Missing the Yesterdays

[Sage Amberlyne]

Two days. Two long day's he's been here so far. Still had yet to really talk to anyone. Well, other than the tree he was currently sitting in. The nimble boy managed to climb up into it. He leaned back against the sturdy branches, relaxing as the tree spoke to him. He listened quietly, since it was rude to interrupt your elders. And the tree was a good hundred years older than him. He could tell by the old aged voice the tree had seen much.

The blond sighed softly after awhile, then blinked, shaking his head, smiling a bit, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to seem like you were boring me..! I still haven't been sleeping well." he spoke to the tree softly. Sitting quietly and still once more. The tree asked him why he hadn't been sleeping well and he sighed again. "I miss my home, my sister... I miss my dog to.." really he had slept with the puppy every night since he got the little corgi, and now he was without her. He wondered if he'd ever get to see his sister and his dog again. He really hoped so, but he honestly didn't know.

When a bell sounded Sage looked up towards the building. The class ended. That was the last one for the day to his knowledge, he had a free period the class before--which was why he was out in the tree. No one had been around to see him clamber up into it to yell at him. The boy just felt lonely all the time anymore, even with the plants of the school finally talking to him...

Moving, he carefully slid down, getting down from the tree, his hand gently rested against the base of the tree, I'll be by tomorrow if I can't later." he smiled up at the tree as it seemed to rustle it's leaves, but perhaps that was from the small breeze. Either way he turned, looking down at the ground as he walked, not paying attention to anything around him as he talked to other plants around. For all he knew he could of been on a collision course with someone--they lonely lad wasn't paying attention.

[François Laffont]

After his training session, Franck was normally feeling calmer. Most of them consisted of meditation to try and deal with the feelings he got from the trainer and let go of them one after the other to focus on his, only to do the same and be totally calm. But this time, he spent it with lots of people. He could deal with little crowds. He even managed to eat at the cafeteria a couple of times this year. They all had so many different emotions going on, it hit him in a confusing wave of feelings, making it hard to pick up something in particular. Ironically, it made it easier for him. He couldn’t stop the feelings from coming to him but there were so many different ones that he could not focus on one in particular unless he was close to them. This time, however, it was a game and everyone felt more or less the same, cheering for their team, annoyed when they were losing. The excess of the same emotion was harder on the French boy because he had to deal with too many of it at once.

It went relatively well but now Franck wanted to be alone. He did every time he had too many emotions bottled up. He needed to be away from people and their feelings, the time he dealt with those he had inside already. He’d tell his trainer how it went later, for now he preferred to isolate himself. He knew a spot that was generally calm and quiet, where people were far enough of each other to allow him to meditate.

Franck was already trying to meditate, all while walking. Not that easy but he knew he would need to master that technique. He loved being around people too much to let his power get in the way like this. He lost his focus when he saw a bird flying very low right in front of him, forcing him to stop in his pace, following the little bird. It must have spotted a worm or something, it was now on the ground and digging with its small beak in the dirt.

Franck saw someone walking straight in the direction of the little bird. “Don’t move,” he let out at the blonde boy. He joined him. The bird flew away, disturbed by the two of them. Franck gave him a sheepish smile. “Sorry, it’s just, you were walking straight in its direction. I didn’t want to scare it but I guess I failed on that one,” he said, looking towards the horizon where it flew off. At least it had not been walked on or anything.

[Sage Amberlyne]

When the words of 'don't move' hit him Sage couldn't help but freeze and lock up. Slowly lifting his gaze. He wasn't in trouble, was he? The older boy came over and explained. Scare it? He turned his head and looked where he was, noticing the vanishing figure of a bird. Oh. He hadn't even realized the bird was there, he just new the grass was complaining about something digging up its roots. He slowly looked up at the other boy for a moment, "S-sorry.." was mumbled out, before he shifted his weight. Figuring he should continue going to his dorm room. He knew he should probably get something to eat but he wasn't feeling hungry enough to bother.

Sage stood still, eventually looking down at the ground, one hand holding his other arm as he stood still, feeling awkward. This would be the first student to talk to him if he was actually a student. He didn't look old enough to be one of the staff of the school, but he didn't really know. For all he knew he was just young looking for his age. He had no clue and he didn't want yelled at for just running off from hm. Although, even if he wasn't talking to him... Least he didn't think he was, the plants were getting a bit loud in his head again.

He slowly looked up, having a feeling he should be paying attention... "..I'm Sage..." he decided to just kind of randomly blurt out. Okay, so he was tired of feeling lonely, so maybe if this guy wasn't a teacher or part of the staff... Maybe...maybe they could be friends?

As Sage stood there watching him he seemed to lock up for a moment, before a hand moved to his forehead, groaning as he rubbed it.. "C-can we get on the cement?" he asked softly... The Grass was whining they were suffocating it just standing there on it, and it was getting quite loud yelling at him in his head... He slowly moved, stepping to a side, heading for the closest bit of cement... He just hoped the other guy wouldn't think he was crazy for wanting off the grass. The Grass didn't mind getting walked on, but standing in one spot keeps certain blades pinned to the ground and it upset them.

[François Laffont]

Franck still had a lot of emotions to deal with but away from the crowd, their feelings vanished pretty quickly. Not to add that the bird thing was a nice interlude. Still, for now, it was too much for him to really pay attention to the feelings he got from the boy. That is, until he perceived how he made the boy feel because of the way he talked. He didn’t mean to scare him or making it sound like he was in any kind of trouble. Because he clearly was not. Or if he was, it wouldn’t be because of Franck.

The boy introduced himself. With time, Franck learned to know that those who did were generally the new kids. The others often couldn’t care less who you were if they only ran into you. But those who were still unfamiliar with the place were looking for someone to help them out. Most of the time. And since Sage looked pretty young, Franck was certain his theory was right. “I’m François but you can call me Franck. Are you new?” he asked Sage, his French accent showing up as he talked to the boy. More than four years in America and Franck had yet been rid of his accent. At least he toned it down quite a bit. No more Zee instead of The. It was still not quite right, he’d say De, the TH sound being kind of hard for him, but he was easier to understand and that was what mattered.

He frowned a little at Sage’s question. Well, he mostly did because he touched his forehead and groaned but still, one came with the other. “Uh, sure. Are you ok?” he asked as he walked towards the cemented eating area outside. Did he get a sudden headache due to his power? He knew headaches were very frequent.

[Sage Amberlyne]

Sage nodded to the name. HE said to call him Frank, no he said it more like Franck. Hopefully he could remember that slightly different twinge and say it right all the time, he'd feel horrible not saying it right. He wasn't even going to try saying his actual name, while he did take one week of french class once, he was just going to butcher it probably. "Y-yea.. I'm new... Got here... two..days ago?" he couldn't remember. His days were starting to blur together, but that might be from not being able to sleep.

When they were finally on the cement he sighed softly, slowly lowering his hand from his forehead as the voices quieted. He blinked and looked up, "O-oh, uhm.. I'm okay... It's just.." he looked down, most told him he was crazy, or insulted him when he told others about hearing the plants. It wasn't something he could tangibly show so others thought it was useless. But when a place you don't know, the word from plants traveled quickly to him, so if someones walking through a field he'd know they were coming, so it did have it's advantages...

Sage fidgeted a bit where he stood, slowly looking up at the older boy. He stayed quiet before he looked down again, trying not to fidget. At least on the cement the grass wasn't yelling at him, back to their duller softer whispers so it was easier to pay attention to him.

[François Laffont]

Franck was to François an easy way to have people address to him without destroying his name too much. He knew he said it with a French accent, one he didn’t have to copy really. He just hated when they tried to say words in French, since they almost always failed at that. That might sound hypocritical, since he would butcher their English, even if he had become a lot better at it. But he doubted any of them would humor him speaking French all the time so it was bad English and no French words.

If Franck knew the boy was new to this school he didn’t expect that new. “It must be quite a change for you,” he commented. He knew he struggled a lot. Not only dealing with being a mutant was hard enough on him, he had some family issue, faith issue and then was forced to admit his English was clearly not at the level of the other students. It had been pretty rough for him to settle in at first. Now, he considered that he had a solid reputation here and not a bad one. He really improved and he was glad about it.

Sage seemed embarrassed when he asked if he was alright. “Is it because of your power? Don’t worry, we all had to deal with the nasty side-effects at first. You’ll get better control over time,” he assured him. If he had been there only for a few days, he certainly was not used of his power. Franck even gave the boy a sympathetic smile. Poor him, he was going through the hardest part right now.

[Sage Amberlyne]

Sage only gave a quiet nod to the statement of it being quite new. Quite new indeed. He no longer had his sister or his pet, he knew no one. He was only starting to make better friends with the plants around here, the grass was still complaining all the time at him about people walking on it. Really his plants at home never cared, they had enjoyed having someone around even if it was standing or walking or even laying on it. Perhaps the grass here was different and more sensitive? He didn't know... He frowned as he looked down at the cement, he missed running around his back yard in bare feet playing with his puppy... The voices got loud and he frowned, "Not now, please.. Just not now!" He silently pleaded with the plants to quiet down. They slowly died down to leave him alone for...at least the moment.

Oh god what did he just say? Sage's head snapped up looking ashamed. He just missed what he said! Only catching the last few words. control over time. Was that all about? He wasn't sure, but he knew he missed something and he felt horrible. He chewed on the inside of his lip and took a breath... "I'm sorry... I didn't... Hear all you said.. It's Just... the plants..." he fidgeted where he stood looking off to a side. Not wanting to seem rude by asking him to repeat what he said directly. But at least he told him he hadn't heard all of it. He looked back down, hands fiddling with the hem of his shirt as his nervousness probably showed through even more.

[François Laffont]

François could just remember his first days at Bellefonte. Sage had an advantage on him, he already knew enough English to be understood around his. Franck’s knowledge in Shakespeare’s language was very basic and, on top of it, he had this very thick French accent making what he said even harder to understand. He toned it down a lot since then. It was still obvious he was no American, he might never fully lose his accent, but at least you could understand him now. Still, even if Sage didn’t have the language barrier to go past, he still would have a lot to deal with. This was a whole new world opening up to him.

Sage apparently didn’t listen to him very well. The boy would need to focus if he wanted to get over everything. He frowned when Sage mentioned the plants. “The plants? What about them?” he asked. Did his power involved plants? That could explain why he wanted to get off the grass but he never heard of people able to talk to plants. After Cesar the dog whisperer, they had Sage, the grass interpret.

“You have any other gifted person in your family?” he asked. He preferred the term gifted. He thought it was a gift, what he had. Some might consider theirs more like a curse and he would have to agree sometimes but he didn’t like to say mutant. It sounded too much like he was a different species from the non-gifted people. And he couldn’t take not being human. It would go against everything he believed in, make what his mother said to him be too close to the truth for him to bear.

[Sage Amberlyne]

Sage was quiet as he watched the older boy, not sure if he should say something or continue to hold his tongue as he seemed to be thinking on something else. But soon he spoke, ans asked what about the plants. Sage looked of to a side, biting the inside of his lip again. Here is someone who would just call him crazy like everyone else. Oh well, he all ready sort of gave it away, my as well finish so the other can finish the check mark that he was insane. "They were talking to me... They try to all talk at once and sometimes it's to loud for me to hear others." he admitted gently. He was getting a tiny bit better at handling the voices and tuning out unimportant ones, but at times there were just so many he got overwhelmed.

Then he asked about his family. Sage had a pang of loneliness strike his heart, but he didn't show it on his face... "The only family I had before coming here was my older sister... I don't... think she does or did..." he didn't know if he'd ever get to see her again. He shifted his stance a bit out of habit since he was use to standing on grass and needing to move around so they'd not complain. "Why... ..do you?" he asked softly. Maybe he had a gifted family member. He liked hearing it as 'gifted' than 'mutant' made him feel like he wasn't suppose to be getting called a mutant...

Blue eyes looked up at the older boy waiting for his answer, but a line of red instantly splashed onto his face when his stomach growled. Maybe... he shouldn't of skipped eating. He just looked away trying to act like it had never happened.

[François Laffont]

At first, yes, Franck thought Sage was crazy. Talking to plants. Even while living here surrounded by all sorts of powers, it seemed a little insane. Then again, they were here in Bellefonte and if Sage had been dragged all the way here, it had to mean he was gifted and so that there was such power as talking to plants. Still, that did seem a rather weird power. “The plants talk to you... that’s your power?” he let out. He didn’t want to sound like he couldn’t believe him or anything. He tried to remind himself how he felt at first when his power came out. That seemed pretty weird for him too and it had been deafening. He also struggled a lot to fit in and that was certainly something he wouldn’t have Sage go through if he could help it. He talked to plants. He shall have not to find that weird.

He could feel the boy’s pain as he talked of family and felt bad for it. He never meant to make it harder on the boy. He shook his head when Sage questioned him. “I don’t. It came as quite a shock when it happened,” he told Sage. Well, at least they can bond on that. “I’m lucky, my father decided to travel with me to America. But I can understand you feel homesick. We all kind of do from time to time. But you can write to your sister. It’s not prison here,” he said. Even with his father there, Franck did miss France. It was his world and with each day here he felt it was becoming less and less a part of him and more something from his past.

Franck smiled when Sage’s stomach made a sound even he could hear. “Did you eat anything?” he asked. He wouldn’t mind showing him to the cafeteria. Even when it was crowded, it was easier on Franck than any other gathering. Because everyone felt different things as opposed of everyone feeling the same and amplifying it for him. He even pointed towards the school. There should be someone there to serve some food. If not, there were still the vending machines.

[Sage Amberlyne]

Sage gave a faint nod, "yea... Talking to them comes easy... I can usually grow seeds though." he answered softly, looking off to a side. He didn't exactly have any seeds on him, and other than tree branches there really wasn't anything around so he couldn't do any growing from a part of something. He looked back to the taller older boy, watching him quietly for a moment before he looked down again. He felt awkward for some reason.

He was surprised at his later words however, and he looked back up to him once more. "I'm allowed to write to her?" why had no one told him that? Not once had anyone he encountered told him he was allowed to write to his sister. Would she be allowed to write back if he wrote to her? So many questions wanted answered, but he knew it would be rude to start spouting them off at him. He was another student, he might not even have all the answered for him. Granted he was very much less intimidating than some of the people that brought him here. Of course the whole getting swept up with barely a word of good bye from his sister had him feeling less comfortable with the adults that had brought him. But no matter, right?

But he heard it. And Sage swallowed, "Well...no.." he answered softly. He hadn't eaten anything. He had had some breakfast since it'd been brought to him since it'd been his first day and they wanted the time to explain the school to him, but beyond that, nope. Not a thing. Granted he still really didn't know his way around, and he also didn't really feel all that comfortable just wandering around. There were so many others he just didn't know. He didn't want to rub any feathers the wrong way either, Sage was more of a passive person. Rather silently suffer then risk the chance of upsetting someone else.

Sage noticed him point and he blinked, but gave a slight shrug. He was considering just finding his way back to his room and just going to bed. Sleeping made hunger pains go away, and it would be easier to avoid others in there also. He didn't have a room mate, not sure if he would eventually. By the size of the school he figured it would happen eventually. He had a feeling it was because he was new they wanted him to have some time to adjust perhaps?

[François Laffont]

Franck knew some plant lovers talked to their flowers in their garden. All that Franck did about theirs at home was pick a French style for it and grow some fine herbs. He never bothered talking to them. He wouldn’t have thought they could listen, let alone reply. But Sage could talk to them apparently. Maybe it was something more like ‘I’m thirsty’ and ‘that bug is eating me, I’m dying’ kind of speech. Or grass begging they stopped walking on it. Franck stared at the courtyard. So much grass. Put things in perspective.

He stared back at Sage, not wanting to look impolite while the boy was talking to him. He shrugged when the boy seemed so surprised that he could write to his sister. “I don’t see why not. You might have to check with the administration but, I mean, we wouldn’t have internet if we couldn’t chat, right? Plus I often write to some old friends of mine and I don’t get reprimanded for it,” he told Sage. Maybe the school won’t like long distance calls however. Then again, like Franck said, he didn’t live here at the school so there were some rules he was unaware of.

When Sage confirmed he didn’t eat anything, Franck knew what he had to do. As long as he didn’t intend to order half of the menu and let Franck pay, it should be fine. Then again, even if the boy was to do that, Franck would pay. Reluctantly but he would pay. “Come on, let’s grab something to eat,” he said, nodding towards the doors leading inside the school. He moved towards them but stopped, turning to look at Sage again. “If you’ve got any question, I could try answering them. I mean, I’m no teacher but I’ve been here for a little while now. Did you get a tour?” he asked trying to be as welcoming and helpful as possible. Their first stop would be the cafeteria but if Sage wanted him to show the boy some of the rooms in here, he wouldn’t mind.

[Sage Amberlyne]

Sage really hadn't known he could write to his sister. He was excited at the thought that he could. He just hoped she would have time to write back to him. He'd love to know how his corgi was doing. He really missed his little Cloud. When he'd been at home him and his corgi were always together, he missed having the little fluff ball following at his heels.

He blinked, "Oh.. well.. Uhm... Sorta.." he admitted sheepishly. It'd been during his second day here after getting led to his first class room. He was shown where he would have classes, but he had trouble paying attention. The plants had started talking to him by then and it'd been to much for him to hear any of the words being said to him by people around him. Really the plants around here were quite demanding. He wondered if they thought they were more important... It made him miss his plants at home. They were so kind and patient when he didn't know anything and gently guided him through things.

He nodded, and moved, slowly heading towards the door the older boy had motioned to. Looking up to him, his head tilted slightly. Well, he should ask, "Uhm... The cafeteria... Does it go onto a student bill thing or do you pay while you're there?" he asked softly. He really had been told all ready, but he had only seen the lips moving, the plants had been to loud for him to hear. He wanted to know before they got their also. He didn't have any money with him, he really hadn't been given any by his sister before leaving.

[François Laffont]

It did occur to Franck that he sometimes was almost like the unofficial welcoming committee here, or something like that. Sage was not the first new arrival Franck met and helped settle in. He rarely talked to them afterwards. Not that he didn’t want to, but once they were more settled in they would seek out people their age and Franck was not exactly fitting in that category. He didn't mind though as it would mean those kids were getting used to this place and it was all that mattered in the end. Franck would still be around for a little while. He had one more year to go and then he intended to stay here for college.

He shoved away all thoughts of his future plans or what title he could earn here to focus on Sage. “It isn’t that hard, as long as you know which wing you’re in. You’ll find your way quickly,” he assured the boy, giving him a brief nod as if it was all that was needed to prove his point. He stopped as the boy asked him about the cafeteria. “You pay but, weren’t you given an allowance or something?” he asked. Franck, of course, lived with his father so he could bring a lunch if he wanted, didn’t have to pay for a meal there all the time, even if he often did. Sage, of course, it was different. He chuckled, seeing he might not be as great of a help as the boy might wish. “I’m sure you can also ask any staff member and they’ll help you out. Don’t worry for now, I’ll pay you something if you can’t,” he assured him as he headed towards the cafeteria.

He wouldn’t take much for himself but intended to let Sage pick whatever he wanted.

[Sage Amberlyne]

Sage walked silently sort of Franck's side but a step or so behind as one, he was leading the way. Then secondly, he was taller than Sage and it was easier for him to keep a step behind compared to Franck.

His sighed, "well...If they did I don't know about it.." he admitted sheepishly. Really if they did he hadn't heard any mention what so ever about it. He'd been busy talking to the plants, and then he had trouble paying attention. He felt horrible, he should of paid better attention to that adult...

When Franck said he'd pay for him Sage blinked, but shook his head, "I-I couldn't let you do that!" He looked down a bit, but still followed the boy unable to help it, really he didn't know where he was compared to his dorm anyhow... Really he'd be fine without eating for today, wouldn't be the first time he went to bed hungry. Before his sister had 'picked up the pace' there were a lot of meal less nights at home after his mother had died.