Hidden Stars

There were plenty of places Malcolm was looking forward to seeing. He would have preferred seeing places with his own eyes, since his goggles provided a bit of shading and nothing was its true color, but the chances of him killing everything were too much and he would have preferred keeping it to looking without killing.

Which was why, when he entered the conservatory, that he felt a little sad inside. He liked being able to see plants with his own eyes, but they died easily from the amount of radiation his eyes produced. He was glad he was at Beata, to learn to control his power. But there were moments like this one that made him wish he knew how to control it alread.

Leaning down he stroked the leaves of a plant, glad he at least wasn't oozing radiation from his skin.

Sophia happened to be in the conservatory when Malcolm had shown up, though she was kind of out of view. After realizing there was someone else in the building with her, she stood up, and walked out to see who it was. "They are pretty aren't they?" She asked the guy whom she didn't know.

Her hands were currently tucked behind her back, as she stood there. Her soft white gloves still covered her hands even though they would get dirty from messing with the plants. She had the exact fear that he did. She was afraid to mess up the plants because of her gift. Though her danger was in her hands not her eyes. Even her gloves didn't prevent accidents from happening, just warned slightly in advance.

Missing people when surrounded with such beauty could be normal for Mal. He liked being able to see things for himself and seeing the plants and the flowers and all that was so nice. So if he passed over Sophia, then that was fine with him. She did make herself known in a way that did make him jump a bit, but he got over it fast and grinned in her direction.

"They are. Sometimes I wish I could see them without the cream coloration of my goggles getting in the way." His goggles reflective properties came mostly from the substance that colored the lenses creamy-orange. Not really noticing her gloves, since her hands were out of sight, Malcolm sat back on his bum and looked up at her.

"So, come here often?" He asked half serious half being silly.

Amber eyes glanced over to the flowers, and plants the boy was looking at before she had disturbed him. She could understand how the color of his goggles would get in the way of viewing the delicate flowers, but she couldn't help but wonder why he wore them. Gloved hands moved from behind her back, and neatly folded in front of her.

"I come here occasionally." Sophia said to the boy with a shrug. She loved viewing the flowers, but fearing that she would mess them up by accident, she barely came here. She never cared for wearing gloves, but she had to deal with it if she didn't want to accidentally kill someone. It seemed anyone new had the fear of killing someone with their gift though. It was kind of a common thing.

The plants were so beautiful. Nature was lovely. It was such a random thing but it had such purpose and order at the same time. There was nothing it couldn't do. But not being able to see it all clearly was annoying. After pretty much outright saying this, Mal was curious as to why she hadn't asked him about it. She moved her hands to her front and he spotted the gloves. They were really cool. Perhaps she was just shy, though she seemed to be talking to him just fine.

"Do you like gardening?" White gloves weren't exactly the best for gardening, but perhaps she knew the secret to cleaning them easily. That would be amazing. Malcolm would really like to know that secret if that was actually the case.

Nodding along he felt a little awkward and like he was floundering, trying to find something to say. "I can see why." Was all he managed as he scanned the plants that surrounded them. Sometimes Mal wished he could just leave his goggles off, but he wanted to keep everyone around him safe. It was no fun. But hopefully Beata would teach him to control it and he would no longer need his goggles.

Yeah the plants were beautiful the girl was carefully tending to some of them before Malcolm had shown up. She was gently spraying more of the delicate plants with water, while some of them just needed to be placed in a different spot.. Some dirt speckled her snow white gloves but it would be easy to get out.

Amber eyes looked up at the boy as she studied him for a moment. His clothes covered most of his body, and he had goggles.. Her mind wondered why he wore them. She wanted to ask but didn't want to be rude.. She looked down at her own gloves. Would she consider it rude if someone asked about her gloves? She wouldn't really care either way.. It was basically another way for someone to ask about her gift. Maybe she should do that instead of asking about the goggles.. Yeah that would probably be better..

The Spring girl folded her hands back together, and let them rest in their place in front of her. She looked back up at the boy. Yeah.. I had a garden before I came here.. I loved taking care of herbs and stuff.." She said to him. She tilted her head slightly. "Um.. What is your gift? If you don't mind me asking.." She stated kind of shyly.

After she moved her gloves in front of her, Mal hadn't seen any dirt but could actually see some after he looked. Looking after plants sounded like a relaxing pass time and he figured he could come down every once in a while and help her. That seemed like a good idea, so later he planned on coming down and seeing if anything needed to be done. He had long since controlled radiation through his fingers, though it had never really been strong in the first place. Malcolm could easily help the plants.

Having clothing that covered him almost completely had just been a preference. They honestly had nothing to do with his power, though in the past they had worked at keeping the radiation at a low. He hadn't been in control much. Luckily the power had developed slowly and hadn't managed to kill his parents. That would have been awful. Malcolm wouldn't have minded being asked about his goggles, it was something a lot of people asked about. But if Sophia didn't want to do that, then he was fine with it.

Nodding at what she said, Mal smiled a bit. "That sounds nice. I never really had a garden back home." He said. There was a good reason why he didn't have one, though his mother could have easily kept one. Grinning up at her when she asked her question he shook his head. "I don't mind at all. It's radiation manipulation. I control radiation, amounts, types. It comes strongly through my eyes, so I wear goggles to prevent from giving people cancer." Mal said, pointing to his goggles when he brought it up. "What about you?" He asked, meaning her power.

She should have expecte the question to come back to her.. But for some reason she didn't so it kind of surpised her when it did. "Oh.. Uh.. Well.." She paused for a moment before speaking up again. "It's disintegration.. anything I touch will turn to dust.. The gloves sort of act as a warning system." Sophia explained to the boy. She untangled her hands and looked over them for a moment before returning them to their original position.

Repeating questions was something most people did in conversation and Mal found it only right. It was better than trying to think of something new. Plus, he had told her about his. Nodding as she explained, Mal wondered what that would look like. Or how much she could disintegrate. But he didn't want to ask her that, since she seemed to have enough trouble just saying it.

"Well, at least you have a warning system. Hopefully we'll be able to control it without needing help from something else." He said with a hopeful smile. It was a nice idea.

"It's going to take me a while.. This gift is really hard to control and never really acts with my will. It more so likes to act on it's own. Occasionally it does what I want it to do." Sophia explained rambling a little bit. Or at least she thought. The girl picked up the spray bottle she had early, and walked over to a plant that looked like it needed some water, and gently sprayed it.

Smiling slightly, he wondered if she ever believed it possible to control her power. Mal knew he would eventually get it. How long, well that depended on how he worked and how his power worked.

"Yeah, well, nothing is worth it unless it's hard to get, huh?" He said with a calm smile. He knew they would get it and it would be so worth it. "How 'bout we work together on this?" He suggested, thinking it would be great if they could encourage each other to get it right.

A small sparkle appeared in the girl's eye as he suggested working together. A huge grin grew on her face. "Really? That would be great!" Though she wasn't too sure on how the two of them would work together to better their gifts. All she could thing of was destroying a lot of things with their combined abilities or something. But surely he must have something right? "Oh and I kind of disagree with you on the first thing you said."

It was nice to know Sophia was willing to work with him. Sure, it would be weird and hard to figure out how to work together, but it could be possible. They were just as dangerous to each other as they were to the rest of the world. Maybe Mal just felt it was right they work together because of their powers. It just seemed right.

"Perfect!" Malcolm grinned back at her, happy to know she agreed on working together. "I'm Malcolm, by the way. Most people call me Mal." It had taken him a while to realize neither of them had introduced themselves.

Eyes widening a bit in shock, Mal tilted his head like a curious puppy dog. "And why is that?" He asked curiously, sincerely wanting to know why. He truly believed something that you worked hard to get was worth way more than what you got with ease. He wanted to know why she believed different.

Sophia would offer her hand for him to shake but that could end up bad. "You can call me Sophia or Sophie. It doesn't matter to me which one." She responded to him. "Well.. Hard work is important but some easy stuff is worth it. It can also be a relief after hard work and stuff." She explained as best she could. She couldn't exactly think of the exact reason.. Nor could she explain things to well..

It was okay with Malcolm that they didn't shake hands. She had already explained the reason why that could be bad, so he could live with not shaking her hand. Yet. He set a goal in his mind that, one day, he would be able to shake her hand and both of them would be fine. It seemed like an achievable goal and he was set on doing it.

Smiling at her, he was glad to get her name so he knew what to call her when he saw her at other times in the day. "It's nice to meet you, Sophia." He settled on her full name, mostly since it wasn't much longer than her nickname. Full names were very nice, though Mal didn't use his full name just because it was super long.

Nodding he listened carefully to what she said and tried to understand. "I suppose that makes sense. It is nice, after lots of hard work, to get to gain something without trying too hard." It made sense, but Malcolm liked being able to gain something after working very hard for it. Still, easy things were nice.