The Woes of Fame (OPEN)

[Aura McKinly]

Aura sighed as she stepped into the building, her guitar, as usual, slung across her back. She took it around with her to nearly every class save for powers classes. She preferred to keep it somewhere safe during those classes but that was besides the point. She never left her room without it, well almost never. There were those rare occasions when she did leave, it was often when she was heading out for a run or to practice in the West Tower. She glanced around the slowly growing crowd, a bit bored by the people around her before she wandered over to a wall, leaning against it before she heard a few voices slowly start to get closer to her. She opened her eyes, which were closed at the time, having slowly been getting a headache from the auras around her, and found herself gathering a small group, just like the V-day dance.

She winced inwardly, annoyed by the auras that were gathering in the room in general. She had never had an issue at school functions before, then again most of the time students weren't forced to go and, instead, had a choice as to whether or not they wanted to attend. The flux of different emotions from person to person was a little taxing on the girl's mind, though she had to rough through it. Especially with the people gathering around her, which she turned her attention to next. She didn't recognize any of them this time. That was what made her the most uncomfortable. If any were Battle Front she knew she'd be perfectly fine like she was last time, but her trust issues were always there. Anyone paying attention would have noticed a slight twitch and uncomfortable shift by now, but that was only if they were paying attention to a girl being placed into a situation she just wasn't comfortable handling.

Then again, was it really that hard to pick her out among a crowd? Her hair and eyes were unique compared tot he majority of the student body and she had inherited the body of a model, her mother's. She couldn't help it if her parents were well known for what they did and that she had picked up their talents. Didn't mean she liked the fame all the time, like now. Right about now she could deal with a little less fame, especially when she was still recovering both mentally and emotionally from the losses earlier that summer. She glanced around at the two people who were looking at her curiously, almost as if they had on the tip of their tongue who she was just didn't say it because they didn't want to be wrong. At least it was only two people, the others, she noticed, had been members of the BF and knew she was recovering so wandered off elsewhere. She looked back at the other two, a boy and a girl, before sighing, speaking quickly and efficiently to them.

"If you want to know if I'm Aura McKinly then yes, yes I am." With that said she pushed off the wall and wandered away from the two, hoping to be rid of them before bumping into someone by mistake, wincing. She should really start paying attention to where she was going. She shook out her head a little bit before mumbling, not even bothering to look at the person she had just collided with. "Sorry." She didn't move from her spot, not really in the mood, wincing and subconsciously rubbing her head as her headache slowly worsened. Why hadn't she just skipped this stupid event and gone to her room where she would have avoided all the random auras and headaches?

[Deleted]

Though Adrian had met a few other students by now, he was still out of place, feeling vulnerable in a sense, even if everything was within control of the government or faculty. Being surrounded by so many people, when you saw yourself as dangerous wasn't something Adrian could quite comprehend alone, but he would try, given time, he would even open up without having to rely on his persona as a host. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself toward what may happen in this enclosed space. There were others who were in the same situation perhaps, clinging to themselves much like him and quietly trying to survive the ordeal that was being within this throng of sweaty mass. Moving a slender hand to brush a fine strand of violet hair from his face, he felt a nudge from behind, turning both around and a slight shade of red as he lifted his hands in defense of himself, he spoke.

"No, I'm sorry... I... I shouldn't have been standing there"

His apology coming out in that odd Gifted sense, French accent entwining his lilting voice, his almost crystalline eyes staring down at the individual whom had drove him to distraction through surprise. It was a good thing that he wasn't caught completely off guard, otherwise the situation may have been a lot different than him shying away and trembling ever so discretely. Biting lightly on his lower lip with a canine, his features and frame could have been found on a female student, except that the pants and uniform gave way to the idea that he was indeed male. Trying to take in a breath, the smell of people around also giving him difficulties, his own scent of vanilla drifting from his being, how he cursed the fact that becoming gifted made him something so coveted for no other reason.

"Um... are... are you... alright?"

Adrian asked tentatively, taking half a step back, counter-intuitive to what he was saying. He wanted to help, but he also didn't want to be too close to anyone, not while he was like this, unsure and wishing for guidance perhaps. Though it could just be that he wasn't like those here, he wasn't just a normal student, if he weren't gifted, he would just be a criminal. Then again, if he weren't Gifted, all of this would never have come to pass. Sincerity flooded his words through his lips and eyes, as he tilted his head lightly, giving an impression of practiced elegance, though that wasn't quite the reality.

[Aura McKinly]

Aure continued to mumble under her breath before she heard a response, blinking a few times in a combination of surprise and irritation. How was it his fault for doing something that everyone else was doing? That made absolutely no sense. She had been the one not paying attention to where she was going, why would he need to apologize for that? He was being your average student, standing around while the rest of them were wandering around like idiots trying to either avoid trouble or get over the irritation of going to such an event. She was stuck with a major headache, and that didn't help the fact that she was not happy to begin with.

She rolled his eyes at the apology in turn, dismissing it as if he hadn't said anything before he asked another question, the young singer glancing back at him and blinking a few times in surprise at the question. Out of all the students someone she didn't recognize had actually noticed her obvious irritation and or headache. She tilted her head and looked up, blinking lazily at the boy before her, not really paying attention to anything but his aura. He was scared, scared of something. What that something was she didn't know, but she did know he was scared. However, the next words out of her mouth more reflected how she was feeling with her headache.

"Oh I am faarrrrr from okay. How would you feel if you had a sixth sense that not many others have and then were thrust into a room full of people that resulted in an overload of information and a massive headache along with being well known among the country music fan-base? You'd probably have at least the intensity of a headache I have right now."

[Deleted]

Kind of surprised, Adrian continued to stare at the girl, blinking slowly as he took equally slow breaths. This place was stressful, so when the voice followed the looks of disdain, no, not disdain, more of dismissal. He wasn't as taken aback by the idea of her feeling unwell. It explained a bit, though the details were lost on him as he didn't know how another sense would have worked, well, unless one thought about lust and such as a sense. Another hint towards who this person was, something to do with being well known in the music scene, in France it wasn't really the place for such news to travel, so Adrian just watched and listened quietly to her rant. He almost had no words for this, no response to her or how he could help, not trusting himself or his abilities to do anything but harm.

"I... I-Is there anything I... em... could do to help? Sorry... I'm not good with... um, rooms full of people either"

Adrian spoke in that sing song like voice, French accent leaking into his words as he half held himself from the others. Aura would see that he shied away whenever the throng of people began to get closer to him, almost as if he were afraid of catching on fire or something similar if someone got ahold of him. Though his lips tried to try to turn to a smile, his unnatural crystalline eyes glinting in whatever light were available. Trust was something earned through words and actions, he thought to himself, and it was perhaps obvious to some that he was more in tune with getting to know people, on a one on one basis. Not that a musician would understand, they usually wanted crowds, he wondered what was so different now. Perhaps because she didn't choose to be here and it wasn't a controlled environment.

"Ah, my... my name is Adrian by the way... Adrian Theroux. Pleasure to meet you"

[Aura McKinly]

Aura rubbed her temples a little, trying to stave the headache. It wasn't lessening in any way, and she doubted it would be anytime soon. She'd probably have it for a few days even after the event, aura overloads often left her with long lasting headaches that she couldn't get to go away. She glanced back up at the boy as he spoke, obviously uncomfortable himself. She blinked at him, her violet eyes seeing to shine with a slight curiosity despite the obvious pain she was in at that moment. Why was he so nervous about the event? It wasn't like he was in pane from as far as she could tell. She noted the French accent, though didn't swoon over it like most girls, having never really been a fan of the accent herself.

She noted that he seemed to shift away from most people, almost as if they were the embodiment of the plague or something. She blinked at this curiously, trying to figure things out, not having even realized he asked any questions before she shook her head, trying to clear it and catching his name, wracking her mind for the answer to his question, if she could remember what he had even asked. Knowing what she had said though, it was probably a question about what he could do to help her headache, which there was nothing he could do about that unless he had stronger than prescribed ibuprofen.

"Name's Aura, Aura McKinly. And no, there isn't anything you can do. I know for a fact I'll have this headache for a few days, it always happens when my aura vision gets overloaded....it's very much a pain." Aura let out a soft sigh, knowing very well how long her headache would last. She avoided social gatherings like this for a reason after all.

[Deleted]

"Um... a suggestion... perhaps if you, em, went to a corner or something. You would be around less people than being...here, in the middle"

Adrian said tentatively, lightly biting his lower lip as he glanced toward the edges of the auditorium, he'd have offered his hand and dragged her over, but neither of them would have been comfortable with that. Unless that is, he went and chose his other half, the trained and debonair side of him that didn't really exist. His smile becoming a little more formed, now that he was concentrating on one person than being in a massive throng of bodies.

"If... if you want, I can... help you get somewhere like that, the corner I mean... and... what did you mean, by Aura vision?"

Mentally, it made sense, that she would be away from people in square feet, given that currently she was surrounded by all sides. Once in the corner, she would only be surrounded on two sides, though that may make no difference whatsoever, whatever this Aura vision was. It sounded like some kind of sight based thing, but he wasn't sure and didn't really care much for it. It wasn't like it would do him any harm, nor did it mean he could do her harm unless she touched him while he was surprised or in a very odd mood.

Adrian would start moving as soon as she acknowledged the idea, weaving around people almost like a trained dancer, he would avoid being touched at almost all costs. Holding himself away from people, shooting into fear if the throng began to shift suddenly in an unexpected manner. His crystalline eyes carefully watching everyone, his violet and blue hair shifting with each motion that made him look totally androgynous. Which explained the looks he was given by both male and female students.

[Aura McKinly]

Aura chuckled nervously at the suggestion. Being in a corner wouldn't help unless she was facing the corner like she was a five year old. No, her vision was attached to her line of sight, sure closing her eyes didn't help but it didn't expand her field of vision. Being in the center of the auditorium was actually helping her a little, keeping half of the auras out of her vision and leading to a slightly less extreme overload. Not that it helped much, she was still suffering an extremely painful headache that would be with her for the next few hours, if not days. She rubbed her temples a little, trying to come up with a not nasty way to say exactly that to him.

"I....really don't think that wou-" she cut herself off quickly as he seemed to motion for her to follow him, her hand reaching out to grab onto his wrist so she could try to explain herself, but finding that he had gotten just out of reach. She sighed inwardly, not wanting to follow but also not wanting to leave the words unspoken.

Aura steeled herself, taking a few quick steps forward, ignoring the growing pain in her head and followed after the boy. She weaved in and out of the crowd quickly, before finally catching up to him, reaching out to attempt to grab his arm. "W-wait! That wont help! It's attached to my line of vision, so if anything it'll result in more auras being fed into the vision at once and even worse of a headache!"

[Adrian Theroux]

Adrian didn't really hear it, perhaps unconsciously he did, but he was already on his way and though he was quiet and shy, he seemed to have something within him that made him want to accomplish things, shielding himself as he always seemed to do. The hum of people, making him uncomfortable and yet warm to a degree, fearful of their touch and closeness but happy he wasn't alone perhaps. Tentative glances back, confirmed that she had been following, the corner of his lips turning to an almost smile as he stopped by the edge of the throng.

His crystalline eyes taking in Aura as she reached out and grabbed him, his hands clenched into fists and then relaxed, she wouldn't hurt him, he wasn't surprised here as he knew she was following him. So he tried to calm himself, but couldn't help but allow a trickle of his ability seep into her fingertips before he pulled away as if burned. Color rising to his cheeks as he looked down, almost ashamed perhaps, if he only let go, just let his actions be dictated to his more confident mask. But he was perhaps more than determined behind that doe-like look of fright to try and make a friend.

"Um... sorry... If... I mean, if... em... if it's to do with your vision... you could just focus on... me, I'm in the corner, so... it wouldn't look odd"

Adrian said, his french accent leaking through his speech, his hands moving to clutch his arm defensively. As if any loud noise would make him scatter toward the exit. He expected something, pain perhaps, from what would happen, it was quite obvious to any astute observer, but there he was, standing silently as close to the corner as he could without actually leaning into it. Eyes every so often darting toward Aura and then down again.