Searching

[Elsa Bellefonte]

She was going to kill her. That’s right, the next time she saw her, they were dead. Not just dead, dead meat. Pulverized, in the most humiliating fashion that Elsa could think up, and she could certainly think up some humiliating ideas, especially when it came to her identical twin sister. She loved Erika to death, but there still happened to be problems whenever you lived with someone who shared the vast majority of your genetics, especially when it came to losing or "borrowing" things. In this particular instance, however, Erika had "borrowed" something and lost. Really, the murder was mostly in Elsa's head, though it was seriously times like this when she wished she had a more... offensive ability.

Elsa, however, was smart. She knew that it was pointless to go scurrying around, looking for the item by herself. Erika didn't remember where it was, and while Elsa could go down the rabbit hole and attempt to figure it out, neither she nor her sister was exactly looking forward to that, especially when there was an easier solution: have someone else look for it. Elsa happened to know just the person too, if only in a roundabout, heard it through the grapevine, sort of way.

If anyone could find it, Christopher O'Conner, Irish transplant certainly could. Of course, ironically, Elsa had to find him first. She preferred to do it her way: wait in a place he had to cross and see if he showed up. as for how she would figure out who he was, well, that was easy: she was scanning the mind of every possible candidate who walked through. She just needed to find someone who "read" Irish, so it was barely a flick across the surface. Very easy, almost deceptively so. Easy enough that Elsa could sit back and do her math homework while doing it, and she was fairly certain that she could feel the right person. Best way to figure out though: Elsa threw her pencil.

"Oh, I have lost my pencil, if only someone could find it for me," she said, talking loud and slow, her eyes following the other guy just to be sure. Okay, it wasn't flawless, but it would be interesting, no?

[Christopher O'Connor]

The shower felt amazing after a nice long nap it helped wake him up. Letting the steaming water run down his back for a few minutes he ran his hands threw his hairs a few times. He leaned down and shut off the water then reached out to grab the towel. Once dry he yanked on his boxers put on a robe, and headed to his room.

Clothes on he grabbed his wallet, room key, and his phone before heading off. Whistling a tune his mother used to sing him before bed "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore" he trotted down the stairs to the first floor. Today was bound to be yet another exciting day at Bellefonte Academy.

And that was when he got hit in the neck by a wayward pencil. "Wha' the bloody 'ell?" Looking around he bent and picked up the pencil just in time to the oh so coy voice in loss of a pencil. Chris straightened then turned toward the lovely 'destressed' maiden. "'ere you go, Miss. I believe this be you're lost pencil?"

If this was some sort of new pick up line he can't say he approved, but it was original. Plus the girl was cute. Dang, was every girl in this place a looker? He should've come to America ages ago!

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Wow, he was Irish, be still Elsa's beating heart. She very carefully kept her thoughts, and her mind, to herself, as she eyed the young man. He had returned her pencil easily enough, there was that. The pencil also had more or less hit him. Elsa smiled her broadest, brightest smile and took the pencil from the boy, "Thank you," she said, nodding her head slightly. "I had just lost that," she spun the pencil in her fingers for a while.

Okay, maybe just a peek at his he---and he was thinking that she was pretty and that American girls were pretty as a whole, so the Irish thing wasn't an act then. Either that or it was an act embedded deep within. That didn't confirm anything though. No, Elsa needed more. She looked up at the man, obviously studying him for a few seconds.

"I've also lost my laptop charger," she said, speaking slowly. She smiled. "And since you're so good at finding things, surely you could lend me a hand," she rose from her seat, dusting off her jeans for a bit. She reached up, tucking the pencil behind her ear, and flashed the smile at Chris again. "I'd be so grateful if you helped me look. I think I lost it over there," she pointed toward an outlet. In truth, she'd shoved the charger behind an armchair a short distance away, then made certain to cram it underneath. Definitely findable, but also a good test for, well, seeing if she'd run into somebody who had a knack for this sort of thing.

[Christopher O'Connor]

"Yes, lost." He gave her an odd look as she took back the 'lost' pencil. Chris gave her a small smile and was about to leave when she said the word and he froze. It was like saying the "No!" really loudly at a dog the body jerked to a stop and he actually lowered his head a little.

Slowly turning back around he felt the familiar sly smile spreading. "Oh? Lost your comp's charger? Pity." Picturing a stereotypical charge he felt a tingle as his powers automatically kicked in. He flicked his gaze toward the outlet but it was like an electric buzzer in his head with the words 'wrong way' flashing in his brain. "Are you sure, Miss? I think you be a bit off."

Not wanting to charge the girl for something as trivial as something so nearby he simply strode over and shifted the chair. The entire time he walked toward it the charger's picture grew stronger in his mind's eye. And as soon as he touched the chair he felt another tingle. "Lass, it be here." Reaching down Chris held up the charger. "An' sorry for askin', but how do you kin bout me?" He held up the charge at eye level gazing down at the cute girl.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

"Yep, pity," agreed Elsa, nodding. She watched him move his eyes, her own moving with his, following, curious to see what he did and how. The temptation to brush against his mind and see what was going on there was just too much for Elsa: she gave a little peek yet again. It almost felt like someone had thrown a giant "not there" sign up for her, and Elsa nearly had to take a step back. That sometimes happened when she tried to peek into the mind of someone with mental abilities. They could often run interference, making difficulties for Elsa that were almost like her own shielding ability.

"Really?" she managed, her voice stressed. "I could've sworn I---" but he was already moving to the chair, shifting it aside. He found it easily enough, even with her having kicked it into an awkward position some distance from where she suspected. Sure enough, there it was: the top of the line laptop charger gathering dust with various bunnies and pocket change. He had it, he picked it up, and he turned to her

"Know what?" Elsa said, attempting to sound innocent. It nearly worked. "Know that you're the finder, as it were, able to locate items? You haven't exactly been quiet," she held out her hand for a charger. "You can't blame someone for wanting to see how that worked," and she had a better idea than most. She was tempted to try rooting around in his brain a bit, but she was always... obvious when she did that. She wasn't sure he'd be so willing to help if he felt his brain tickling. "I need something found," she said once she got her charger. "My sister borrowed a hair clip. She lost it. It's an heirloom. I need it found," she kept it simple, her tone almost pert, her eyebrows raised in a challenge. Though she had to admit, this was... interesting, one of those abilities that people were likely to just sort of brush over in favor of some of the more... exciting ones...

[Christopher O'Connor]

Again he didn't feel anything odd he was just focusing on finding the object. Now usually it wasn't this easy to find the lost object, but since it was less than thirty feet away it was a cinch. He wished all his cases were this easy. Besides unlike some of these kids he practiced with his gift a lot. His Grandfather had demanded it. Every day he had to spend hours trying to find things hidden all over, sometimes all over the city.

Giving her a look it wasn't the first time he'd been tested. "Aye, I've been advertisin' but tha' don'na mean you kin me face." Chris narrowed his gaze then blew off the dust on the charger before handing it over to her. "See how it worked? All you saw was me walk ov'a an' move a chair."

Each bit of information he made a mental note all the details she could give would help. "Do you have a photo? Be might faster if I 'ave a picture. Or at least tell me color, some definin' feature." Otherwise he'd be bringing her every old hair clip in the area. Not that he'd really mind since he didn't have many cases on his lap right now, but it was one of those cases that would drive him nuts. The itch to search wouldn't stop until she said he's found it.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

"You mean you aren't plastering your face on those? How do you expect someone to find you?" Elsa replied, her lips twitching upward. "How, what," Elsa waved a hand dismissively, "it's all more or less the same. I tell you to find something and you can locate it: that's what I needed to know."

Though, as Chris continued, Elsa found out that it was a least a little more complicated than that. A photo, as if Elsa had a photo of the thing on her person. Description though, description she could manage. She was tempted to ask why he'd need that, but she figured that the answer would be simple enough: the more accurate an idea he had of the item, the more certain he could be that he was looking for or finding that item.

"It's an antique, dating at least back to the founding of the school," answered Elsa, speaking as though reciting facts from a sheet. "It's about this long," she held her fingers out only a few inches, "with a bronze inter-working and a green stone that's a little loose and faded. It's also likely got a few brunette hairs stuck to it, like these," she pulled some of her hair down, showing it to Chris for a moment before releasing it.

"And I'll pay you," she finished, figuring that might help move things along. Plus, Elsa was fairly certain that he actually did this for a living, which did strike her as a being a little mercenary, but she didn't see a point in hammering him about it. As long as he didn't break any rules, she was fine with it.

[Christopher O'Connor]

He crossed his arms across his chest giving her a impish grin. "By askin' round for me. Or I donna kin slipping a note into me mail box or somethin'." Maybe he should put a number for people to call, or an email or something on his fliers. That would make getting gigs easier, and less likely for girls to throw things at him.

The more he thought about he nixed the phone number on the list idea others he'd have a phone going off at all hours of the night. Not for cases, but just for kids thinking it was funny to call a random number. Emails he can easily screen through and delete. It's not like he had the money to make fancy fliers with his face plastered all over the school. He wasn't running for class president or something ridiculous like that.

She started listing more details his eyes glazing over a bit as the picture started forming in his mind. Each detail shifted the picture made it more defined. Chris chuckled a little as she brought her hair around to show him not like he couldn't tell her hair color by simply looking at her.

"As per normal I do charge a fee." He said just as she said she'd pay and his grin grew. "I charge twenty dollars a day it takes me ta find it. Every day I actually look for it, tha' is. No chargin' you for days tha' I spend twindlin' me thumbs." Not exactly what his Grandfather taught him, but then again he wasn't his Grandfather.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Slipping a note might have worked, if he'd left some kind of indication of it. Elsa probably would've used that if she'd had the time or the inclination, but this was so much more interesting all the way around. Plus, she wanted results quickly, and she always preferred face to face conversations when she could manage them:

that way she could read a little deeper.

Like the moment Chris's eyes glazed over. Elsa began reading actively then, hoping that the signals from whatever she was doing would now sort of get lost in the shuffle. The reading though it was... strange. It always was whenever someone did some mental picturing, since, as everyone knows, a picture was worth a thousand words. Elsa could sort of read it whenever one popped up and all, but it always felt a little strange. sort of like someone embedding an image in the middle of a text book; you looked at it, but your eyes kept shifting. It didn't help that the image was more or less building as she attempted to look, which was, again, sort of like reading a message as someone wrote it.

The words broke Elsa's concentration, mostly because they bobbed up to the surface moments before they came out of Chris's mouth. "Twenty---" she repeated, blinking, not quite believing that. He had some kind of special gift and that was all he was charging? Well, she really couldn't throw more shade on his whole mercenary habits. Every day he looked for it; now Elsa was smiling. "Fifty," she said, nodding, "and you're not spending days looking for it: you're finding it today. I'm pretty sure it's in our dorm, and if it's not there, we can just retrace her steps,' she folded her arms, practically challenging Chris to say no.

[Christopher O'Connor]

As soon as she was done giving a more fleshed out description the tingling spread through his body again. This time it was stronger and he resisted the urge to itch his arms. After stating his price he automatically looked around the area to get a general direction of where he needed to start. When he got the right direction it was like a rope tied to his stomach pulled a little.

He didn't charge much a day but then again he never looked all that hard per day. Sometimes the urge to search was too strong however and he couldn't drag it out. When she stated fifty so firmly his eyebrows shot up, but when she continued on with her terms his eyes went wide. This girl knew what she wanted and stated it plainly.

"Fifty? Today? Now?" Well, that was most certainly unexpected course this entire encounter was unexpected. At least he would't have to worry about the itch lasting very long. With a million watt smile he waved an arm out for her to lead the way. "M'lady." As soon as she started walking he'd follow along head held to it full six foot two and half inch height.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

That smile was definitely what Elsa wanted to see, and she met it with a very pleased one of her own. "Those are the terms, yes," she said after he repeated. He gestured, and Elsa actually felt a much more genuine smile tugging at her lips. She suppressed it though, simply nodding and taking the gesture for an indication to get started.

"We're in room 202," she said, not bothering to look over her shoulder. He'd follow; he'd keep up and he'd listen. Elsa had employed him now, and she'd paid at least double his going rate; she'd gotten his attention and then some. "That's in the coed section of the dormitory, so it's highly unlikely that anyone's going to look twice about your heading in there," Elsa tactfully didn't mention that they might look twice about her, considering that Bellefontes could sometimes draw attention, especially the one that had the same face as the infamous Erika Bellefonte.

"You can call me Miss Bellefonte too, or miss if you really want," she said over her shoulder. He'd figure out her last name soon enough, since it wouldn't be too hard to determine who lived where. She wasn't going to give him more than that unless he directly asked, and even then, she might dodge a little. After all, it was much more fun playing with someone and trying to see what they thought. She did another quick surface read too, wondering how Chris's mind worked when he was in the middle of a search as opposed to right before or after.

[Christopher O'Connor]

She stated the room number though since she was leading him directly to the room it wasn't really like he needed to be told. Besides if the clip wasn't actually in the room then he'd know it and look elsewhere. Hopefully this also wasn't some kind of little test, but from all the detail she was able to give he doubted it. Besides she offered to pay this time around.

To think he could make an easy fifty in an hour. A part of him was tempted to hide her stuff just to get more money out of her. But that would be something his Grandfather would greatly approve of thus he couldn't do it. Sure he might try to milk his powers to get money out of other's, but he wasn't a leech.

He could tell her that his room was in the co-ed section, but that was personal information not necessary for her to know. Besides when it came to the cases it was all about the client not him. Man, this girl had a high attitude. Bellefonte? Blinking something clicked in his head, but he wondered if it was the right kind of click. "As in the family tha' owns the school?"

The rope attached to his gut was pulling harder, and his skin crawled a little. The image in his mind would get more solid then fade like a bad picture on an old TV set. If they were going the right direction he'd know it.

[Elsa Bellefonte]

By now, Elsa had grown used to people reacting to finding out her last name. She didn't even break stride as Chris pieced it together. "Yes, as in that family," she agreed. Elsa barely looked over her shoulder, smiling quickly before moving back to the door. She got her key out quickly, unlocked it, pushed the door open, and then headed in. The common area was a bit disorganized, mostly thanks to the other people who happened to not be Elsa yet live there, and it could, in fact, be there.

"It's probably around here," said Elsa, finally turning to face Chris again. "though it could be in my sister's room," she pointed toward Erika's room. She was tempted to suggest that it could be somewhere in her room as well, but she decided that she could rule that out. If he wanted to search; she'd let him, but somehow Elsa doubted it.

"Let me know what I can do to help," she said, crossing her arms and watching him. She didn't challenge him; just had faith that he'd do precisely what he'd been paid to do. Elsa had hired him for a job, after all.

[Christopher O'Connor]

His eyebrows rose up in surprise, but after a second of thinking about it he shrugged. That explained the sure of herself attitude, and the easy spending of cash that most teenagers didn't quite have. Well, if it was their parent's money sure they spent it like crazy, but if it was their own hard earned dough it was less likely.

When she opened the door he flinched a little as a was of tingling went down his spine his stomach lurching again. Chris went to the middle of the common room closing his eyes. "Not a t'ing you kin do."

He turned toward the kitchenette area eyes still closed then instantly turned away. That was definitely not the right direction because the rope went from his stomach to his back. Taking a few steps toward Erika's room he saw the picture clearer, and he opened his eyes. He went to the door and glanced back at Elsa, "Are you sure I'm allowed in here?"

[Elsa Bellefonte]

Elsa raised a brow as Chris insisted that there wasn't anything she could do to help. She was tempted to point out that she certainly knew the room better than he, or to suggest that she could even look through Chris's thoughts and help sort them out, but she didn't think it wise to play her hand. Plus, she wanted to see how this process worked and how effective he was. He may be useful in the future, but Elsa needed to see him in action before she could make a definite call in that regard.

So she kept at skimming level, picking up the general flow of his thoughts and getting a basic idea of what he was thinking and where his thoughts were headed. It still proved difficult for her, mostly because Chris's power worked in a very unique way, certainly unlike any other mind that Elsa had encountered, and she'd encountered quite a few in her time here. He approached Erika's room, and Elsa literally saw the picture develop for a few moments.

The question bubbled up as thoughts moments before he spoke them, which nearly made Elsa wince; it always felt odd whenever that happened. She walked past him, just lightly brushing before reaching for the door. This she easily opened, pushing it inward before gesturing. "By all means. Just don't do anything perverted, or else I'll have to have you castrated," and Elsa smiled in a manner that was a little less joking and a little more threatening before moving fully aside, her eyes remaining on Chris while he headed inside.