Reaching for the Past [Open]

[Pandora E. Kāohi]

It hadn't taken Pandora very long to get used to her wheelchair or crutches, but she still wished she could do without them. Ever since the night she teleported out into the woods during one of her nightmares, she broke her leg and had to deal with a cast only until they got in touch with the healer who was suited to healing broken bones. Until then, she would have to hop, crutch, and wheel her way through the school in her decorated pink cast. For the most part, Pandora hated it. She loathed being so constrained to such items to help her get around. She also hated having to ask for help or when people automatically helped her with stuff that she could have simply done herself. It made her feel weak and more so like a baby. The kind gestures from the cute guys weren't all that bad either but if you know Pandora, her attention was always somewhere else instead of noticing how attractive someone was. Sometimes it even took her at least a day or so to realize how physically attractive a guy came to be. Sad really.

Now she found herself at the library, trying to check out books on fashion in the past eras. Her next project was to do whatever she pleased and she had the idea of combining more than one era into a whole look. It wouldn't be her best design yet but she had very high hopes for it. Now only if she could reach the book she needed on the most top shelf.

The golden barbie looked around and even wheeled her way out of the isle just to see if there was a library helper that could get a book for her and of course... there was no one. Of course there wasn't anyone around. She rolled herself back towards the middle of the isle with an idea, stopping her wheelchair in front of the library's super tall book shelf. Pan slowly got out of her wheelchair and hopped around on her good leg just so she could put down the stop breaks of her wheelchair. She then got up on her wheelchair and stood, being almost the height as where the book stayed, not really taking notice that she was wearing the (ridiculously short) school's uniform skirt and short sleeved white button up.

She reached her arm out towards the book, grunting as she stuck a tongue out. There had to be some sort of unsafe law about this in some rule book.

[François Laffont]

Did Kalispell have a public library? He assumed it should, somewhere, but Franck had never explored the town thoroughly enough to notice more than a few bookstores. Luckily, the school’s library had a vast selection and let him borrow anything even if he brought them home, all of this because he was a student of the school. Even had the uniform and an ID to prove it. It was all they required out of him to check out books, take them home and bring them back whenever he was done with them. Hopefully it was before the limited time they allowed a student to keep a book before having to check it out again.

Franck did like to read but most of the books he had at home were in French. If he wanted to get a better level of English, he had to read some books in that language. Didn’t mean he wanted to buy them though, which was why the school’s library was perfect. He was very difficult in his choice of stories. Novels, biographies, history books, they were all fine as long as he found the topic of it interesting. No need to say it meant no story of torture, killers or anything else too scary. He wasn’t doing horror very well, not even the written one.

He was scanning through the books on a shelf when he noticed a girl moving a wheelchair close to another one, not too far from him. She then worked on getting out of the wheelchair and hopped her way to the shelf. Despite her best efforts, she didn’t seem to reach book she wanted. Franck feared she might aggravate her case by falling over or something. Despite not really knowing this girl, he sure didn't wish her any more harm. He replaced the book he had in his hands and walked towards her. “You should be careful or you’ll hurt yourself. Do you need help?” he asked. In reality, he wanted to put her back on her wheelchair and get the book for her but he knew that sometimes his good actions weren’t met with as much gratitude as one would expect.

[Pandora E. Kāohi]

Almost there, almost! Okay, just kidding.

Pan felt like she had been trying to reach the book forever now and she still couldn't reach. She was also sure that if any staff saw her, or Seiji, she probably would've been in deep trouble but uh, her getting to this book was more important than some detention. Well, she couldn't really say that because she had never been in detention before. It didn't help that she was still ignoring the fact that she was wearing the uniform with the skirt that was unpleasing and short. Where was this girl's morals?

“You should be careful or you’ll hurt yourself. Do you need help?” Pan froze in her spot as she slowly looked down to see who had caught her in her act. "Oh!" Laughing sheepishly, she slowly tried to get down. Hopefully he wasn't library staff. "Yeah, I do. Thank you. I'm not about this wheelchair life." Pan sat back in her wheelchair and moved back as she pointed towards the book she was trying to get. "It's that one waaayyy up there. I needed it for my next fashion project."

Her doll like hazel eyes looked up at the guy with the French accent, "Please don't snitch on me. It was just no one was around and I really needed the bo- Wait, are you even library staff?"

[François Laffont]

Pandora was lucky, out of every guy in this school, she ended up with the one who wouldn’t enjoy looking at the shortness of the skirt. In fact, he probably was able to shelter her from the looks of others if she were to ask him. Probably be complaining at how short it was with her too. Franck was not trying to look at her skirt for one minute. His eyes were locked higher, much higher, towards her eyes. The spot where all eyes should look. Of course, had she been a guy, his eyes might have wandered around her butt for a little while. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to think about what he could have done since she was not guy.

He couldn’t help but to bring his arms near her, ready to hold onto the girl should she ever fall. He was aware that touching someone would make his ability to read their emotions stronger but it never stopped him from grabbing anyone who might hurt themselves otherwise. Or shake hands when one has been extended towards him, or any physical contact when asked for it. It wasn’t always nice for the boy but Franck rarely cared what could happen to him.

She pointed at a book and his gaze followed her finger at the last row of books. “This one?” he asked, his finger on the cover. He took it with relative ease, being both taller and not having any leg in a cast. He just took it from the shelf when she was already pleading him not to talk of this and Franck couldn’t help the chuckle from escaping his lips when she suddenly feared he might be a staff member. “I’m not. And I won’t tell. If they wanted to complain, maybe they should have been around to help you out in the first place,” he pointed out, handing her the book she nearly injured herself in order to get.

[Pandora E. Kāohi]

Pan had some issues when it came to her personality. There were rarely days where she felt like getting help from everyone and then there were days like today where she felt the need to do everything for herself regardless of a broken leg. She was the type to climb up a book shelf and leap off with a broken leg if that meant that she could get her book. She was a bit lively, this one and it killed her that this cast was holding her back from being great.

When he pointed at the book and asked, Pan nodded her head and smiled. "Yes please." Ugh, sometimes she wished she was taller. Taller people always had the upper hand in everything and could reach the sky if they wanted to.

She signed in relief when he said he wasn't staff. Pan looked up at the guy and smiled brightly, he was right. "Thank you so much and yeah, they were clearly no help." Opening the pages, she skimmed through just to make sure this would be one of the books that would help with her next project and it was. Looking back up at him, she wondered. "Did you come to check out books too? Oh! And I'm Pandora, by the way." She offered him a smile.

He was so nice and adorable, she wondered if he was a college student or still within his High School years at the Academy. Pan wasn't sure if she had seen his face around but she figured if she did, she would recognize him. Right? That was kind of a given.

[François Laffont]

Franck was more than happy to help her get the book she wanted. He would have done so even if she didn’t have a cast, even if she was tall enough to reach it, provided she asked. Of course, he did get the feeling he was the one who chose to help her as opposed to her asking for it but the result was the same. Besides, she didn’t need to make it worse with her cast. He did get some frustration out of her but it was light and Franck assumed it had more to do with not being able to reach it on her own than because he came here to do it for her. It wasn’t always great sometimes to sense people’s emotions but not while they felt that way. Of course, finding out that spark of hatred really was directed at you wouldn’t be a great thing to know but it sure would make things clearer.

He stopped thinking about that frustration she might have felt as she ended up smiling and in a much better mood after she got her book and he assured he was no staff member. Could they really yell at her for trying to reach a book? He supposed they might, as she could have make books fall over or something. But no staff was around to share their point of view on the matter and make Franck feel bad for being unable to take for one side or the other. So, in the end, they were both kind of glad no one else came to say what she did was crazy and dangerous.

He couldn’t help but to check as she looked through the pages. There seemed to be quite a lot of pictures in there. He did remember seeing the word fashion in the books. She was into fashion? He could easily believe it. He smiled as she introduced herself. Pandora. It was a nice name but also very unusual. “François, well, Franck,” he first said. He always told them the nickname to use for him as he often found it weird, the way they would try to say his name otherwise. He couldn’t blame them, he was French, as his accent showed. “I was, yes. I’m not having as much luck as you but then again I had no particular one in mind,” he admitted.

“You like fashion?” he asked. He did like it too, though perhaps not to the point of taking a book about the fashion from the past. Should he keep quiet? He suddenly recalled they were in the library. Oh well, it wasn’t like they were talking at a normal level and he didn’t see anyone annoyed by their conversation, so he looked at Pandora, waiting for an answer.

[Pandora E. Kāohi]

If it wasn't for the fact that she was advised to not use her powers for a little while, Pandora would have easily teleported the book to her in seconds flat. Ever since her nightmare incident, she wasn't really trusted with using much of her powers until they found the cause of her powers acting so... weird as of lately. It kind of put a damper on how easy her life was before she broke her leg but she would play by their rules for now. Either way she was super grateful that he came by and helped her out. He was really nice for that.

" “François, well, Franck,” Her eyes lit up like a little kid in a candy store as she hugged the book against her chest. So he was French! That explained the accent and of course, the good looks. From watching fashion shows from Paris, she was certain all of the male French models were really attractive. "So you ARE French! Oh my god, that's so cool and your name, it's so... couture, so chiq! People always told me that it was cool that I was from Hawaii but you just took the cake. How coooool... I've studied so many designers and artists from France and I absolutely live for the fashion there." She let herself ramble a bit before she stopped herself.

Well he couldn't find a book, that was a bummer. The library had so much great stuff to choose from, maybe she could help him find something. She nodded as she smiled brightly, "Oh I love fashion, I live, breathe, eat, sleep it, and I'm pretty sure when I die my coffin will be designed by Jean Paul Gaultier. For a while I've been studying fashion design and I'm gonna be a designer by the time I'm through." If there was one thing Pandora was certain about, it was her goals. She had two loves: Her love for wildlife and marine biology and as well as her love for fashion. Two complete opposites but one allowed her to be creative in her own element more than the other.

"Are you in college yet? Or are you still in your high school years? Sometimes it's weird asking that, seeing how the college is now combined with the Academy. I'd just hate assuming."

[François Laffont]

François did pick something different out of her and he frowned as the only thing he did was to give her his name. He doubted it would ever have someone suddenly feel a tad better. But he got something out of Pandora, her mood changed ever so slightly at the mention of his name. And it left him puzzled.

She explained it all as she let her passion for fashion, especially French fashion, take over. Oh, so that was his provenance that got this interest out of her. Good. Because, for one moment, he really wondered. His smile was a little sheepish, a little embarrassed by this sudden outburst but it was a smile nonetheless. “Yes, I’m from France,” he admitted. Why hide it, he was proud of it too. “We do have some very nice designers, don’t we? The Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent houses, only to name some of the most known ones. I don’t know about my name, I never really thought much about it until I ended up here and most people called me Franswaz,” he added, a chuckle in his voice. Pronouncing the s turned it into the feminine form of his name so obviously Franck didn’t like it much when it happened, even though they didn’t do it on purpose. “Hawaii, that’s very nice too, very exotic. And you have a lovely name. Mythological. Although, maybe you don’t want to be associated to that Pandora...” Franck did realise he might be rambling and confusing her. Maybe she didn't know Pandora and her box. Or she just didn’t care. He should probably leave her with her fashion book, now that she finally got it.

He chuckled again at the idea of a coffin designed by Jean Paul Gaultier. That would be one hell of a coffin! He admired her for having a dream all planned for her future. Franck kind of had one too, of course. He wanted to study psychology and be a shrink. Of course, the circumstances and were he’d work, well, he had not sorted it out yet. But he had the time, right? “That’s awesome. I had no idea they gave such a class here,” he admitted.

He shook his head when she asked if he was in college. It suddenly made him feel very young, despite the fact she mustn’t be that much older than he was. “No, I’m still in high school. I had to redo a year since I barely spoke English at first. Obviously, you’re a college student, right? I hope that doesn’t play against me,” he said with a little smile. She had every right to leave and go back to her book but he didn’t want the reason to be because she lost all interest in him now that she knew he was a high school student.

[Pandora E. Kāohi]

Pan basically squealed a bit when he confirmed it. Even though the accent gave it away, it didn't change the fact that she was still excited to meet a mutant from France. Especially since they were some of the most talented and beautiful people there were, the home of some life changing artists and designers as well. "Oh my gosh, yes but can you blame them? It's fun to say a name so beautiful." Though she was certain people here would always try to put their own sass on names. Especially Americans because well, Pandora was also guilty for that.

As for her own, "Thanks and I get that a lot and when I say a lot... I mean A LOT." She smiled sheepishly, "I wish I was as cool as the actual Pandora created by the Greek gods but I'm not and I think if I had her box, I'd end up losing it somewhere." She shook her head, "But my parents did name me because of the meaning of Pandora; 'gift' or 'the all giving'. From what I'm told, it's perfect for me."

Her eyes lit up as she nodded, "Yeap! They do but it's mostly college based. I think the high school grades get like home ec or something like that?" Furrowing her brows, she shook her head. "You still being in high school doesn't bother me. I'm only twenty, I cant even legally drink. So trust me, I'm not one to care and sometimes I think age is stupid when it comes to dealing with friendships." She had hoped that he didn't feel as if she had no reason to talk with him. She knew how the whole age group thing worked in high school but once you started college, all of that kind of went out the window.

"What's that one saying? Age is only but a number?"

[François Laffont]

Franck knew his accent would give away that he was no American. French was an easy guess but France clearly was not the only place on earth where people spoke than language. Still, it was the first one that would come to mind. Luckily for them, it was also the right one. Franck wouldn’t like having to argue with everyone because he technically was Belgian or came from Switzerland. He chuckled, happily surprised to see one so pro-France, even if it was mostly because of its fashion. At least it was something. “I give them an A for effort, but saying the s turns me into a girl,” he explained, shrugging as he said so. It was no big deal. He would still mentally cringe when they slaughtered a French word but he had to admit that they at least tried. Besides, he knew he was doing no better with English.

Franck didn’t know a great deal about mythology but he knew about Pandora and her box. Of course, he didn’t expect everyone to know that much, or that little depending where you stood from. But she did and he was glad he didn't simply get a blank stare from her. “Maybe it would have been best if she had lost it. With all that came out from the box. Then again, we wouldn’t have hope,” he said. He couldn’t quite comment on how much of a gift she was. It wasn’t like he knew her. But he could see how parents would like to name their child their gift. “Mine means Frenchman, so I guess it is also appropriate.”

He would have laughed more than he did at her words, but they were in a library and he wouldn’t there being too loud. He liked her mentality however. “If we lived in France, we’d be sipping red wine right now,” he commented. He never really understood why America decided you had to be twenty-one to drink. But it was not his place to question the rules and so he only followed them. Even though his father would still let him take a glass of wine from time to time, if he asked. “School makes it a big deal. Once you graduate, it doesn’t seem to matter so much,” he admitted.

[Pandora E. Kāohi]

She giggled, "I can totally see if that would get annoying then." There wasn't really any fancy smancy ways to say her name, it was simply Pandora and for that she was a bit envious but it was still all in good fun. He had a beautiful name nonetheless and she was actually pretty excited that she got to meet someone like him. Maybe she would even save him the pain of slaughtering a few French words in front of him but she was getting better at it; better at slaughtering it, not getting better at saying it.

"Yeah, I guess so. You always need chaos to balance out peace." She nodded, agreeing with him. "How cute! Frenchman." Repeating it just because she enjoyed it. "I agree, it suits you so much!" Her voice squeaked but with it being Pandora, she hardly realized the environment she was in when she got excited. "Really? I've never had red wine before. I'm not really a wine person because I don't really... drink wine? I don't know why either, so don't ask." She smiled sheepishly because she really had no idea why. Hopefully he wouldn't think any less of her but he seemed nice enough not to.

"Doesn't that suck? I think High School makes everything a big deal, like stuff that wont even matter once you graduate." She shrugged, glancing around before she looked back up at Franck, "You should enjoy it while it lasts, I guess. It won't really be as entertaining in a few years."

[François Laffont]

He laughed with her yet still looked around to make sure no one was here to Shh them down. Franck couldn’t really blame them for pronouncing the s at the end of this name, at least at first, if they only read it and didn’t hear it. He knew the spelling and pronunciation was very different between French and English. He butchered enough words before getting to the level he now was. He still struggled from time to time but at least he was easier to understand now.

He wasn’t sure if his name was cute or the fact it did mean Frenchman was anything else but ironic but Pandora seemed to think it was and he smiled at her enthusiasm. At this rate, they would be kicked out of the library however. Not that he really minded but he would still prefer not to have this happen. He chuckled again as they brought up wine. “Well, I said it mostly because it’s easy to associate France with wine. I meant to say you can drink starting at age eighteen,” he explained. He wasn’t particularly fan of wine himself. He sipped some, from his father’s glass, on occasions. Never too much, mind you, not more than he expected a lot of people would have tried. Provided they lived with parents who drank and allowed them to. Which probably meant a lot of the students here only drank if they managed to sneak some bottles into the school. He didn’t mind that Pandora didn’t drink. She claimed she was not in age to buy any, it was good enough of a reason for him. “What you prefer of France is fashion over their alcohol, I don’t see any bad in that.”

He nodded as she talked of high school. Just being with someone a year under you can make you look weird. It was kind of ridiculous how just one school year can make it seem so big now. He bet when you were in college it wasn’t the same. He smiled though as she both claimed it sucked yet was entertaining at the same time. “How do you call that, a paradox? Your worst years and your best ones at the same time,” he replied. Franck shrugged at the thought of it. “I still wouldn’t mind going to college already.”

[Pandora E. Kāohi]

"Eighteen? Oh, I know you guys must have been getting sooooo turnt up at a young age." She smiled, of course assuming that he knew what the phrase 'turnt up' meant but if not... well Pandora never really thought about the 'if nots'. "Well I mean, you can get wild with alcohol here too at a young age but that's kind of illegal... and all." She furrowed her brows, thinking about how she was at a young age. "Which didn't really stop me..." As for red wine, she always wanted to try it at some sort of fancy smancy restaurant.

"Yeeaaahhh, there isn't any bad in it but drinking wine just seems so much more fancier, doesn't it? Like imagine going out on a yacht date with your beau and you're like... sipping on red wine. Doesn't that sound so romantic? I think it does." Once again, she found herself being that hopeless romantic who day dreamed about stuff like that... She didn't even know if she'd like wine in the first place.

Pan smiled slightly, "Sounds about right. I wouldn't say you should rush it, though. Sometimes it takes the last few days for something amazing to happen."

[François Laffont]

Franck tried not to frown and to keep the puzzled expression away from his face but he wasn’t sure what she meant by ‘turnt up’. Then again, it was not her fault. Franck knew some expressions used but most of the time he had no idea what people were talking about whenever they used them. He still remembered how they laughed, impressed that he had no idea what ‘second base’ meant. He still wasn’t quite sure what each base meant but he got the whole picture of it, even though he found it a little ridiculous.

Luckily for him, Pandora talked more and he figured it had something to do with being drunk. If it wasn’t, well he had absolutely no idea what it referred to. He smiled as she confessed drinking before, despite it supposed to be illegal and all that. “If you keep it a secret, so did I,” he replied. It wasn’t like his father never stopped him from tasting wine. He never drank much. Well, except this one time, when he made a fool of himself at prom, but it was something he preferred to forget it ever happened. “I think everyone kind of wants to try, just a little. Probably because it’s illegal,” he added. It must be hard to get bottles smuggled in, or very easy, if you knew the right people. It sure wasn’t as easy as it was for himself. He only had to take some out of his father’s bottles. The man might not even know about this. He knew, of course, as Franck always asked, but it was only because it was Franck we are talking about here. Being a rebel for him probably meant saying the music wasn’t good as opposed to claim it sucked.

Franck was aware the whole yacht thing with the beau and the wine was something she said to refer to herself. It was still funny that she didn’t add a girl in his stead. Unless she knew of course, which he wasn’t sure. It wasn’t like it was hard to find out, as he was not making it a secret and both Tim and the Dirty Laundry pointed it out but it was still weird for him sometimes to meet a complete stranger and find out they know that much about him. “It’s true you immediately sound more distinguished when you talk of wine. If you switch it for beer, it doesn’t have the same effect,” he admitted. Kind of funny, since no doubt there were some very fancy beers too. One had more class than the other.

“What’s it like to be a college student? It’s not like I know to compare,” he asked her, giving her a smile at the same time.

[Pandora E. Kāohi]

A normal person probably would have noticed the look on his face and corrected themselves or at least explained to what they meant. Pandora's mind didn't really work that way. It kind of went one-hundred miles per hour and rarely stopped for gas until she really needed it.

Giggling, she nodded her head. "Your secret is safe with me. We're total rebels, yo." As cute as their little promise to not tell, was. She knew that no one really cared about underage drinking as much as they liked to advertise it. It was like, as long as you weren't behind the wheel while underage and drunk, that's all that really mattered. "Yeah, doesn't that suck? I swear it's always the stuff we can't get our hands on legally that we want the most and I'm still only twenty so I am still going through that struggle." Not like that would ever last long. She turned twenty-one next month so she would be so open to getting bottles legally. Ugh, she couldn't wait!

When it came to gossip blogs, Pandora had been pretty clueless about a lot of it. If she wasn't busy bothering Seiji or doing work for her classes, she was usually sleeping or shopping. So she so happened to be that one person out of a few who really knew nothing about anyone she met unless it was told to her by another person. She laughed but tried to keep it down, "Like could you imagine? Someone drinking beer and trying to sound all cute and proper? Just doesn't work out."

"Well..." She tried to think of anything, "I guess you get more freedom. I'm sure you already know once you graduate you don't have to live in the dorms anymore but I still do because... It would be a disaster to live by myself. You get more freedom in your schedule, your time, what your main focuses are considering your major. Midterms and exams are always as stressful as usual, if not more. Oh!" She giggled, "And your professors love to remind you how much of an adult you are and to get your crap together or fail."