[Kenzi Nadir]

”Sssshit.” Kenzi cursed, looking down at her finger. ”Shit shit shit shit shit.” The nail on her right index finger had ripped from her skin, the top half bent upward. Blood was pouring from the wound. The strangest thing was, she didn’t feel any pain. Just shock. Her finger felt numb. But that numbness quickly faded. ”Oop, there it is.” She grimaced. The pain started building until it was burning, throbbing, red hot - it felt as grisly as it looked. She gently wrapped her finger in her purple, sparkly t-shirt to prevent the blood from spilling onto the floor. “Shiiiiiiiiiiit." She cursed as she ran to the nurse’s office.

Kenzi hadn’t been too aware of the perils of her powers. Being technically invisible was pretty cool. She hadn’t seen any downsides. Not until now. She was setting up a pretty basic prank - connecting a bag of glitter to the door of the classroom so that it would fall down on her history teacher as he walked in. To do this, however, she had to divert everyone’s attention away from her so she could set up the prank unnoticed. So, as she was messing with the door, a student, not realizing she was there, slammed the door on her finger. Her focus on her powers broken, as well as the loudly spoken expletive that escaped from her mouth, alerted everyone to her presence.

It took her a second before she realized she didn’t know where the nurse’s office was. She did her best to conjure up a memory of the map of the school, but she couldn’t remember if the nurse was to the east or to the west. She caught a rogue student wandering the halls. ”Where’s the nurse’s office!?” She asked forcefully. The student stood, shocked, assessing the situation, his eyes catching the growing pool of blood on her shirt. ”Yo! I’m bleeding out here!” She said when he failed to respond.

“Oh, um, uh…that way, um, left, down the hallway, then, uh...second right, last door on the left.”

”Thank you!” Kenzi shouted as she took off.

“Third right! Third right!” The student called after her.

”Gotcha!” Kenzi called back has she ran.

Following his instructions, she sped to the nurses office and burst through the door. ”Little help!? Gotta botched finger here!” She held up her wounded finger, still spilling blood. ”Uh…” Looking around, she didn’t see anyone that looked like a nurse. All she saw was what looked to be another student. ”You know where the nurse is? Kinda got a minor emergency here.” She showed her grisly finger to the girl, her hand covered in shiny, crimson liquid.

Melody Newton

[Melody Newton]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

I NEED TO COME DOWN

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]SEEMS LIKE THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD WENT AND LOST ITS MIND

[attr="class","nikki102"]AND ALL MY CHILDHOOD HEROES HAVE FALLEN OFF OR DIED

[attr="class","nikki109"]Melody was due for her pills, that's why she was here, the school had deliberately set her schedule so that it would fall during breaktimes. Clearly that was to stop her from skipping out on class. Not that it had worked. Right now she was waiting for the nurse to show up and unlock the cabinet that contained the various medicines for the school. She could have burned it open, but it would have been fairly obvious who it was who had done so. That and she didn't want them to think that she was dependent on them or the pills.

She'd been sitting here for ten minutes already, which meant that the nurse had definitely not just stepped out to go to the toilet or grab a cup of coffee. Something must have happened somewhere else on campus. Either the nurse was going to get back in a matter of minutes, or she could well be gone for hours. Melody was torn between just going back to class or waiting a little longer. At least class might take her mind off the uncomfortable sensations that would probably start spreading through her limbs soon.

She'd been about to jump off the bed when the door was flung open by another student. Said student was brandishing a bleeding finger. Eyes wide, Melody shook her head.

"You think I'd be sat here if I knew where the nurse was?"

She rolled her eyes at the student, who was still spraying blood all over the nurse's office. Pushing herself off the bed, she crossed to the cabinet that she knew the nurse kept bandages and plasters and things in. This one wasn't locked, and Melody rummaged around until she produced the few things that could actually deal with the issue. Turning back from the open cabinet, she pointed at the bed.

"Sit."

[attr="class","nikki103"]309

[attr="class","nikki103"]Kenzi Nadir

[attr="class","nikki103"]Eau de Resistance

NOTES

Drama queen...

PHARAOH LEAP.

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[Kenzi Nadir]

The girl didn’t seem taken aback by her rather grisly wound and the somewhat copious amount of blood staining her hand and her t-shirt. ”Respect.” Kenzi said under her breath. She knew a whole lotta people who would’ve cringed at the sight, or maybe would’ve frozen, or had a legit, full-on freakout. She knew this guy in middle school who literally fainted at the sight of blood. Part of her was hoping for that kind of reaction. Maybe not the fainting, that would be a bit too far. But she wanted her injury to provoke something, leave some kind of impact. But at the same time, she held a lot of respect for the girl’s coolheadedness.

She watched as the girl walked brazenly over to the nurse’s cabinet and pulled out some bandages. This girl must’ve been at the school for a while; and she must’ve come to the nurse’s office quite a lot to know where the medical supplies was kept and be confident enough to raid it (again, respect). She wondered what prompted these visits to the nurse. Meds? Chronic illness? Maybe. But she hoped for something more exciting. Maybe she was a rebel. Maybe she got in the kind of trouble that would lead to injury, like maybe she did parkour or something. Her attitude certainly supported these ideas, though her physical wellness obviously did not. Still, a girl could dream, couldn’t she?

Kenzi obeyed her orders and jumped up on the bed, though not without difficulty. At five feet, Kenzi had difficulty getting onto high surfaces, or medium surfaces, or even, on occasion, low surfaces, but she managed to get her leg up on the bed and hoist the rest of body up along with it. She sat, holding her finger gently in her uninjured hand. ”You know how to use that stuff? I mean, I know bandaging up a wound is pretty simple in theory but I don’t know what to do about this nail.” She brought her finger up to her eye, observing the nail bent upward at an almost ninety degree angle. ”We might have to cut it off. Do you have any nail clippers? Or maybe just a pair of scissors would work, but we’d have to be real careful.”

Kenzi bit her lower lip. Her finger still hurt pretty bad, but the burning hot pain had been reduced to a rhythmic throbbing; and while she did have a pretty decent pain tolerance, it still stung. She decided to turn her focus away from the pain and onto the fellow student. She had striking eyes, almost supernatural really. She thought about asking her about that, but she had a more pressing question, one which would probably reveal more information. “What are you in here for? You don’t look sick or injured or anything.” She asked. ”I’m Kenzi by the way. What’s your name?”

Melody Newton

[Melody Newton]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

I NEED TO COME DOWN

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]SEEMS LIKE THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD WENT AND LOST ITS MIND

[attr="class","nikki102"]AND ALL MY CHILDHOOD HEROES HAVE FALLEN OFF OR DIED

[attr="class","nikki109"]Once the girl had sat, Melody had crossed back over with her haul, it included safety scissors, antiseptic, gauze and some adhesive bandages. It was just the girl's finger, but if you believed the way she was acting maybe she was risking the whole digit, instead of just the nail. The scissors were for the bandages, but would probably do for cutting the fingernail as well if necessary.

At least the diminutive girl had stopped asking stupid questions, although instead she had decided to pry into Melody's reasons for being here. That was less convenient Melody didn't exactly want to explain her chronic illness or her constant need for medication to control it's symptoms. Although, she thought, as her golden eyes lit upon the antiseptic bottle, perhaps she could redirect the girl's attention.

She liberally doused the gauze in the chemical, making sure to get more than enough both to clean the wound, and probably draw forth a shriek from the other girl. Hopefully it would have the beneficial side effect of curbing her curiousity.

"My name's Melody, now hold still, this will sting."

She pressed the antiseptic against the girls bloody finger, careful not to put any unnecessary pressure on the nail which was bent back grossly to 90 degrees. What ever it was must have really hurt.

[attr="class","nikki103"]219

[attr="class","nikki103"]Kenzi Nadir

[attr="class","nikki103"]Eau de Resistance

NOTES

notes here, i guess?

PHARAOH LEAP.

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[Kenzi Nadir]

There was something about the girl’s eyes that really attracted her attention. They were such a beautiful color. She wished she could capture it, turn it into a pastel that she could use in her artwork. She was sure if she tried enough she could recreate it through mixing and blending, but it was such a startling color, it would take a lot of work. Plus, she’d want to use it an awful lot; it would be difficult to recreate it over and over again. Maybe she could create her own, if she tried. She’d have to remember to ask if she could take a picture of the girl once she got her finger bandaged up for color reference. 

”Melody. That’s a nice NAME!” Her voice rose three octaves as Melody pressed the antiseptic against her bare, bloody flesh. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Holy FUCK! Okay.” She took a deep breath. ”Okay sorry. Just...ouch.” She gave a strained little laugh. Her finger stung like someone had just touched hot metal to her flesh, but she laughed it off. Kenzi was a pro at redirecting attention, not just others, but her own. She couldn’t use her powers on herself (at least if she could, she hadn’t figured out how to), but she was quite proficient at taking control of her mind, especially when there were people to socialize with.

”You know that’s funny, ‘cause my sister’s a musician,” she said, talking through the pain. ”She’s not like, super well known. I don’t know if you know her. Andrea Nadir?” she asked without waiting for an answer. ”Anyway, she makes the best music. It’s like nothing you’ve ever heard before. One hundred percent unique, authentic; it’s true art.” She laughed a little. ”Oh no, I almost got started on the art rant. We just met, I don’t think you’re ready for that.” She laughed again, full and hearty.

”So uh, you know what you’re doing with this finger thing here? Not saying I don’t trust you, it’s just this nail seems like a delicate ordeal and you haven’t quite displayed the ethos to let me know you won’t give me an infection or something,” she said casually. ”Not that I’m particularly worried about that. I’m not that kind of person. I’m just saying, you know, maybe we can put our two brains together and make sure my nail doesn’t grow into my flesh.” She laughed. ”I’m joking by the way. I know that’s not gonna happen. Probably.” She added that last word with jest.

Melody Newton

[Melody Newton]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

I NEED TO COME DOWN

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]SEEMS LIKE THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD WENT AND LOST ITS MIND

[attr="class","nikki102"]AND ALL MY CHILDHOOD HEROES HAVE FALLEN OFF OR DIED

[attr="class","nikki109"]So the girl never stopped talking. Maybe it was how she dealt with the pain, or maybe she was just one of those people who seemed to have an endless repository of pointless and tiring small talk. Either way, Melody wasn't particularly thrilled that her waiting for the nurse had been interrupted by such an individual. She didn't even seem to need Melody to respond, she'd already moved on to another topic only moments after asking her questions.

Melody wondered how she didn't really know the girl. When you lived on a campus you tended to recognise most people, even if it was just from passing them in the corridor, but Melody wasn't even sure of that with this girl. They seemed about the same age, so maybe they were just in different classes?

"You're fine, it's probably not going to grow into you. This isn't some kind of horror movie."

She took the gauze away from the injured digit. It was stained red with blood, but most of the bleeding seemed to have stopped. The wound looked a lot cleaner as well now, still nasty, but at least not encrusted with gore.

"I'm not an expert or anything, but I bet we can just tape your fingernail back down and it'll regrow."

She looked to the small collection of items she had place beside the girl, including the scissors and adhesive bandages. Grabbing them, she sized the bandage against Kenzi's finger, then cut it to size. "Hold still."

Carefully she peeled the back of the bandage away, then stuck it down over Kenzi's nail, pressing the nail back down to where it was supposed to be and using the bandage like tape to hold it in place.

"There. I'm not going to kiss it better though."

[attr="class","nikki103"]297

[attr="class","nikki103"]Kenzi Nadir

[attr="class","nikki103"]Eau de Resistance

NOTES

Aaaaall the talking...

PHARAOH LEAP.

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[Kenzi Nadir]

Kenzi laughed. Melody didn’t seem particularly amused, and her comment seemed more annoyed than playful, but Kenzi ignored it. There was no use responding to negativity with negativity. That just made things worse for everybody. ”I know, but wouldn’t that be cool though? In a horror movie. Not in real life, obviously. That would kinda suck. But like, that kinda gore done well I’d love to see. Special effects in film are a really special kinda art, especially gore, like visceral, stomach-churning gore, and if you can do it well, like Cronenburg style, Imma buy that shit on blu-ray.” She put her uninjured finger on her chin. ”I left my blu-ray player back at home though. I could get my parents to send it over. Do you think they’d let us hook it up to the TV in the dorms? I’d love to see Videodrome on blu-ray again. We could have a midnight screening, you know, if you’re into that kinda thing.”

Kenzi studied her finger as Melody pulled the gauze away. ”Nice job.” She said. ”Do you do this often? Like, are you the nurse’s assistant or something? That would be kinda weird to have a student assistant, but you never know. I mean, you never did tell me why you’re here I don’t think. Or maybe you did and I missed it. I’m usually a pretty attentive person, but it happens.”

She shrugged. ”You’ve done pretty good so far. I trust your judgement.” Kenzi followed Melody’s orders to hold still and watched as the fellow student carefully pressed the nail back into place and put the bandage over it. ”Hmm.” She hummed. ”I mean, I woulda cut it off, but I’m no expert. You seem more adept at this than me. Like seriously, are you nurse’s assistant? Or are you just in here a lot ‘cause nurse’s assistant seems like a really weird thing.”

Kenzi held up her bandaged finger, looking closely at it. ”Nice.” She said. ”Still hurts, but nice.” She put both her hands on the nurse's bed, swinging her legs back and forth. ”Now don’t take this personally, you did a good job and all, I just want to wait for the nurse to make sure it’s done properly and I don’t get an infection or anything. Like I said, ethos. But this is good for the moment, you know, making sure I don’t bleed out or whatever.” She gave Melody a mischievous smile. ”I also just don’t wanna go back to class.” She also wanted time to talk to Melody. She’d never pass up the chance to make a new potential friend.

Melody Newton

[Melody Newton]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

I NEED TO COME DOWN

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]SEEMS LIKE THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD WENT AND LOST ITS MIND

[attr="class","nikki102"]AND ALL MY CHILDHOOD HEROES HAVE FALLEN OFF OR DIED

[attr="class","nikki109"]It was amazing. Had the girl ever actually had a conversation? Or were they all as one sided as this one? It was such an effort to get a word in edgeways that Melody wondered if the girl actually had any friends, or just hung around with people that put up with her incessant chatter. Somehow Melody was betting on the latter, and she was trying to work out how she could get out of becoming one of those people.

And she wanted to wait for the nurse. Great. Now Melody was stuck with the girl for however long it took the nurse to come back. At least they wouldn't be stuck in uncomfortable silence, just uncomfortable noise. Uncomfortable for Melody anyway. "No, I'm just waiting for the nurse too."

Again she carefully avoided explaining exactly why she was here. She didn't intend to give away any more information than was necessary. Especially considering even her friends didn't know about her condition, and wouldn't ever if she had anything to do with it. Surely telling this girl would only mean that the whole school would find out in about five minutes. Somehow Melody doubted she was the model of discretion.

On the other hand, at least the girl had finally said something Melody could relate to. "Yeah, tell me about it. I'm not complaining about ditching class for this, even if the nurse should have been here ten minutes ago."

She glanced at the door, tapping her foot. She couldn't feel anything coming on, but she was supposed to take her pills regularly, on a fixed schedule. Interfering with that schedule stressed her out, mainly because she knew that stress could only cause problems with her condition.

At that point the door clicked open, the nurse appearing and seeing Melody stood in the middle of the room. She frowned, glancing at her watch, and completely failing to see Kenzi. "Sorry Melody, it's time for your pills now isn't it?"

It was only immense self-control that kept Melody's eyes from releasing a laser at that very moment, and she alternated her glare between the nurse and Kenzi.

[attr="class","nikki103"]356

[attr="class","nikki103"]Kenzi Nadir

[attr="class","nikki103"]Eau de Resistance

NOTES

Busted...

PHARAOH LEAP.

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[Kenzi Nadir]

Again, ignoring Melody’s less than stellar attitude, Kenzi rambled on. ”Cool. Yeah I thought nurse assistant would be weird, but it would be kinda cool to involve students in that kind of stuff if they’re interested. She shrugged. ”Would probably be pretty irresponsible though. I doubt a teenager could get licensed. Unless they have the power to get licensed or something like that. There’s some pretty crazy powers out there, you never know.”

Melody was intriguing to Kenzi. She was like a tough nut she couldn’t crack. Kenzi was the kind of person who invited others in. Sure, not everybody could jive with her energetic personality. Some people were just not going to like her. She just had to accept that. Unfortunately, she had an awful lot of trouble accepting that. Who wouldn’t like her? She was open and amiable and eccentric enough to be interesting. What wasn’t to love? It was obvious Melody hadn’t come to love Kenzi. Yet. She’d crack that nut if it killed her.

Kenzi grinned wide as Melody agreed with her sentiment about skipping class. She was making progress. ”I know right? I thought we’d have cool classes that taught us how to use our powers like the X-Men or something. Instead we’re just taking math and science and all that boring shit. I moved here to get away from that. I know knowledge is power. But, like, literal power is also power.” She rolled her eyes before landing on Melody again. ”What are your powers anyway? I don’t think I’ve asked you that yet.”

Kenzi could sense Melody’s stress level rising at each passing second. Whatever she was in there for must’ve been somewhat important. Kenzi could help with that. It seemed that their conversation (as she called it) wasn’t engaging enough to distract Melody from her worries. But she could just nudge Melody’s attention toward her. Not a lot, just enough to ease her stress. But before she could do that, the nurse came in, offering Melody her pills.

She swore the look on Melody’s face could kill. And who knew, maybe it could. Things were weird like that now-a-days.

“Ah.” She gave Melody a sympathetic smile and a subtle nod. The girl was embarrassed about taking medication. Kenzi wanted to assure her it was nothing to be ashamed about, but decided to save that speech for later, when Melody wasn’t fuming. ”Hey, uh, you mind taking a look at my finger first? I smashed it in a door. Accidentally, of course. Melody here did a good job patching it up, but I just wanna make sure everything’s done right and I won’t get an infection or anything.” She smiled once again at Melody and gave her a wink, hoping to communicate that she put herself first to save the both of them from class time.

Melody would be her friend no matter what. She would crack this nut.

Melody Newton

[Melody Newton]

Eclipse All my childhood heroes have fallen off or died + Kenzi Nadir

That the other girl instantly drew attention to herself released a surge of relief and gratitude in Melody. She certainly did not want to address her condition in front of another student. It wasn't as if it was something as stigmatised as a mental health condition, but if anyone knew about the fact that she had to take pills regularly for an undisclosed condition then it would be around school in a heartbeat. She'd have to work out some way to convince Kenzi to keep it a secret. Bribery maybe? She still had two of the blunts that Madison had given her, and she rarely found someone who wasn't looking to get high. The nurse seemed to catch the hint, Melody had hardly been subtle about her desire to keep her condition private, and the woman realised that she had made an error in revealing it to another student. With ill-concealed awkwardness she went about treating Kenzi's finger, checking the dressing that Melody had applied. It had been done fairly professionally, after all, Melody had some experience in the matter. Partly thanks to her father. Partly thanks to her many misdemeanours throughout high school. This wouldn't be the first time she herself had ended up in the nurse's office for reasons other than her medication. Eventually the nurse finished checking over the finger, turning her attention back to Melody. There was an awkward silence. "Just give me them. She's already gonna guess about them." The nurse did so, without an apology, although her eyes gave a non-verbal one. With the glass of water provided Melody palmed, then downed the pills, grateful for them. Under this kind of social stress it was only a matter of time until she had an attack. Eventually, after far too much awkward silence, they were both turfed out of the nurse's office under strict instructions to return to their lessons with a note that explained why they were late. Instead Melody hustled Kenzi down the corridor and around the corner, out of sight of the office. "What is it gonna take for you to not tell anyone about the pills?"

© seadra of gs

[Kenzi Nadir]

Kenzi noted Melody’s gratitude. Another step closer. Only problem was what to do after the nurse released them. Maybe she could offer to walk Melody to her class? Or maybe just skip with her entirely if she wanted to. Kenzi had been missing a lot of classes, but not too many. At least, she hoped it hadn’t been too many. She hadn’t gotten called to the principal’s office. Yet. And hey, who was she to break the streak?

”Coolio, thanks.” She said as the nurse checked her wound. ”I was pretty sure Melody had done a good job, but I wanted to make sure. Ethos, you know? God, I’ve been saying that a lot today, haven’t I?” She said more to herself than anyone else. She noticed the nurse seemed a bit uncomfortable. Maybe she felt bad about divulging information Melody clearly didn’t want divulged. She drew all the nurse’s attention to herself, making her forget about Melody for a second. ”Seriously, thank you.” She didn’t like it when people felt genuinely bad, so she tried to use her powers for good and give them a release from their woes, if only for a bit. She quickly released the nurse’s attention so she could take care of Melody.

Kenzi tilted her head to the side. ”Hey, don’t assume things, mate. I can read people.” She said, upbeat. It seemed Melody had gotten an impression of Kenzi from their small time together. Kenzi was a very open (some may say too open) book, so that wasn’t surprising, but it seemed she had gotten a wrong impression. Just because Kenzi didn’t have boundaries didn’t mean she didn’t respect the boundaries of others.

It didn’t take long for Melody to take her pills, so it wasn’t too strange for Kenzi to wait around. ”Sure thing!” She replied to the nurse’s command to go back to class. ”And if you ever need an assistant, let me know!” She said as she walked out of the door with a wink, a click of the tongue, and a pair of finger guns. She was about to follow Melody into the hall before she grabbed the door and turned around. ”That was a joke, by the way. Inside joke.” Another wink and click.

She was about to open her mouth to say something to Melody when the fellow student hustled her around a corner and out of sight. Kenzi put up her hands. ”Dude, if you don’t want me to tell anybody, I won’t tell anybody. I’m not an asshole.” She said, a bit surprised at Melody’s reaction. She must’ve been really embarrassed about those pills. “Seriously, I don’t give a shit if you take pills. It’s not a big deal. My sister’s on like, eight pills. Okay, hyperbole, but she’s got ADHD and bipolar and all that shit, takes a lotta meds to manage. I was on stuff for ADHD when I was younger too, though that turned out to be a misdiagnosis, I just have a lot of energy, but whatever.” She shook her head. ”I won’t tell, it’s none of my business, and if you want it secret, I can keep it secret. I know I talk a lot, but I don’t talk about stuff people don’t want me to, capisce?” Her tone was slightly more serious than usual, but it didn’t lose its cheerful pep.

”Seriously girl, let’s talk about something else. What are your powers?” She asked.

Melody Newton

[Melody Newton]

Eclipse All my childhood heroes have fallen off or died + Kenzi Nadir

The girl seemed taken aback by Melody's reaction. Perhaps Melody was too sensitive about the medication she had to take, or perhaps Kenzi was simply wary of the fact that they were all attending a school for people with superhuman abilities. It probably wasn't a good idea to get on anyone's wrong side here. At least not unless you knew what they could do. Melody's power was strong, and versatile, but she was also aware that there were probably metas here with abilities that dwarfed hers. Her dad has certainly worked with some individuals with truly terrifying abilities. Not to mention the ones that had been on the news recently. Melody had even called her dad, when she'd heard that the MNRU had been involved in her attacks. He'd been fine, which had just made her feel stupid for calling him in the first place. Still, she was glad he was OK, even if she'd never have admitted it. She'd stepped back from the other girl now, letting her step away from the wall. She looked sullen, sheepish almost. She had been worried that Kenzi might blab to someone, but now that she'd reacted like that the girl would know that the information gave her some power over her. She couldn't help but feel diminished, even as the other girl said she would keep the secret and changed the subject. It would do her no good to dwell on her mistake however, so she moved on with the change of subject. "I can do a few things, but mainly lasers really." She opened her eyes a little wider, making their unnatural shade and the shape of her irises all the more obvious. "From my eyes. You know, like that guy in X-men." She looked the other girl up and down, "What do you do? Really fast or something?"

© seadra of gs

[Kenzi Nadir]

It seemed Melody had calmed down. Kenzi’s defense had been convincing. She let out a little sigh of relief and relaxed, leaning her back against the wall and smiling. She was starting to lose hope that Melody would ever be her friend, though it appeared her fortune was turning around. Consider the nut cracked. Now she just needed to peel away the shell to get to the soft and squishy inside. It was a process, but she was very good at it. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Physically, she had very weak and tiny fingers. She was not good at cracking nuts.

Melody accepted Kenzi’s sudden change of subject, and Kenzi’s smile widened. ”Mainly lasers? Dude, just lasers would be awesome enough. What else can you do?” She asked.

”Oh! You were that girl Keke was talking about! You know Keke? I met her in math class. She made the bells go off and we skipped class and found an underground tunnel. Long story.” She shook her head and put up her hand, dismissing said long story. ”See, I made the Cyclops comparison too! When she mentioned your powers. Good thing you can control them though, unless you got, like, laser proof contacts or something. God, Cyclops should really invest in some of those.” She waved her hand dismissively. ”Ah, he’s an asshole anyway, he doesn’t deserve something practical like that.”

She went up on her tip-toes, looking closer at Melody’s eyes. ”But yeah, your eyes are, like, super cool. I always wished I had heterochromia or something like that, but I’m not, like...white, and that happens more with white people I’m pretty sure.” She shrugged. ”You lucked out, man. I’m assuming you got the cool eyes ‘cause of your powers. I didn’t get shit from my powers, physically at least. No cool skin color, no special extremities, no wild hair - though I guess I could just dye it - not even, like, a significant height difference. I know I’m pretty tiny, but that’s just natural.” She shrugged again.

”Yeah, powers!” She clapped her hands and grinned wide. ”A demonstration! Um…” She put her finger up to her chin, thinking. She had several ways she liked to showcase her powers, but she didn’t want to repeat herself. She already used her best one on her roommate. She looked around, humming. ”Okay, got it!” She declared after a second. ”You see that little crack up there?” She pointed to a crack in the ceiling tile. ”Pretty interesting, isn’t it?” She used her powers to focus all of Melody’s attention on the crack. As she was doing so, she knelt down, untied Melody’s shoelaces, then tied the two shoes together. After that, she walked out into the hallway and took a couple steps back, then released her hold on Melody’s attention. Melody should have no idea what Kenzi did to her shoes. ”Okay, now come towards me.” She said, a mischievous grin on her face. She realized then that Melody could actually hurt herself if she fell too hard. Hopefully that wouldn’t happen and she would just catch herself. If worst came to worst, the nurse’s office was right around the corner.

Melody Newton

[Melody Newton]

Eclipse All my childhood heroes have fallen off or died + Kenzi Nadir

Again the torrential assault of words. They spilled forth from the other girls mouth as though a dam had been opened. Melody was slightly surprised that she didn't get washed away by the flood. Maybe that was her power? A never ending rush of things to say. Silly though that would be. "Yeah I know Keke." Before she could get another word in edgeways though she was cut off again by the never ending pouring out of words. You'd need a crowbar to pry a hole in the conversation for any longer than a few seconds, unfortunately that wasn't part of Melody's abilities. She was taken aback as Kenzi went up on tiptoe, coming too close and peering into her eyes. She didn't stop speaking though. Just kept going and going. Melody's jaw tightened at the reference to her changed appearance. It was something she was particularly sensitive of, no matter how often it was compliments rather than insults. From what her father had said actual physical changes as a result of abilities were relatively unlikely, though not uncommon. It was still a sore spot for the teen though. Eventually Kenzi moved on to her own abilities, though the explanation was far from helpful. So unhelpful in fact, that it was boring, and Melody found the crack in the ceiling far more interesting than the explanation she was being given. Kenzi seemed to have gone quiet, and Melody had almost forgotten about her. That was, until, the other girl's voice brought her back to the corridor, and away from the strange fascination the crack had brought. Still confused about whatever it was the girl's power was, she stepped forwards towards her beckoning hands, only to feel her foot catch on something and sending her toppling forwards. She Put her hands out in front of her and swore as she just barely kept her head from impacting the floor. "What did you do?" She looked down at her feet, at the laces that had been tied together. Somehow Kenzi had done it without Melody even noticing. At some point when she'd been staring at the ceiling, and she hadn't even felt it, or seen it. Like a magic trick, redirecting her attention… "Did you… like… make me look at that crack…?"

© seadra of gs

[Kenzi Nadir]

Kenzi noticed Melody’s features tightened when she mentioned her eyes. It must’ve been a sensitive subject for Melody. Melody seemed to be sensitive about a lot of things. It was a common aspect in teens, Kenzi had noticed. Luckily for Kenzi, she didn’t seem to have the sensitivity bug. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt embarrassment. Her parents taught her to embrace herself and be proud, as long as she didn’t hurt anybody, of course. Her siblings were all the same way. Family get togethers were always eccentric to outsiders, but more than comfortable for the Nadirs. Nevertheless, she decided to back off on Melody’s physical uniqueness. She didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.

She watched Melody, excited but tense. She hoped she wouldn’t be mad at Kenzi or get injured. The “it’s just a prank bro” excuse didn’t work if someone got actually hurt, physically or otherwise. She came up with this prank on the spot; usually she spent more time devoted to coming up with a prank, so there were quite a few imperfections in this shoe-tying thing. She just had to hope everything turned out alright. If they did, though, she couldn’t wait to see the results.

Much to her relief, Melody caught herself before she could hit the floor hard. Kenzi let loose a torrent of laughter. But it was not a mean spirited laugh. It was upbeat and hearty. She laughed as if they were both in on the joke. Quickly, still laughing, she ran over to help Melody up. “Yeah, kinda. Attention manipulation baby!” She proclaimed, wiggling her arms in the air excitedly after helping Melody to her feet. ”It’s pretty useful for pranks and stuff. But not those stupid faked YouTube pranks that are just softcore porn. Like, actual pranks. I’m basically a prank goddess. If you see any glitter attacks around the school, that’s me!” She winked and pointed to herself with her thumb.

“But yeah, Keke’s super cool. We were talking about starting a LARPing group. We already have some cool locations picked out. I’m making some flyers to put around the school. Do you wanna join? It’s okay if you don’t have any experience, I can teach you. I just thought it would be really cool with all our powers and stuff, you know?”

Melody Newton