.:You and me go masquerading...

Life. It was such a fragile thing. Like a candle, it burned brightly, lighting up a path through the darkness, the unknown surrounding it. But like a candle.. anything could simply, sneak up on it and snuff it out. Like fire.. life needed certain things to keep going.

When someone's life grew out of control and started to run amock, terrorize the majority.. the authorities would have to step in, take care of things. In fire's case, firefighters and their big hoses. For normal people? Police officers and a gun.

For people like Arielle? The government and various kinds of weaponry and specialists who weren't afraid of using tanks to get their point across. Its how it had always been for her kind and how it would always be.

So when she woke up from yet another nightmare, showing the downfall and extermination of her race, she wasn't at all concerned. Dreams like that had invaded her sleep for months. At first she'd been scared, but like everything else in the world, it was something she just had to get used to. They would always be in danger, it was a fact, nothing to be afraid of. There was no way they'd be found. The school was too cleverly hidden. Their security system rivaled that of the White House.

Even if she wasn't concerned.. the nightmares still woke her, practically hyperventilating. With her breathing controlled, she sighed, noting the ever present fever she had, her body temperature usually ranging at about lethal for normal humans. 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Her bones and joints felt achy and on fire. It was normal. When she was little, she'd always been in the hospital, her parents worrying constantly about her, afraid she was going to die.

No one could figure her out, but they kept up the treatments, figuring that's the only logical reason she was still breathing. Then she woke up one night and the whole building was on fire. Needless to say, she realized she never was going to get better.

Throwing off the covers, she glanced around the room, taking in the site. She almost forgot she'd moved all her stuff around to make room for her new roommate. Half of her space was gone, being given to some strange girl. Strange as in, not normal, not as in weird. She stood and stretched her arms above her head, glancing towards the window and pouting.

"This is going to be one interesting Saturday..." She muttered to herself, staring out at the rainy day unhappily.

Black Converse shoes dragged themselves through the mud, already soaked because of the rain, much like the girl wearing them. Looking up, her dark eyes scanned the school in front of her and she let out a long breath. Why was she coming here again? She was invited to the school, but that was many years ago. Back then, the teen declined the offer, not wanting to be trapped in some school and not fight. Shaking her head to herself, she trudged forward towards the building. What other choice did she have at this point? As she reached the steps, the teen extended a hand to knock, but the door opened just before she actually hit it.

"Welcome, Taylor." A warm voice said, and the teen took a step back defensively. "No need to be scared, darling." The owner of the voice stepped out from behind the door, it was the same woman who had informed Taylor of the school all those years ago. "Please, come in."

Hesitantly, the young woman did as she was told. She should have known that the Headmistress had seen her coming, but it still shocked her nonetheless. "I know it's a bit late--"

Taylor was cut off by the Headmistress, "Six years, today, in fact." She commented, guiding the younger girl down the hallway, the water that dripped off of Taylor's clothes leaving a trail behind them. "But do not worry, you are certainly most welcome here still, Miss Cooper. We already have a room ready for you, and I will have you signed up for classes by Monday morning." Taylor's eyes grew wide for a moment, it was as if everything had been planned out, yet she came here on a whim. "You have fresh clothes on your bed, your room is two-seventeen, located on the second floor. Now, off with you. Go get into something warm and get some food from the cafeteria." The Headmistress smiled, and Taylor knew better than to say anything...for now. She gave a simple nod of understanding and headed up the stairs on her left.

If anything, this was weird, Taylor thought as she hiked up the stairs. Then again, what wasn't weird when you were 'gifted'...or whatever you wanted to call it. Everything was so relaxed when the Headmistress spoke, it honestly freaked Taylor right the fuck out. She wasn't used to a relaxed atmosphere...ever. She wanted to talk to the Headmistress more, but the idea of warm clothes and a bite to eat was just too much to pass up.

Before she knew it, Taylor found herself in front of door number two-seventeen. She wasn't given a key, so the teen assumed it was unlocked and grabbed the doorknob, twisting it open and stepping into the room. She wasn't expecting to find another person there, for she wasn't clued in on having a dorm mate at all. If anything, she looked more like a person trying to break in, being completely drenched and dirty, not to mention her hair looked like something out of The Ring.

Arielle blinked and glanced up, having been digging through her drawers in an attempt to find something to wear. You know, that special outfit that would at least brighten her day just a little bit. Thank god she didn't have to wear those fire proof clothing anymore. That got embarrassing growing up. Normal kids got zits but Ari? No, puberty made her burst her clothes into fire and thus end up naked. Her fireproof clothes had looked pretty normal but she'd always felt like a firefighter or something.

She hadn't thought her new roommate was going to show up so early.. but who else would be wandering in so early? She put on her best smile and swallowed the butterflies threatening to burst from her as she glanced at the door. She pulled her shorts down slightly as well as her tank top, hoping she wasn't being too revealing for a first introduction. She had a habit of wearing as little clothing as she could. When you had a fire running through your veins and a permanent fever all the time, then you tended to get hot quick.

Instead of a cheerful young, maybe slightly confused and scared girl she expected to walk in, she saw what looked like something that had just crawled out of a horror film. She screamed and chucked the closest thing to her that she could grab. Which was her alarm clock. Probably didn't help that she'd had a nightmare not that long ago and they were watching horror movies in the living room last night.

Plus.. she looked a bit like a dirty, drowned hobo.

"What the hell do you think you're doing sneaky up on a young girl like this!" She squeaked, voice rising a few octaves in her surprise and fear, eyes wide as she felt her power squirm and rise in her, really hoping she wouldn't set the room on fire when she'd only just got it perfectly set up. "Get out or I'll scream!" Not exactly a world class threat but at least it was something. She wasn't sure if this person was like her, 'gifted' or human. Maybe it was from the government! That's it, she was just in one of her silly little nightmares again.

Oh and yes, 'it'. She was having a hard time deciphering if it was male or female at the moment. Then again, did monsters have genders? She wasn't really sure... nor did she plan to find out.

At first, the girl seemed cute, innocent, but as soon as she turned and looked at Taylor, the girl became some crazy wild woman! Instantly, an alarm clock was thrown in her direction, and Taylor caught it with her left hand without so as much as a flinch. Speed wasn't her power, but she did seem abnormally fast, thanks to a lot of hard work and training. "Sneaking up?" she questioned, a slight Australian accent in her voice. "I'm your new dorm mate." She explained, feeling slightly bad for scaring the other, yet not bad enough to flat out apologize. What? The girl threw an alarm clock at her!

Taylor groaned at the threat of her screaming. Just what she needed to help her growing headache. "I know it's sudden notice and all, but could you not freak out?" She asked, assuming that the young girl was just told about this all either earlier today...or just now when she opened the door. Taylor wasn't in the mood for this, and contemplated just walking out right then and there, but instead she closed the door behind her and walked over to her pre-made bed.

There were some clothes folded neatly in a pile on the foot of her bed, all the basic needs were there, too. Shoes, toothbrush, towels, shampoo, all the works. "I guess she realized I have nothing." she muttered softly as she looked down at it all. The only items she had were in the canvas bag she had slung over her shoulder, those were barely anything of worth. A book, a water bottle,
a notebook, and a map. She wouldn't admit it, but she was somewhat happy to find new clothes, she didn't have the money to pay for her own clothes, and the things she currently wore were used far beyond their years, either stolen or handed down to her.

Wanting to get out of these old, grungy clothes immediately, Taylor turned to her new room mate. "Where's the showers?"

Arielle blinked, flushing slightly at accusing her of being some creep and shifted nervously. "Um.. sorry about that.. I'm just a little jumpy today..." She mumbled apologetically, watching her closely, feeling.. kind of bad for her now that she was able to get a closer look. Any other person would probably look at her and think 'pathetic' but Ari couldn't bring herself to use that word.

"Well its uh.. nice to meet you.. I'm Arielle but please call me Ari... I uh.." She blinked, running a hand through her hair, realizing she probably didn't look all that great herself either, having just woken up. "Here, hang on a second. I have to go take a shower myself so I'll bring you there." She muttered, pulling random articles of clothing and grabbed the little bag that carried her shampoo and soaps.

"Do you.. need anything... um..." She paused and glanced over at her, hoping she wasn't sounding rude, she just.. kinda wanted to make up for being a bit of an airhead earlier. "Feel free to use any of my stuff if you'd like. All those soaps and shampoos the school has on stock are pretty generic.. I got nice stuff if you'd rather use mine.." Not that the girl seemed used to luxuries anyway. "I really hope you don't mind being my roommate.. I got to warn you, this is the hottest dorm out of all of them so if you don't like heat.. you might wanna see about getting switched.."

Putting the alarm clock on a desk, Taylor dropped her bag to the floor, opening it and taking out her few belongings, setting them by the radiator for them to dry. Hopefully nothing would be ruined, but it would be just what she deserved after letting everything get all wet in the rain.

Taylor listened to the other girl talk as she grabbed a towels and clothes, along with the shampoo and conditioner. "The name's Taylor." She said, "Call me Tay, if you want...some people do." Now that she didn't seem so agitated, her voice sounded more tired than anything else. Turning to look at Ari, she tucked her hair behind her ears, proving that she, indeed, was a female.

Taylor watched Ari grab her things with mild curiosity. She seemed honestly sorry for throwing that alarm clock and yelling, which Taylor supposed she could forgive. "I'm fine with this stuff." She said in answer to Ari asking if she'd like to borrow her shampoo and whatnot. As the girl continued speaking, Taylor inspected the room carefully; she always liked to know her surroundings well. It was just a habit of hers. "I like the heat." She replied when Ari mentioned it was the hottest dorm in the school.

Arielle smiled softly, physically relaxing as the girl responded to her questions. Well at least they way they started off wouldn't completely ruin their chances at a nice friendship or something of the like. "Well its very nice to meet you Tay. If there's anything I can do, don't hesitate to ask." She bit her bottom lip, inspecting the young woman for a moment before blushing and glancing away. Yep, definitely female. How could she not have noticed beforehand? Wow was she blind.

"If you say so.." She murmured quietly and grabbed one of her towels, moving towards the door, slipping her flipflops on and glancing over at her. "I would wear shoes in the shower if I was you.. as a precaution." She smiled and laughed slightly, rubbing the back of her head, clothes and towels slung over her arm. "We may be different but we all still get sick."

She smiled and held the door open for her, pulling the back of her shorts down slightly before glancing down the hall, wondering if anyone else had heard them earlier. Apparently not since no one was rushing to find out what kind of hell she was creating this time. "Uh this way Tay." She smiled and beckoned for her to follow, humming softly as she wandered to the end of the hall, holding the door open to the showers for her. "Its going to get really steamy in here..." Water tended to evaporate on her rather quickly and caused a fog in the showers. It was nice if you liked saunas.

Taylor shrugged at the suggestion of shoes, she was sure she probably had showered in worse conditions sometime in her life. Nonetheless, she followed Arielle down the hallway silently. She never really was a big talker when she first met people. But, Ari did seem nice enough, that was for sure. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad staying here for a while. Not that she planned on staying very long, but this was definitely better than some places she had been living at in the past.

As they walked into the showers, Taylor gave another shrug. "I don't mind." She really didn't care how steamy it got in there, she just wanted to warm up and get clean. As much as she seemed like a person who didn't much care about her appearance, she was a girl, and did like to be clean when she could. It just made a person feel refreshed and energized after taking a nice hot shower. Not to mention, it just feels good.

As soon as she walked into the changing area, Taylor started to strip, not really caring who was there. The showers were all open anyway. If the girl seemed dirty with her clothes on, she had just as much dirt on her without them on as well. No wonder she wanted to shower so bad. Leaving her clothes in a wet heap, the teen walked over to a shower head, turning the hot water faucet up all the way. Water sprayed out and heated up quickly enough. Taylor stood under the shower head for a few moments, soaking in the heat of the water before she got down to some serious scrubbing.

Arielle flushed and turned to give the girl privacy. She was pretty shy herself and was normally glad for the steam. Meant you can't really see her or much at all. She stripped out of her pajamas and wrapped a towel around her middle as she turned the faucet on freezing cold. She couldn't feel the water on her body otherwise.

She hummed and set her bag down, pulling out the shampoo and soap before glancing over at her new roommate,wondering if they could possibly be friends or something. She didn't really have many friends at the school. Not that she minded terribly, Arielle got pretty shy at times and preferred a good book or a tear jerker of a movie.

This girl had a story. That much was obvious. Most people didn't end up here on their own, most were picked up or brought by the headmistress, usually they were a lot younger too. It seemed too soon to ask all the questions she wanted to ask though and bit her tongue before the questions could start spewing out.

Sighing softly she dropped the towel and stepped beneath the water, flinching a the slight hiss as the cold water hit her skin and almost immediately evaporated into the air. She sighed and giggled softly, seeing the steam fill the room almost instantly, heating it up a few notches so it was like a sauna. Made it a little hard to take a shower but its something she'd learned to deal with. Lots of patience was required, which thankfully, she had.

"So.. um... sorry again for everything earlier.. I.. was expecting you but I wasn't expecting.. you to look like that."

As Taylor scrubbed herself clean, dirty water sank into the drains. Wow, she had been pretty gross if even the water could be visibly dirty. Now that she was decently clean, one could see the various scars over her body, ranging in size and shape. Each one held a different story engraved in her memory, some good, some she'd rather forget.

As Arielle entered the showering area, Taylor eyed her as she turned the water on cold. For a moment, she thought the girl was crazy, but then noticed the water seemed to evaporate as soon as it touched her skin. So that was why she said it'd get steamy... Taylor thought to herself as she squirted some shampoo into her hand and started scrubbing her skull and hair intensely. It wasn't long before the entire showering area was basically a sauna. Taylor had to admit, that was pretty cool.

The warm water was starting to loosen her up and cause her to become more relaxed, thus why she was somewhat startled when Ari suddenly spoke. "Meh," she shrugged, although she knew that Ari probably couldn't see her due to the fog. "It's fine, really." She should have seen it coming, actually. Due to three days of walking and the rain, she probably did look like something out of a horror movie.

She went silent again as she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair, but eventually, she spoke again. "So you're a fire element, eh?" She knew the answer already, Taylor thought it was fairly obvious, but she felt as if she were required to make small talk.

Ari smiled softly, glad that the girl felt it was okay to actually try and respond. She seemed.. pleasant enough, perhaps a little mysterious and quiet but not creepily so. She was glad for the slight fog in the air, made seeing her a little difficult and not so embarrassing since they both were nude at the moment. "Um, yeah, fire element. Kinda explains why my room is the hottest and the sauna."

Biting her bottom lip and rinsing her hair out as best she could with the limited water she could get in her hair. "What's your gift?" She asked softly, turning the water off and picking her towel up off the floor, wrapping it around herself as she glanced over at Taylor, wringing her hair out even thought it was already starting to dry. The steam started to disappear with lack of water feeding it.

She blinked, feeling like she was looking at an entirely different person. Taylor was definitely female and definitely not out of some scary horror film. "Wow. Tay you're pretty. You must feel a ton better with all that dirt off."

Stepping from the showers and over to gather her clothes and such before glancing back at her, leaning against the sinks to wait for her new roommate to finish. "We'll get changed and then I can take you to go get some breakfast if you're hungry.."

Taylor nodded, although she wasn't sure if Ari could see her or not. "That's cool." She said as she started to finish up her shower. "Me? Oh... I'm an element too...er, sort of." She shrugged, never being able to describe her powers very well. "Electric stuff, you know? I can go into wall circuits and stuff like that. Computers, too." Taylor finished rinsing off and twisted the shower handles to turn off the water. "I can create electric fields and things like that... stick a light bulb in my mouth, and it will turn on." She laughed, reaching for a towel and wrapping it around herself.

As Ari mentioned that Taylor was pretty, the teen didn't say too much on the subject. "Yeah, it's nice to be clean." She shrugged, walking towards the changing areas where the other was. As soon as Ari mentioned food, as if on cue Taylor's stomach gave a loud growl.

She laughed, "Yeah, I like that idea." She said before starting to dry herself off. Once dry, she grabbed the clothes that were given to her. She thanked the gods that the Headmistress seemed to remember what Taylor generally wore. Either that, or she read her mind. Either way, the clothes were simple and comfortable; regular, somewhat loose jeans and a black t-shirt, the sleeves a little longer than average. Perfect.

She finished getting changed and picked up her old clothes, walking over to a trash can and dumping them in there. Good riddance.

Ari's shoulders shook slightly as she held back the giggles that threatened to escape from the image she'd concocted in her mind. A light bulb? She decided she just had to try that sometime. Although.. maybe while she was asleep or something because.. well.. she seemed nice enough but Taylor was still a bit.. intimidating? What with all the scars and what not that she'd just managed to glimpse briefly.

She changed into fresh clothes while she waited for her new roommate to finish up. Wearing a plaid skirt, stockings, heels and a tank top, she definitely seemed looked the part of a private boarding school student. "Well you look like you're only skin and bones. I guessed food would be a good idea. They serve a wonderful breakfast here although many people don't wake up early enough for it it seems.."

With them both finished with their shower, she wandered down the hall, dropping her clothes off in their room before leading her further down the hall to the stairway. "So if you can control electricity.. does that mean you shock people often? Like static electricity?" she asked curiously, half tempted to touch her and find out but not stupid enough to at the same time. "That could get annoying.." It was nice to meet another element user though. Perhaps she could understand the daily struggle she endured each day trying to fit in with normal society. Then again.. Taylor didn't seem like the type of person who wanted to be normal.

Taylor smiled softly as Ari giggled. It was nice being in such a relaxing atmosphere for once. Not that people weren't fun to be around where she came from, but it wasn't the same. Here, things were so care free, it seemed. Not that she'd really know for sure, she had only been here for barely a half hour. "Don't wake up early enough?" Taylor questioned, an eyebrow quirked. To her, sleeping in was waking up at seven o'clock in the morning. One spends about half their life sleeping, why waste time by sleeping the other half away, too?

As they walked down the hall, Taylor remained somewhat silent. She dropped her shower supplies in their dorm without saying a word. It wasn't until Ari started to speak again did she actually talk. "Uh, yeah..." she said, extending her hand up and touching Ari's bare arm lightly with her index finger. Soon strands of Ari's hair stood on end due to the static electricity. A small grin tugged at her lips as she watched in amusement before dropping her hand back to her side. "Your hair will be back to normal soon, I didn't use too much static."

She paused for a moment, "It can get annoying." Taylor agreed with a nod, "I used to accidentally shock people all the time..." The teen ran a hand through her damp hair, "but, I can control it better now." Surprisingly, she almost had her powers mastered, but not completely...not yet. She still had to train, there was still room for improvement.

Blinking, she couldn't help but laugh again, running a hand over her hair, trying to make it stay flat. "That's a nice party trick though." She smiled softly at her, nodding slowly. "I know what you mean.. being young and unexperienced is never fun. Especially for element users. I've had the pleasure of meeting a few and it sounds like each one I meet, the struggles through childhood seem to get worse and worse." And since Taylor had the most ragged appearance when she first met her, Ari was going to guess that her story, if she shared it one day, would be the worst. Not a prize anyone would be happy to take though.

She started down the stairs, passing very few other gifted ones on the way. Not very many people did seem awake at the early hour. Then again, depending on your power, you might have a switched sleeping schedule. The headmistress set up classes for kids depending on when it'd be easiest for them to improve themselves. Like herself, she very rarely was given anything to do on a rainy day since it was already depressing and stressful on her body without putting herself through her normal exercises.

"Here's the cafeteria." She murmured, coming to two large wooden doors and opening one for her, letting her enter first. "Its not much but we use it for various things since its pretty much the largest room at the school. Right now its breakfast time. But we've had assemblies in here before and stuff." She paused to shut the door behind her, following Taylor. "Is there anything specific you want? Its all you can eat and they're usually good at stocking up on everything a kid could want. But if you have to have a special diet, I'd talk to the head lunch lady as soon as you can. Oh and the kitchen is open to students at all times. So if you get munchies at midnight or whatever, you can come here and get yourself a snack."

Taylor nodded softly, curiosity poking at her to ask what Ari's story was, but this wasn't the time for it. When they reached the cafeteria, her nostrils filled with the smell of various foods, and it practically made the teen drool. Taylor barely paid attention to whatever it was Ari was saying about having assemblies. The most she got out of it was that it was food open twenty-four seven, and that was all she needed to hear. Her stomach growled loudly again, and she put a hand over it in slight embarrassment. "No special diet, I'll eat just about anything." she replied, already heading towards the plates.

By the time she got everything she wanted, she had two trays worth of food full of waffles, bacon, eggs, toast, Pop Tarts, and basically everything else there was available to eat. Taylor wasn't kidding when she said she'd eat just about anything. The girl was a bottomless pit, knowing what it was like to go without food for a while, she ate as much as she could when she had the chance.

"I'll find us a table." She said to Ari after she got everything she wanted. The teen walked over to an empty table and sat down, not bothering to wait for Ari before she started to dig in, starting with the Pop Tarts and a large glass of milk.

She had never seen someone inhale so much food so quickly in her life and it was almost.. as terrifying as their first meeting. Clearing her throat, she sat down opposite of Taylor, watching in pure amazement as she took down the large mountain of various breakfast foods. "Wow.." Was the only thing that came to mind as she glanced down at her two pieces of bread and orange juice. "You're gonna get a belly ache later.." She muttered, making a mental note to show her where the infirmary was next... you know.. just in case.

Ari picked up her piece of bread, biting her bottom lip as she tried to concentrate, squeaking and whining as the bread went up in flames. She sighed and hung her head, staring at the smoking piece of coal on her plate. "This sucks.." She muttered and pouted, resting her cheek on her hand, propped up on an elbow. "I hate rainy days. Really dampers my mood and I have no way to recharge my battery... should just move to the desert." She blushed slightly, realizing she'd been muttering out loud to herself. "Sorry.. complaining isn't really an attractive quality on me." She smiled apologetically and tried again with the second piece of bread, glad to see this one turned a nice brown like she had wanted the first to turn. She buttered it and took a bite, watching Taylor again.

"If its not too personal and I hope I'm not being a bother, if I am, please feel free to tell me to fuck off but.. where did you come from before you got here?"

Taylor simply shrugged as Ari stated she'd get a stomach ache later, because she honestly doubted it. Knowing her though, because she doubted it, it would probably happen. Taylor had been in the middle of eating her own piece of toast when she paused and watched Ari concentrate so hardly on toasting her bread. The young adult seemed somewhat amazed (and confused) as the first piece fell to ashes on the plate. "No...it's quite fine." Taylor commented as Ari apologized. "I don't mind at all." With that said, she continued to eat her breakfast, her eyes suggesting that she was thinking about something... mostly because they started to get a golden tint to them. If anyone knew Taylor well, they knew that when her eyes flashed with gold, she was either using her powers, feeling some emotion greatly, or in deep thought.

She had finished off two waffles and a good amount of bacon before she spoke again. "So, you have trouble using powers when it's raining?" She asked, taking a bite of an apple, "Is it normal for kids here to have trouble with their powers when they're not in a comfortable environment?" Taylor finished off her apple and drank half of her water in a couple of gulps. She was very curious about the school, that was why she showed up, after all. Taylor would imagine that by Ari's age, the school would have taught her to be able to better her powers during situations that are hard for her. Then again, this wasn't a fighting school, the students didn't necessarily need to know those things...yet.

The teen shook her head slightly, she needn't to think about these things, at least not until she was chatting with the Headmistress. She took another gulp of her water and started in on a bagel with cream cheese.

Ari blinked, taking a bite of the one good piece of toast, watching Taylor for a few minutes, trying to figure out how to explain the physics of her body to this girl who seemed, in a way, to be far advanced then she was. She didn't know how she knew but.. she just knew. Taylor was on a whole different level and it seemed like she'd... seen things. It was all there in her eyes. Perhaps one day she'd actually be able to read her eyes. It seemed like.. she wanted someone to get close to her but she seemed to have a few hundred walls put up to keep everyone at bay as well. It was so confusing... and yet.. intriguing.

She shrugged and sighed, leaning back in her chair, setting the half eaten piece of toast down. "Its hard to completely explain. My body uses heat and light from the sun to recharge. My body obviously creates its own heat.." She murmured, holding her hand out to her to feel if she so wished. "But its like a fire, it needs some sort of fuel and if I go too long without recharging my battery it eats away at my life source is what the Headmistress says at least. I could go crazy or it could be fatal.. so during the rainy season I tend to tan a lot. Its artificial and not that great but its like eating tofu." She chuckled softly. "So I don't really have trouble.. I just have to concentrate harder and sometimes its too hard and toast turns to dust."

She brushed her hands off over her plate and sighed, glancing around as more student filed in. "I don't really know what the headmistress has planned for you next but I guess I can show you around. Its a Saturday so I have no classes.. I guess you could probably meet a few people but its all up to you hun."