How Long Has it Been?

Minnie sat in the Lounge, staring blankly at the television, her arms folded and her legs crossed, right foot bouncing. It had been a couple of months since she arrived at the school. She was brand new here, or so it felt, but she hadn't even started making a name for herself. And that annoyed her.

This place was supposed to be for practicing your powers, right? But other than that, it was still a regular high school, and she hadn't been a Nobody at her last school. In fact, she'd been a perfect Somebody, a person who had so many friends, she barely remembered any of their names. Unfortunately, having been thrown immediately into studies and facing pressures from her parents to study more, Minnie hadn't had time or energy to make friends.

Now, hwoever, it was the holidays. There was a Winter Formal that she wasn't going to because she hadn't gotten a dress. The Lounge had seemed like the perfect place to meet people. She had overheard plenty of students arranging to meet up here and study or hang out. Being there now, she wasn't sure studying is what they were doing. It was a very relaxed environment. Surely, someone else was here by themselves.

The winter prefect happened to be a someone else that was by himself. Well now he was. He was helping a few other students with some school stuff, which happened to be his job. So he was used to other students asking for his help. The whole time he kept up his friendly attitude. When he was finally free of the other students, he went and sat down in a chair brushing his hair back, and out of his face, letting out a sigh.

That's when he noticed the girl sitting by herself, not to far from himself. He recognized her slightly, she was a winter student wasn't she? He couldn't recall her name. "Hey, you are a winter student aren't you?" He asked her. He needed to keep better track of the students in his house.. That's what he gets for reading science books all the time instead of learning names.

The boy working with other students had caught Minnie's eye. He was familiar, somehow. She decided he must be in her house, or she had a few classes with him. When the other students left, she returned her attention to the television, assuming he would leave with them. He didn't, however, and sat in a chair near her. With a toss of her hair, she straightened up, presenting herself in an assertive way, hoping to come across as confident.

"I am," she responded when he did speak to her. "And you are, too?"

He blinked when he straightened herself out, seeming more confident, and he guessed assertive. "Yeah. I'm one of the winter prefects." He said, "I'm called Magic." He shifted in his chair straightening up as well. "And you are?" He asked.

A prefect? Minnie had to hold back a cocky smile. He would make a good friend.
"I'm Minnie," she answered. She smiled politely at him, leaning forward and holding out a hand in a rather formal greeting, expecting him to shake it.

When she held out her hand for him to shake he was a little confused at first. He wasn't used to any formal greetings, but he took it and shook it anyway. "So what is your gift, Minnie?" He asked. It was something commonly asked among meeting people new people. So it was normal for people to be curious about it and ask.

He was being a bit forward, she thought. And Magic suddenly struck her as an odd name, even though they were at a school for people with powers.
"Uh, well, it's not very exciting," Minnie shrugged, sitting back on the couch again after retracting her hand. "I can manipulate my voice." She offered no further explanation, simply watching him instead, waiting for him to share as well.

Magic felt a smile grow on his face at what her gift was. It was basically an aspect of his gift. He wanted to manipulate his own voice and show he could do it as well but he didn't. "My gift is sound manipulation." He figured he could help her with her gift if she ever wanted it. "I could help you with you gift, if you would like the help."

Minnie had to stop herself from scoffing. Wasn't she here to learn from teachers who were trained and professional? There was no way she could really learn anything from another student. For a few moments, she considered the offer. It hadn't really been an offer, more like Magic giving her options, but she didn't like the feeling that she was being looked down on.

"Thank you," she finally said, smiling at him. "So is your gift hard to control? It sounds pretty vague."

He shifted in his chair for a moment. "Depends on what I'm doing with it. Certain things are hard to control and are rather finicky, where some things are rather easy." He paused for a moment then cleared his throat. "Like this is easy." He said manipulating his voice so it sounded like hers, but it only lasted for that sentence. "Having enhanced hearing is easy too, because that never goes away." He said using his normal voice, and a normal tone.

Hearing her own voice coming out of this strange boy was unsettling, and Minnie's eyes widened against her will. Suddenly, she felt jealous. He had some broad range of sound manipulation, and all she had was a portion of it, a small slice of whatever he could do. With a strong sense of pride and a need to prove herself, she leaned against the arm of the chair, one elbow resting on it in a casual position.

"Well, that's a pretty neat gift," she said. Her voice came out sounding exactly like his, only she hadn't cleared her throat first, falling easily into it. "Personally, I wouldn't like having enhanced hearing. How do you sleep at night?" The voice may have been Magic's, but the tone and accent were wrong, the way Minnie spoke was in her own style with her lilts and patterns.

Hearing his own voice come from the girl didn't really effect him the same why it had for her. It was nice that she got his voice down so easily but the tone, and accent weren't the same. Also he had a feeling she wouldn't be able to keep it up for a long time. When she asked about him sleeping at night, his expression dropped into a frown, his eyes not exactly portraying the same light they had earlier. "I don't. Not because of my hearing or anything, I learned to deal with that long ago." He said in a bit of a low voice.

Quickly all of it sort of vanished, and he returned to looking somewhat normal. "Personally, Enhanced hearing is all bad. It has some perks to it. Being the prefect, it helps me prevent fights before they even happen, cause I can hear people arguing a good distance away." He wanted to show off his gift a bit more but he decided against it.

Minnie was taken aback by Magic's sudden change in demeanor. Getting no sleep must have been hell. She could barely survive on five hours a night, let alone nothing at all. Just as suddenly as he had changed, he returned to how he had been before. She wanted to know more about him, know what on earth this sudden change was. But she had just met him. She had to get to know him better.

"Must be a useful skill." Minnie was watching Magic as she spoke, hoping to get a reading on him.

"It is from time to time. Some times it can be annoying, you learn to live with it. When it came to trying to sleep with it, it was never an issue. I normally tone out the world anyway so it was kind of easy to learn to do when trying to go to sleep." He explained. It was kind of a terrible explanation. He could never explain anything. He wasn't aware that Minnie was paying extra attention to his words now. Even so it was going to be hard for her to find anything.

In response, Minnie merely hummed, unsure of what to say. She was still learning to get used to others having powers. When she had first learned that she wasn't the only one, she felt bitter, sure that her special treatment would get taken away because she no longer stood out from the crowd. But nobody else knew about it. She and her family had kept it to themselves, and her friends only knew that she would be leaving them for a different school.

"So do you often help other students?" she asked, attempting to change the subject.