, she always got exited when she confronted a mutant. She was 75% sure he was one. It just felt right, so she wasn’t a telepath but she had been at the academy a long time, she knew a mutant when she saw one. One side of her lips quirked up into a smile, she got him.

To be honest he was a little startled that she came in. He had been here a couple times and he was the only one to ever actually came in that didn't already know they guy who owned this, cause to be honest, this place wasn't exactly a tourist attraction. When she ordered the coffee he could hear her American accent in the flawless German she had used, and he could feel her eyes on him as he read his paper. Purposely he tried to cover his face with it, he didn't like her looking at him they way she was. Like she was reading a book or something her eyes scanned over him, and if he wasn't mistaken, her eyes changed colors.

Sorin frowned. He wasn't really used to girls. Yah he had talked to them and thought they were cute and all that jazz but he had never been to a proper school so he hadn't proper training for this sort of thing, although he could tell she wasn't looking at him because she thought his hair was cute, her eyes were trained and looking for something. He had tried his hide behind paper manuver and it wasn't working, and he wasn't going to be drivin out by this girl, so time for a different tactic. He cleared his throat and hastily put down his paper resting his elbows on the table he looked back at her much in the same way she was looking at him accept he raised one eyebrow and smirked.

After a seconds beat he said "You know love its not polite to stare."

Granted, at first, Charlie was a little thrown off by his approach but her own smile spread across her face and she brought her coffee cup up to her lips again as she replied

"True, but its hard not to, tell you what, I'll show you mine if you show me yours." her grin was hard to miss, whether he miss under stood her or got it she couldn't wait to see his reaction.

Slowly she formed a sphere in her hand and let it flatten, draining her eyes white as she did this, but they were soon turned back to green. She loved to form discs, that was her favorite use of her offensive power, the discs and shards she like to call them. She looked behind the counter to make sure the guy had gone (she placed a call earlier) and made sure the kid was watching, with a flick of her wrist the disc flew to the wall across the kiosk to the news papers, she moved both her hands and the disc formed into shards in mid air. When they hit the news papers they turned, shredding them, news paper confetti rained softly to the floor. Turing to the kid she smiled

"Your turn."

This was her favorite part this job. getting the other to show you their power. To be honest she was fascinated by it, the whole thing. When she was younger she cursed it, but now she saw what she could use her power for. Granted some of the older ones, like this guy, already seemed to know what they could do with it, but even then it was cool showing them cool tricks they could do and seeing their faces light up. But more importantly showing them they belonged some where and that they weren't crazy. That there where others like you, a mutant, out there in the world, together as a family. She enjoyed the ride back with them and letting them ask questions she could answer. Although, she found she was drawn towards him. It was probably just the fact that he was, in all literal sense of the word, hot. She loved cold weather but something about his warmth was...re-kindling. She brushed her wet hair out of her face and behind her ear, she couldn't wait to get home and get a hot shower, but now she had to focus, it was game time. Along with the fun of new powers there was danger, every new mutant especially teenagers were unstable and could be unpredictable.

"True, but its hard not to, tell you what, I'll show you mine if you show me yours." In response he raised his other eyebrow but said nothing She couldn’t possibly mean… he thought, but she did, oh she did. He watched her with a look of mild bemusement, although on the inside he was freaking. He had found another one, like him, he wasn’t alone. He had heard and seen stuff on discovery and history channel to know what he was and why he was, but he thought he was just a freak and dealt with it…but there was another. His mind was reeling as he watched the now confetti news paper so he almost didn’t hear her when she said
“Your turn.”
It was wasn’t it, that was the deal. He said nothing but smiled at her. He was still a little bit grounded as to her mere existence. He looked around the kiosk for a second and placed his finger tips to gather in a spider doing push ups on a mirror way as he thought. But only briefly as is lopsided smirk was replaced with a mischievous smile.

He looked to the news paper confetti and some pieces were still flitting through the air to the ground. Cracking his knuckles out ward and drew up his energy and shot a confined ray from his hand. Like a lazar is burned and seared the news paper shreds and they curled into black ash. They smoked faintly and it smelled like it too. Normally he wouldn’t destroy peoples stuff but she had started it, and she came to him. He turned to her with a smirk

“That’s when its on, fine point”

Charlie smiled big, this kid had talent, he knew what he was doing. But her gaze narrowed, she wasn't sure she understood his powers completely. But of course they would have time to talk on the way back, they had to fly commercial cause the institutes airplane was, although in commission, being used for the disapearences and distress calls. They seemed to be getting a lot lately and it concerned Charlie. What really concerned her was the fact that they didn't even know who or what they were fighting, it was stressful and one could really get upset over it all. Charlie wasn't supposed to know, her not being a legal adult yet wasn't allowed in the super to secret senior x-men meetings, but she had heard that they started to find some who had disapeered. But those that were alive were screaming and couldn't talk only stare wide eyed at people who once were their friends but they could no longer remember them. Those that were dead had...gruesome deaths at best. Charlie shook her head she was getting side tracked, she hadn't even told him why she was here.

She casually leaned back in her chair and smiled at him "There are othersyou know. We have a school in New York, you can live there and you don't have to pay. That's actually why I'm here, I have come to get you if you will go with me. To get you and bring you home." her eyes were returning to their hazel color ever so slowly as she watched him eagerly.

To be honest she was intrigued by the boy that she had flown all the way out here for, she would have to watch him closely she decided.

He couldn‘t help himself “Others?” he raised his eyebrow incredulously. It was a strange thing for a pretty girl to walk in and start talking to you, some how knowing you are a mutant like her, and then ask you to go on a 16 hour plane ride and live with her and her mutant buddies. If he could even trust her that is. But what she had said “…you don’t have to pay.” yah, Sorin could use that, his wallet was very light at the moment, and to be honest he used his last euro buying the coffee. But what he didn’t need was a liar telling him fairy tales about a home where there are rainbows and butterflies, the world was filled with enough liars and he was doing just fine without them. He leaned in.

“I can go back with you, and I don’t need to pay, and I can leave when ever I want?” she hadn’t said the last part, but it was important none the less. His amber eyes looked at her, she looked like she was telling the truth, and she had shown him she had powers, and that was a sign of faith. He picked up his own cup of coffee and brought it to his lips taking a deep drink of his last euro. Yes it was his last euro You need to trust her Sorin he thought to himself Screw need to, you have to. You can’t find work and you are drinking the last of your funds, go with the girl

And with a shaky sigh he nodded “I’ll go, but you had better pray your not lying, cause I have so many more settings that aren’t fine point.”

She smiled "Oh I would never lie." Her eyes glinted

Getting up abruptly she heard the guy coming back in to the store and she looked from the kid to the newspapers and to the door. Hastily she grabbed his wrist and pulled him out, consequently knocking over her own coffee. But she didn't care about that right now, right now they had to get out of there before they guy came back in. As she held onto his wrist she noticed it was warm, hot even, like he had a fever, but he didn't look sick just tired.

"Come on!" she said as she pulled him along, they were almost to the door "I would rather not be here when he discovers the papers."
She opened the door with her back and before she left she threw a good sum of euro's to pay for the papers onto the guys counter. Quickly she drew up her hood over her head to shelter it from the cold rain as she stood in the door way, letting the cold air rush in blowing in her face. Before she ducked out she looked to Sorin

"Are you sick?" she asked and reached out to touch his head

Suddenly she drug him over to the door with a surprising amount of strength, she threw down the money and they were about to get out of there when she touched his forehead ”Are you sick?” she asked and he laughed. “

“It’s my sunny disposition. I don’t get sick.” he said with a smirk, it was true, he had never once gotten a cold or the flu, of course he thanked his healing powers for that, but he had always wondered…

He stepped out in to the cold wet air and took a deep breath, he was exited to go. He wanted to learn and train, he desired to be the best he could, and he was thankful the girl had come and found him. Although it felt weird to think he would be leaving all that he had known…but hadn’t he done that before? Yes, and he was doing it again and the last time hadn’t worked out to bad. He smiled as he thought of this, his new grand adventure.

On a second thought he turned to her “Hey I don’t believe I caught your name.”

"Hm, that's because I never told you, Sunshine." she quipped and hugged her jacket closer closing the door behind her "Im Charlotte Black, but you can call me Charlie. You?" she asked looking up at him.

In annoyance she noticed he was taller than she by a few inches, maybe if she stood on her toes... Suddenly a huge gust of wind blew right i their faces and took Charlies hood off releasing a torrent of hair that blew around her and she hastily tried to tuck it all back into her hood. She wore black wool riding pants and a black jacket, black seemed to be a common colour for training clothes and consequently a common colour in Charlie's wardrobe. Not that she didn't like colour, she had her favorites (red and pale blue) but she just didn't have the time to buy clothing and actually shop. The institute made sure they had every thing they need (and even gave them an allowance, they get major funding from the government) and Charlie just didn't need that shirt or those shoes (which meant Charlie had a lot of money saved up just cause she never bought anything.) she wasn't a needy person.

Which is why she almost forgot "Oh yah, do you have things to get? Like important things, not a toothbrush and stuff but pictures and all that sentimental jazz. Cause if you do we need to get them now." she stressed the word now cause as she looked at her watch she noticed the next plane out left in an hour, and it took 15 minutes to get there and another 30 to get tickets and stuff.

Sunshine? Was that a cute nickname she just came up with or was she making a reference to his power, or worse both? Although he admired her for it.
With a carefully placed smile he said "My name is Sorin Aelius. Pleased to meet you Charlotte." he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked along side her to the airport he assumed.

"To answer your question no, I don't have anything to get." he had almost laughed when she suggested it, he was the step above nothing "And I doubt I will have any one missing me." he had added quietly.

No cabs in sight he guessed they were walking, fine with him but as he looked at Charlotte he noticed it might not be so fine with her. Her hood had blown off and her hair was flying around in a whirl of blond as she tried to fix it, and she looked pale (if not blue) with the cold. The thing about harboring the suns power was the fact that you could spread it.

"Give me your hand." he said with a smile and held his own warm one out for her to take

She was about to say 'Well I didn't either.' in response to his quiet comment but instead she gave him a startled look and glanced at his hand.

"What?" she couldn't help but sound startled and looked him over with curiosity. The boy was moving a bit fast for Charlotte, and suddenly she was re-thinking a 16 hour flight with this kid. She was tempted to blast him across the street and tell him to stay over there, but his voice and demeanor hadn't sounded or looked...needy if that was the right word. In fact he seemed cordial, and only his crooked smile told her he was anything more than a statue, his features were surprisingly still and controlled while her own where shaking violently from the cold. That aside she was just going to hold this kids hand to avoid the awkwardness of it all and continued her curious look at him.

To be honest she didn't know the last time she had even touched a boy (aside from training) besides her brother. She was 16 and never had a boy-friend. They had never asked and she had never asked why they didn't, and some how her world went round with out it. There were some girls at the institute that would get sickeningly giddy and girly over boys and how they looked at them and who said what when. And Charlie knew they would do this to poor August the moment she brought him home, pull them into there traps, give him flirty looks and she hoped he wouldn't get sucked in. But if he was wanting to hold hands so soon she wasn't sure how he would fair....

He laughed at her response and hesitance "Just take it, it will warm you up. If there was another way I would, and usually I wouldn't dare if you weren't shaking as bad as you are. Like I said, I have many other settings besides fine point." he continued to hold out his hand.

She was shaking, her hands were shaking as were her lips, her jacket was wet and wasn't doing much for her at that point. He looked at her earnestly, he was also right when he said he wouldn't dare ask, usually he had major respect for the personal bubble but it was a long walk to the airport. Sure he could harbor with-in his being the power of the sun (sunny-d any one?) but he couldn't make the sun break through the clouds, if anything he felt it controlled him more than he controlled it. He gave the sky a quick remorseful glance, he guessed he would have to leave it to God.

((You haven't broken the rule yet but I'm just warning ya, watch the word count! Your posts are getting a bit skinny.))

She looked at his amber-golden eyes and gingerly took his steady hand with her own shaking one, and the moment she did so she gasped as she felt like some one poured hot tea over her head and it trickled down over her body. It warmed her up on the inside, and though she could still feel the cold she felt warm and content. Quickly drew close to him trying to drive the rest of the cold away, he was right, and she could tell it was very different than a fever. Her hair seemed to dry and her body stop shaking instantly, this was awesome. Although she tried to avoid his gaze, it would be awkward if she caught it but closed her own eyes instead. She felt like she was lying in a meadow on a warm spring day. The air crisp but the sun so warm and a warm breeze blew past your face. She could actually smell the sunshine, maybe it was just Sorin. She didn't care if they looked like a young couple in the streets (she planned to let go as soon as they walked into the airport) she had just been so cold.

"Thank you." she whispered and kept her eyes down.

She opened her eyes just in time to see an green sign with the word Flughafen (airport) and followed the airport. Charlie blessed Germany for having walking/biking friendly streets, and she was thankful to be warm.

((Gottcha, I'll watch it. I find it ironic that the modern world strives towards skinny whilst here it seems the more plump the better. She shall not conform to what the media tells us to be!!!!))

Sorin smiled down at her as she drew close to him, but she didn't meet his eye, understandable. He could feel some of his energy leaving him and felt the cold nip of the air, but he soon warmed up again. She had a right to be cold, it was freezing. Although when she held his hand the gold color had drained from his eyes and his hair as it would have been anyway, fighting the cold took a lot out of you when you were thermoregulating.

"Thank you." she had whispered genuinely, and he didn't reply, he merely took her gratitude with silent reverence, he figured she would like that better. Suddenly he was painfully reminded of Benjamin and a dark shadow flickered across his face. He had been his best friend since they were 5 and had spent all the time they could together. Ben was from Germany, he was born their and his parents had been German. His father died when he was 4 and his mother had moved to England with her son to find work. She was Sorin's families washer woman. His parents didn't really care about them or their back story but Sorin did. And he did every thing he could to protect them. Ben had been quiet and discerning and deeply brilliant. Sorin, who could be that way but had a bit of a flare to him always came up with the antics and Ben had always gotten them out of it. They both could build and invent but Ben was the real German engineer. And Sorin missed him like a brother would each morning he woke up. And every time Sorin kept a reverend silence in the day he thought of Ben and tried to keep his memory alive.

Swallowing hard his voice came out a little gruff "We're here." he said as they walked to the front sliding doors of the airport, they made a sound as they slid open while they stood there, but Sorin didn't make a move, only released her hand, its what he thought she would have wanted.

((Yay good job!))

Charlotte gasped again as he suddenly released her hand when they had arrived. Almost immediately she felt all the warmth drain from her body as suddenly as it had come. And she could feel the biting cold at her nose and fingers again. It kind of tingled and stung as it worked its way into her body again. Quickly she drew Sorin in through the doors and into the airport walking over to the ticket lady. There was no line and they had about 15 minuets till the plane left. Although that wouldn't be a major problem seeing as they had no luggage. Walking to the lady Charlotte asked for 2 tickets to New York and the lady set about tapping at her computer to verify and all that stuff. As they waited she thought about there walk.

She had watched Sorin's face when he had fallen stonily quiet, this time not even a partial lopsided smile to re-assure her he was a live, and his face seemed to darken. She could tell even as the gold drained out of it. His eyes were a dark amber and his hair, which was wet, looked like a dark brown. Though dry she imagined it would just be a sandy blond. But she had watched him with curiosity, he was interesting and she noticed it seemed to have affected his mood. She blinked. She really needed to stop getting so distracted. She had to be vigilant and aware, and as if on queue her senses heightened and she became very aware of all that was happening around her ever cart moved or blinking light she saw and she felt the others around her. Taking a deep breath she steadied herself as the lady handed them their tickets and they moved on. Relax Charlie she told herself Soon you will be home, you will be home and you wont have to worry. she relaxed and smoothed out, she was going home.

Turning to Sorin she said "Lets board." and with that they left.

((O.k cool, you really dont have to reply and now you are kinda free to just do and RP what ever you want. Where ever when ever. I might start a capture the flag thread soon so I'll keep you posted if you want to get in on that! Alrighty have fun!))