Sound Testing (OPEN)

[Aura McKinly]

Aura stepped into the auditorium, looking around at the place, her guitar strapped to her back. She was wearing a black tank-top and jeans, classes having been finished for the day. The necklace that Ashton had given her hung loosely around her neck as she walked down towards the stage, looking around at the mostly empty building. Not many people actually used it on a regular basis from what she could tell. Her acoustic tapped lightly against her back with each step, her violet eyes scanning the building to see if anyone else was there. From what she could tell she was alone, just the way she had wanted it. She smiled inwardly to herself, glad that she could get the building alone.

She didn't really want to be bothered, but didn't want to play her guitar or sing in her room today so she had been looking for a lesser used place. The room she had pretty much claimed in the West Tower had been a choice, but she ultimately decided against it, knowing people would know that's where she had gone. Going somewhere completely different was what she needed, it was a nice change. If anyone eventually joined her she wouldn't mind, but for now she wanted some alone time with her thoughts. It was something she hadn't done in a while. She sat on the stage, setting the left handed instrument to her side, plucking a stray strand of her blue hair off the instrument as she swung her feet, looking up at the ceiling.

A lot had happened in the past few months, the most notably was losing half her friends and comrades. She didn't miss everyone, but she was tired and exhausted from the drain it had put on her emotionally. She had lost the one person she had been able to open up completely with for the first time in a while. She reached up and touched the necklace silently, looking down at it for a moment. It was all she had left of him other than the tattered remains of the jacket he had worn. She was going to hold onto those memories though, they were precious to her, even if he did meet his end. She would hold the memories dear to her for as long as she could, remember the times she had. Oh how time had flown, things were so different now, after only a year. Her life had changed, she had strengthened physically, but had she truly gotten stronger?

She was quite unstable emotionally after all. She shrugged off the thoughts though, pushing them back before picking up her guitar and strumming on the instrument, tuning it before looking up, having thought she saw a bit of someone's aura. She glanced around the room, half hoping that she had just been seeing things, but also knowing full well that she had seen something or someone enter.

[Stephen Paulinski]

     Stephen let out a shaky breath. Tears came to his eyes and his arms began to itch. It was beginning to irritate Stephen that everything, absolutely everything, was becoming a chore for him. Putting a shirt on? Splitting pain. Walking? Splitting pain. Breathing? Splitting pain. Eating solid foods? Enough pain to launch him into a swearing frenzy. Was the bullet in his side an annoyance? Hell yes. Was the pain getting worse, day by day? Boy, was it ever. Was he going to the medical personnel to get it removed? Hell. F***ing. No.

     He didn’t trust any of those Ashford employee bastards. He didn’t trust. Every. Last. One of them. Especially the medical staff. He wasn’t about to entrust his body to those sons of bitches who went around shooting up the whole school. He wasn’t going to leave himself vulnerable to them. Never again.

     Classes were over for the day. All Stephen wanted to do was lay down, maybe read a comic book or two, and sleep. Stephen took another painful breath. As a matter of fact, Stephen thought through gritted teeth and tearful eyes, Scratch the comic books. Despite the pain, Stephen managed a short chuckle before launching into a painful coughing fit. He knew that he was in a lot of pain if it prevented him from reading any comics. Stephen shook his head sullenly, put pressure on his side, and began to walk towards the school exit, and towards the dorms.

     At least, that’s where Stephen thought he was going. After about twenty minutes, Stephen realized he had no idea where the hell he was. Sure, he had at least made it to an exit this time, but as to where that exit led him to, Stephen couldn’t even begin to guess. All he knew was that he was, in fact, not going towards the dorms. Frustrated and in pain, Stephen was just about reaching his limit. Being in constant pain sucked. Not knowing where the hell he was going sucked. Not being able to lay down and just go to sleep. Really. F***ing. Sucked!

     The itching in Stephen’s arms was becoming unbearable. He felt his self control was waning, and began to feel his angry, animalistic, irrational side break through again. He felt a cold pit form in his stomach as the side of himself that he had demanded of himself to repress ever since the event began to take over. Just as his forearms were about to burst into yellow flame, images began to flood his mind. Deven. The teacher. The gun. The bullets. Deven’s corpse. And…

     The image that came after Deven’s corpse was enough for Stephen to shake himself back to control. He had repressed that memory as soon as it happened. He did not want to remember it. He did not want to believe that something like that could have happened.

     Stephen began to feel dizzy. Whether it was out of pain, fear, or what, Stephen wasn’t certain. He just knew that his knees were weak, and he needed to get off of his legs. Spinning around, Stephen could not find any seat to speak of. As a matter of fact, he saw no man made structures to speak of through his watery vision. All he could see were trees. Trees and grass. Trees and grass, and…

     The school. The school was Stephen’s only chance of relief. As much as he hated that God-forsaken building, it was the only place within a few meters where Stephen could sit down in peace. Peaceful, except for the school staff, he thought grimly. He took a heavy, pained sigh as he began his trek towards his only option of reprieve.

     Stephen staggered back into the school, clutching both his side, as well as his head. In retrospect, Stephen realized how much of a miracle it was that he didn’t burst into flame. Lord knows he was plenty panicked. Looking around him for the exit he was looking for, Stephen felt his knees begin to buckle, and his consciousness flutter. A new, cold wave of fear washed over him. There was no way in hell he was going to allow himself to pass out in this building. There was no way in hell he was going to let himself become vulnerable to those f***ing cowards with the guns. There was no way he was going to let the event he had repressed happen again. The dorms! he thought in an extreme panic, I need to get back to the dorms! With an expression akin to the one an animal makes as it’s being cornered, Stephen fell onto the nearest door, and pushed it open. Then, everything went dark.

     It took a moment for Stephen to realize that he had not passed out. After blinking a few times, Stephen lifted his face off of the carpeted floor, and looked around.

     Once again, Stephen found himself in the wrong place. As Stephen sat up, he recalled the last time he had been in this room after school hours. He had entered this room after hearing a beautiful voice singing a sad melody. He remembered seeing Camila sitting on stage, dangling her shoeless feet as she sang. He remembered walking in, being greeted by a Shakespearean phrase, and then retorting with his own. A small smile spread across his lips as he recalled that ordeal.

     The sound of a stringed instrument being tuned took Stephen out of his mind’s eye. His eyes locked on the source of the sound. In the dim light, Stephen could see a girl (or at least, he assumed she was, given the curvature of her form) with long, blue hair hunched over a beautifully crafted acoustic guitar. He saw that she was still focused on her instrument. So, praying that this girl didn’t see Stephen’s less-than-graceful entrance, he sat himself against the wall and took a minute to regulate his breath.

     After a minute, Stephen felt well enough to stand up. The dizziness had dissipated, the cold that had enveloped his body now gone. After he had stood up, Stephen debated whether he should head back to the dorms immediately, or talk to this new person first. After realizing that he had no idea how to get back to the dorms, however, Stephen realized that his only choice was to try and make friends with this person, and hope that she would be nice enough to help him back to the dorms. So, with his usual friendly smile, now slightly marred by a painful wince, Stephen walked towards the stage.

     “Hey,” he called out in a friendly tone, “I hope you don’t mind, but I was taking a walk when I heard your guitar. Do you think I could sit with you while you play?” Secretly, Stephen hoped that, if she said yes, she wouldn’t play for too long. Even though he was feeling better at the moment, he had a sinking suspicion that his second wind was only going to be a temporary one.

[Aura McKinly]

Not only was the aura an odd one, but it was obviously someone in a lot of pain. This resulted in a slight frown from the musician, never really liking it when people were in pain. It was so obvious to her it was painful for her to see. She watched as he moved towards her, taking a moment before recognizing the face. He was the one who had taken Deven head on in the fighting that had taken place a few weeks ago. Her hand subconsciously went to the wound on her side, the stitches still annoying her side often times. She knew she'd be getting them out within the week though, which made her happy. She still had a slight limp from the pain though, that was what most people noticed while she was walking.

She watched as he walked, the spikes of pain in his aura evident. How he was still standing she didn't even know, but she wanted to walk over and drag him to the infirmary. Whatever it was that put him in pain was pretty major from what she saw. She simply watched him approach, mentally wincing at the pain he was in. Why would anyone put themselves through so much pain? It was idiotic, unless he was a masochist, which wouldn't surprise her considering the people in the school. Aura couldn't help but mentally feel the pain he was in, it was how her aura vision affected her at times. She couldn't turn it off either, leading to headaches when a lot of different auras were around. She frowned a bit when he asked if he could listen to her play for a bit. It wasn't an unusual request, but it was still not something she wanted to hear. The guy was in pain, pain.

What was she supposed to do in this situation? Should she actually say yes and play for him or be blunt with him? Wait, why couldn't she be both? She could play a song then ask him about how much pain he was in. That's what she would do! It made the most sense to her mind She offered him a friendly smile, deciding if she needed to she could probably charm the guy into going to the infirmary. Maybe a bit of flirting here and there just to get him to go there? Offer a kiss? She could do a lot and then turn him down later if he fell for her, not that it was her goal. She'd much prefer to stay single for a while, especially after losing one of her closest friends, she wasn't looking for relationships.

"Of course you can listen to a song. Maybe....I know! I'll play my acoustic cover of When Can I See You Again?!" She smiled as the song came to her, starting off with the intro before sliding seamlessly into song, her voice ringing, her twang ringing with her well trained voice, making her sound like an amateur country singer more than anything else.

"Switch on the sky and the stars glow for you
Go see the world 'cause it's all so brand new
Don't close your eyes 'cause your future's ready to shine
It's just a matter of time, before we learn how to fly
Welcome to the rhythm of the night
There's something in the air you can't deny

It's been fun but now I've got to go
Life is way too short to take it slow
But before I go and hit the road
I gotta know, 'til then,
when can we do this again?
When can I see you again?
When can we do this again?
I gotta know, when can I see you again?

Joined at the hip, yeah your sidekick needs you
Life is a trip down the road that leads you
Look all around at all the mountains you haven't climbed
It's just a matter of time, before we learn how to fly
Welcome to the rhythm of the night
There's something in the air you can't deny

It's been fun but now I've got to go
Life is way too short to take it slow
But before I go and hit the road
I gotta know, 'til then,
when can we do this again?
When can I see you again?
When can we do this again?
I gotta know,
When can I see you again?

Don't close your eyes 'cause your future's ready to shine
It's just a matter of time, before we learn how to fly
Welcome to the rhythm of the night
There's something in the air you can't deny
So let me know before I wave goodbye

When can I see you again?
When can we do this again?
When can I see you again?
When can we do this again?

Yeah, it's been fun but now I've got to go
Life is way too short to take it slow
But before I go and hit the road
Tell me when
When can I see you again?
When can I see you again?
Tell me when
When can I see you again?"

She smiled inwardly to herself as she finished, satisfied with her performance, though she felt her voice could have been a little more steady through it but she was still recovering form the injury. She looked back over at the boy, her eyes now trained on him. "Now......Why are you in so much pain and why haven't you seen the nurses in the infirmary over it yet? I remember seeing you fighting Deven but not much after that. Mind telling me your reasoning behind not going to get whatever wound it is looked at or are you just a masochist?" Was she being too blunt? Maybe, but she didn't really care. She'd drag the boy to the infirmary if she had to in order to see someone released from their constant pain.

[Stephen Paulinski]

     Stephen sat listening to the girl, for the duration of her song. He winced every now and, touching his side. He really hoped that she didn’t notice. Her barrage of questions after her performance proved otherwise.

     Stephen sighed. He really didn’t want to have to explain himself; he didn’t think he needed to. Who on Earth would trust this staff after what had happened? Who would trust them after what Stephen witnessed? After what he had to do?

     The ugly memory he had repressed since that day began to rear its ugly head. He did not remember much, for he had been in an enraged state. All he remembered was gunshots, a look of fear, the smell of burning flesh and blood, the site of the head in his burning hands...

     Stephen felt his heart quicken, and he broke out in a cold sweat. He put on an obviously fake smile. He eyes bulged as he ran his fingers through his hair. His whole body had gone cold at the recollection of the memory. He felt like he was about to throw up, pass out, and burst into flames, all at once. Instead, after a few shaky breaths, he closed his eyes, gulped in a large amount of air, put on a pained and fake smile, and said, “You have an amazing voice and excellent guitar talent, you know. I wouldn’t be surprised if you ended up being famous, one day.”

     Another spike of pain emanated from his wound, spreading throughout his body like a wave. It was a lot more intense than previous spikes, so a small grunt escaped his lips, his body spasmed, and his hands briefly flashed with orange flame. Stephen stretched out his arms above his head, and let out a loud breath of air, trying to pass off the sudden movement and sound as a yawn and stretch. After his fake yawn, Stephen spoke in a way that made him sound drowsy. It wasn’t that hard to do, given the fact that the pain in his stomach had been keeping him awake, recently. “Sorry,” he said after he had yawned, pretending to rub his stomach, when in fact he was putting pressure on the wound to stop it from hurting, “I haven’t gotten much sleep, recently. So much to do.” He ended with a small laugh and a smile.

     “Anyway,” he said almost immediately after his previous statement, in hopes that his continued talking would throw the girl off of her current train of questioning, “enough about me.” He extended a charred hand, and said with a smile, “My name’s Stephen. Stephen Paulinski. What’s yours?”

[Aura McKinly]

Aura frowned as the boy danced around her demands. His health was obviously not the best, his aura and body movements and obvious fake smile gave that away to the singer and former model easily. The fact that he was doing things that were obvious signs of an injury yet to be treated angered the girl a bit. Everyone needed to take care of their body, especially if said someone was living on an island surrounded by super powered teens who could turn on you out of nowhere for no reason. Not being at one hundred percent was a death wish in her opinion, even for the neutrals. Who knew what could happen every day on the island.

She sighed a bit, listening to him and watching his aura wash over in pain as she heard the small grunt escape him, watching as his hands burst into flames for a moment. She pushed herself to her feet, slinging the guitar across her back and frowning at him a little, crossing her arms as she waited for the spasm to die down. She listened to him, keeping her stance, foot tapping in slight impatience as he continued to skirt around her question. He was trying to shrug off the pain like it was nothing, even though it was obviously not nothing. If he thought he was hiding it easily then he was wrong, especially for a girl who could directly see his aura.

Was Aura angry? A little, she didn't think anyone should ever put themselves through that kind of pain unless they liked it for one reason or another. However, even then they normally could only tolerate so much before they needed medical attention or needed to remove the pain in some way. She did offer a kind smile to the boy when he stated his name though, her eyes softening a little from the somewhat harsh glare she was giving him only a moment before.

"Name's Aura, Aura McKinly." She hopped lightly off the stage, slowing her decent with light so that she landed lightly, avoiding any jarring impact as she made her way over to him, swaying slightly to the rhythm of the song she had just finished. She plopped down next to him, giving a completely innocent smile to the taller boy and speaking, her words flowing sweetly and innocently. "Now can you tell a cute girl why you are in pain? I'd like to help you if I can. What would it take to get you to get yourself looked at? I can offer a kiss if you'd like," she stated, rolling her words smoothly as she spoke. She hadn't tried to charm anyone in a while, but did that matter? Not really, she had been a flirt back home, even while she was dating her ex.

Driving the boys crazy did get amusing at times after all.