Crazy Ex-Girlfriend {open}

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau stopped and looked up at the poster, frowning. He hadn't made them, not technically, though he'd paid to have them made. He supposed they looked good enough, eye-catching and all. There was Beau, holding a guitar and singing with some light behind him or something. The posters told about his next upcoming "official show," though considering that he still played bars, he wasn't sure how "showy" that actually was. He played most weekends; this was just one of those times when he'd been promised a little bit more formal of a venue. It was the kind of thing to get excited about, really.

Beau supposed he was a little excited. There were a lot of things going on in his life right now that were pretty darn exciting as a whole though, several of which bubbled up in his mind and drove him to distraction. Training lessons, time spent with Sammy, not to mention prepping for college, which his parents were strangely insistent about given Beau's decent musical success. He was so wrapped up in the poster and his own thoughts that he hadn't realized that someone was coming down the street.

Someone he recognized all too well.

"Aw, not her," muttered Beau, his eyes widening for a moment. Technically there were several people that would get that reaction from the Southern boy. This one in particular had, unfortunately, been one of Beau's old girlfriends in times past. True, that had been over two years ago, but try explaining that to her. She still showed up at his concerts regularly. Definitely not someone that Beau wanted to mess with right now.

So he figured he had one choice: ignore her and find someone completely different to talk to. Preferably a girl, but Beau wasn't going to be picky. Without thinking twice about it, Beau snagged the next passerby, giving them a little tug with the hopes of facing the smiling Southerner. "Howdy there, nice day right? Would ya mind givin' me a little hand with somethin'?"

[Castilla Salinas]

It had been a stressful week of adjusting for Cassie, and with the stress she had gone through all of her art supplies which was so not cool. Art was the only thing that kept her grounded enough to stay in one place for any length of time. So being the weekend she had headed down to the town near the school to get some new supplies. It was a quaint little town really and she had just left a super amazing little art store she had found loaded up with bags filled with new supplies. She could quite happily loose herself in there all day but she had other plans for the day as well. It had been over a month since she called home and updated her parents and she knew they would be worried so she had intended to hunt down a payphone.

Unfortunately that seemed to be easier said then done in this town, with mobile phones taking over the world all the payphones seemed to be out of order or non existent. She had wandered into what appeared to be the club district of the town, not her usual scene at all. As she walked down the street her mind began to wander to her classes that week. One of the first bits of information she was given was that in order to learn to control her power she needed to concentrate. Like hello concentrate on what she had no idea how or why it worked and that advice just seemed to annoy her as they hadn't offered all that mum more clarification maybe next week they would clarify for her.

Cassie had just about given up on the idea of a payphone and thought maybe someone would lend her their mobile, maybe she should just invest in her own. She was distracted, this whole thinking about what needed to be done to settle down somewhere was so foreign to her. She barely noticed the guy standing on the sidewalk ahead staring at a poster.

It caught her totally surprised when she was suddenly grabbed by him and pulled over to the side as she walked passed her eyes bulged wide and she let out a gasp. "Howdy there, nice day right? Wou...." that was about all she heard before she was no longer in her own head. Body went limp sinking to the ground a dead weight.

She saw flashes of images a guy on stage singing and strumming a guitar... People dancing... A romantic kiss... A screaming match... some were flashing by to fast to really pick anything up and then they were gone she could feel concrete underneath her, her knee was stinging and the sun was too bright even through her closed lids.

A moan escaped her lips and her hand went up to cup her head and shield her eyes from the too bright sun, even though it was technically quite a weak sun today in reality. "Well that sucked" she said though it came out more moan then actual proper speech.

[Beau LaRoux]

And Cassie thought she had it bad. Beau should've known better though; he only had to get within ten feet of someone to pick up their power, warts and all. This close, he was likely to pick up the full blast. So this meant that while Cassie's mind went a wandering in Beau's, his did the exact same to her, giving them the full switch for those several seconds. One moment, Beau was talking, the next, he got flashes, weird flashes. Art supplies... being lost... a payphone? Did those even exist any more? the whole jumbled mess didn't make a lick of sense for Beau.

So when Cassie looked up; she'd find Beau in pretty much the exact same position as herself. The Southern boy groaned at her comment, reaching up to massage the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Totally an understatement there," he agreed, wincing. "What kinda mess was---" he looked over, realizing that Cassie was sprawled and looking a little worse for the wear. He scrambled to his feet, wobbling for a few moments there.

"You doin' alright? Looks like you took a spill there,' he said. He looked around for a moment, not sure if he should be reaching out for Cassie's hand to help her up or if he should be gathering up the stuff that had sort of scattered about. He eventually settled on extending a hand toward the girl, trying a bashful smile on for size while he did.

[Castilla Salinas]

Cassie opened her eyes a crack her head was pounding already but she was surprised to see the guy who grabbed her laying in a similar situation as her. What on earth would have caused him to end up on the ground as well? "Totally an understatement there, what kinda mess was---" the guy said before she watched him scramble to his feet, he was unsteady at first but seemed to get some of his balance back.

"You doin' alright? Looks like you took a spill there” he said, Cassie worked her way into a sitting position massaging her temple as she did she noticed him looking around as if trying to make a decision before offering her his hand. “Thanks but after whatever the hell that was lets play it safe and not do the physical contact thing” She assumed he had some sort of power of his own the way he ended up on the floor, usually normal people didn’t know or react to her being in their heads they just freaked out over her falling to the ground like some crazy person.

Cassie pulled herself to her feet after that it wasn't that she didn't appreciate the offer for help but she didn't want to risk doing that all over again. "Well that's one way to make a first impression, sorry did I take you down with me or something?" She asked trying to make her pounding brain work and figure out why he had ended up on the floor with her. Maybe because he had hold of her she had like dragged him down with her or something she wasn't sure.

"Aww crap" she muttered slightly when she looked around and realized her new pencils and sketch books were scattered over the pavement around them. She started to move around picking them up and putting them back in the bags, some of the pages were ripped nut mostly the sketch books were in okay condition, no doubt all the lead in her new pencils would be broken how annoying.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau was half tempted to point out that physical contact probably didn't have a lot to do with it. Just getting close to Cassie was enough for him to pick up on whatever it was that powered her. However, just as he was opening his mouth to say as much, he realized that it could very well be that her ability worked best with physical contact. The last thing either of them wanted was a whacked out feedback loop, so no way was Beau gonna be touching her any time soon.

Which did make his earlier dilemma that much easier. He immediately began moving about, collecting sketch pads and pencils, which went a long way toward explaining the flashes that had clobbered him a few moments ago. Her question made Beau chuckle, and he wavered for a moment, wondering how much to share. Best to play it safe: "Yeah, that's pretty much what happened. It's alright though; I'm made of tougher stuff than I look," he gave her a quick wink before picking up a pack of pencils. It looked like most of them had broken their lead, and Beau wished that he could do something to fix that. He kind of wished he could do something to fix all of this, for that matter, as he was really feeling like it was all pretty well his fault.

"I'm sorry 'bout all this," he said, waving to indicate the whole mess, "looks like some of your stuff done got a little wrecked," he held up the box of pencils, "if ya want, I could, uh, maybe pick up another set for you or somethin'? Kinda feel like it's my fault, bumpin' into ya an' all," Beau tried an apologetic smile, then turned to look at the pencils. They were definitely higher quality than anything he had back in his dorm, that was for sure.

[Castilla Salinas]

Cassie was grateful he didn't argue the point about physical contact and instead helped her pick up her fallen art supplies. "Yeah, that's pretty much what happened. It's alright though; I'm made of tougher stuff than I look," he responded to her question though she had a feeling that was entirely true. "Do you go to the Academy? My name's Cassie by the way I just started there" She asked casually trying to scope out if he did have a power of his own or if he was just a resident of the town she didn't want to risk exposure if it was the later but also wanted him to know if he was from there that he could be open with her.

"I'm sorry 'bout all this, looks like some of your stuff done got a little wrecked, if ya want, I could, uh, maybe pick up another set for you or somethin'? Kinda feel like it's my fault, bumpin' into ya an' all," he guy offered and Cassie smiled that was sweet of him to offer but it was in no way his fault. "That is a really nice offer but it is not necessary this was totally not your fault trust me, this kind of thing happens to me allot unfortunately, kind of like people who have seizures I guess I kind of just pass out" She responded trying to explain away her weird collapsing routine in a way that if he was just a normal everyday person wouldn't be too suspicious.

With all her stuff now picked up and back inside bags she did a quick check of herself her head was throbbing but that was normal for one of her episodes. Her jeans were torn on her right knee and was stained with red obviously she landed on it first and grazed it a bit. It stung but she didn't think it was anything too bad just superficial grazing, she was getting used to that now. Every time she had an episode she either ended up with a bruise, a lump or a graze or all three.

[Beau LaRoux]

Ah, the Academy, directly asked, no less. Beau winced at the question, but he wasn't about to go lying to a pretty girl: "Yeah, I'm at Bellefonte," he admitted, his accent dripping all over the words. He gestured with the pencil box in the general direction of the school. He gathered up a few more things, realizing that they'd pretty well picked up everything.

The girl didn't seem too horribly upset about the whole crash, or at least she was blaming herself. That made Beau wince, and he felt this crushing need to at least be a little honest about the situation. He sighed, looking at her with a sorta pained expression. "Uh, ain't totally your fault, girl. I... my power makes it so I kinda pick up other mutants' powers whenever they get into range. So whatever you got," he gestured, first at Cassie, then at himself, "I got. Jus' how it works," he shrugged and then rose fully, extending the various items that he'd already picked up.

Beau did make sure to adjust the way he held the stuff so that she wouldn't actually touch him, just in case. He supposed that if he really needed to, he could set them down somewhere and back away slowly. that felt silly, but considering what the ability could possibly do, it could be their safest bet. As he stood, Beau followed Cassie's appraising gaze, noticing the slight tear and the rip. She looked even worse for wear than Beau, and he had to be the heavier of the two. He could feel a slight rip in his jeans and a few scrapes that were gonna smart the next morning, but he still felt like he'd gotten the better of the two.

[Castilla Salinas]

Cassie saw him wince at her question about the Academy and it made her worried that maybe even mentioning the academy was not a good idea, whoops you would think the teachers could have warned her of that before setting her loose on the world. She breathed slightly easier when he admitted to going to Bellefonte, at least she hadn’t totally screwed that one up though she made a mental note not to even bring up the Academy when in town from now on.

His pained expression confused her for a moment and she did a quick glance to see if he was badly injured from the incident. He might have a few small scratches like her but it didn’t seem so bad. "Uh, ain't totally your fault, girl. I... my power makes it so I kinda pick up other mutants' powers whenever they get into range. So whatever you got, I got. Jus' how it works” So that’s what the expression was about, she knew it shouldn’t but his words made her giggle a little and she smiled despite the pain in her head.

“Well no offense but I imagine it sucks to be you sometimes, especially when you run into a power that knocks you on your own ass the way mine does. Sorry I’m pretty new to it and have no control yet, though it seems to trigger more easily with contact. Oh and in case you didn’t work it out apparently I am a mind walker which as you just witnessed is not as fun as it sounds”

She found herself giggling again despite herself as he held out her things in a way that held them out in a way she could take them without touching him again. It kind of reminded her of someone trying to pass something through an electric fence without touching it. "Thanks for helping with those, I'm Cassie by the way" she said with a smile as she took them off him careful not to make contact.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau blinked as Cassie essentially broke down most of Beau's own complaints about his power. Her admission of lack of training also made a little more sense. That meant that the version Beau picked up was an unbridled, untrained, unfocused version, and there was no way he'd had any experience with "Mind walking" before. That was just... killer.

"Beau," said the Southern boy as he handed over the various items, "Beauregard LaRoux, but pretty girls get to call me Beau, even if they have been walkin' over my mind," Beau chuckled at that, shaking his head and smiling, "I bet you get that one all the time, right? Gotta be a pain when it actually happens."

A breeze fluttered through, and Beau noticed that one of the posters he'd been carrying fluttered against his leg. He looked down, his eyes widening as he realized that he'd forgotten about the arm load he'd been carrying. There weren't many posters left, thankfully. Beau just bent down and scooped up the one on his leg before moving over to collect a few.

"I still feel like I owe ya somethin'. Least you can let me do is buy you some coffee or somethin'. I'm bettin' there's a shop 'round here somewhere," Beau tried to remember if there was anything besides bars and clubs in this area. He thought there might be one or two a few blocks away, but he couldn't be certain.

[Castilla Salinas]

Cassie laughed as he introduced himself, he seemed nice enough but the way he spoke made her instantly think of him as a player though she pushed that from her mind immediately, she didn’t like to judge people before she got to know them. “I would say nice to meet you Beau... but I’m pretty sure there could have been nicer ways to meet then both of us getting a mental smack down.”

“Actually I haven’t gotten very many jokes at all, I have only had my power active for about 3 weeks, apparently I was a late bloomer compared to most of the people at that Academy.” She said with a shrug, she guessed sooner or later the jokes would get annoying but at the moment they didn’t bother her too much “you got the pain part right though, always gives me a migraine”

Cassie watched as he picked up a few flyers that were blowing around, she bent down herself and lifted it up it was a picture of him with a guitar advertising an event where he was obviously going to be singing. “So you’re a musician that’s cool” she said easily and it was she had met a lot of musicians on her travels allot of them were just buskers trying to make enough for a meal but she liked to hear good music as much as the next person.

"I still feel like I owe ya somethin'. Least you can let me do is buy you some coffee or somethin'. I'm bettin' there's a shop 'round here somewhere," Cassie thought about it for a moment it couldn’t hurt to get to know some of the people from the school and coffee could be good “If we can find some pain killers to go with that coffee your on” she answered with a grin, her headache had lessened from the pounding migraine of when she first came back to herself but it was still persistent and annoying enough to seek out pain medication. She absently made a mental note to keep some on her at all times after this it would make life slightly easier.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau chuckled at Cassie's mental smackdown comment. Yeah, this would definitely count as one of his least favorite ways of meeting someone. He couldn't really hold it against her, especially if she'd really only been there for a short time. He hadn't ever heard of anyone getting their ability that late. "Man, I thought that I was a late bloomer, an' I got mine at fifteen..." he trailed off for a bit. For all he knew, maybe she was fifteen, though she really didn't look it. Girls did mature faster than boys though, a fact that Beau knew all too well.

He finished picking up the flyers, giving them a quick look before nodding. "Yeah, the best kinda music too: country," he draaaaaaaagged the last word through his accent, giving it about as "country" a feel as he could. "Though I play some other stuff too. You should come an' see me sometime; show's always great, an' they give me bonuses if I can pull in a good crowd. 'specially if that crowd's got some pretty girls in it."

Another wink and Beau took a few steps down the street. Cassie had agreed to tag along for a drink, though Beau wasn't quite so sure he'd be able to produce any aspirin. Wasn't like he carried those around in his pocket. He was half tempted to suggest that maybe Cassie should, if this was as regular a thing as she seemed to indicate. He licked his lips for a moment, nodding. "I think there's a drug store over that way," meaning the way he'd nodded, "we can pick up some aspirin an' then head over an' get a coffee," he gestured for Cassie to follow, gathered up his things, and headed that way. He wouldn't get more than a few steps before pausing to make sure that she followed though.

[Castilla Salinas]

Cassie giggled a little as he trailed off his sentence when he said he was a late bloomer at fifteen, as if he suddenly realized it came across like he was calling her old. It didn’t bother her in the least that she was late coming into her powers in fact she was kind of relieved she wasn’t sure she would want all this to have happened to her when she was only fifteen. She never would have seen any of the world before getting shipped here and at least this way she was mature enough to deal with it, or at least she hoped she was.

“Country ... not bad, I just might if I get bored” She responded with a grin, Cassie didn’t mind country music if it was done well but it wasn’t her absolute favorite by any means either. “You know your womanizing could do with some work, that is if you ever want it to actually work” She said in response to his pretty girls line and wink.

Cassie was all for heading to the drug store she fell into step beside the country singer, though walking far enough off to the side of him so not to accidentally trigger her power again. “I’ll be right back” she said easily when they reached the drug store and she ducked in sought out the biggest pack of their strongest pain killers and brought 2 packets. They school supplied them to her when it happened in class so this should get her through a few weeks when she went off to the forest or town just in case.

She paid for the drugs and a bottle of water, as she headed from the door she popped two out of their packet and tucked the rest in with the rest of her shopping. Uncapping the water she took a swig and swallowed the pills as she stepped out onto the concrete again. “Alright, so coffee?” She said with a grin as she looked at Beau and waiting unsure about where to find a coffee shop.

[Beau LaRoux]

"Here's hopin' you get bored then," said Beau, his eyes twinkling a bit. When Cassie called him out on his flirting though, he just chuckled, ruffling his posters. "Well, seems to work every now an' then. Ain't really lookin' in particular right now, though I'm flattered you're interested."

Beau at least refrained from winking again, though the temptation was certainly present. They'd already fallen into step, heading toward the drug store that Beau had mentioned. He definitely knew this area well enough and had no trouble letting his feet take them right where they needed to go. They got there; Cassie went in, and Beau just waited outside. He hummed a bit to himself, then decided he might as well put up another poster on the drug store window, since he had them and had the time. When Cassie came back out, she'd find him finishing up, giving the poster another look and a nod.

The repeated motion made Beau remember that he'd been avoiding someone, and he took a quick look to make sure she followed. Cassie probably scared off the ex, but Beau didn't fancy taking any extra chances. He was already kicking himself for just now looking, though he supposed that with the kerfluffle over their collision and mind swapping, it was understandable. He refocused his attention back on Cassie, flashing her a smile.

"Coffee it is. There's a little shop jus' down the ways; they're used to servin' people from the Academy an' all," he gestured, waited for Cassie to again fall into step, then started moving. "So you ain't been in town long? Don't take long to really get to know the place, but it can be a might confusin' to newcomers. Could always show you 'round a bit."

[Castilla Salinas]

Cassie laughed at his response to her pulling him up on his flirting, trying to turn it around on her as if she was the interested party nice trick but still a fail in her eyes. “Nice try, you should maybe get that checked out hey, it might be some disorder that makes you a serial flirt” she pointed out with an attempt at a serious look right before heading into the drug store.

As she came out again she caught a glimpse of Beau looking at one of the posters he had collected off the sidewalk and was now on the shop window, with a nod he went to turn away from it but then seemed to look around himself all of a sudden as if looking for someone. Cassie automatically had a look around the street too, there didn’t seem to be any people around today or at least not on the street she could see people in the shops around them.

With a slight shrug not knowing what or who he was looking for she fell into step beside him again as he lead the way to the coffee shop. "So you ain't been in town long? Don't take long to really get to know the place, but it can be a might confusin' to newcomers. Could always show you 'round a bit." He offered as they walked and Cassie thought about it for a moment sure she hadn’t been here long but the place didn’t seem too hard to navigate and she was used to figuring new places out on her own being a gypsy.

Besides she loved wandering around discovering new things for herself rather than being shown things she found it a better way to truly experience things as there were no prior expectations put on things so you were able to fully draw your own conclusions without having to wonder if it was your own thoughts or those influenced by someone else.

“Tempting, but I like to discover things for myself, bit of a lone adventurer” she said with a grin.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau chuckled, shaking his head. Cassie was clearly having none of his flirting, though Beau wasn't entirely sure he could really pull it to a complete stop. That was just sort of how he communicated with a lot of girls: easy compliments, good manners, and chivalrous offers. He could probably have discussed music with Cassie at length, but she didn't seem to know much about that. "Well, if it's a disorder, can't say I'd really like a cure. Nothin' else it gets the girls smilin', an' ain't that the point," he added a wink and kept moving, the feet knowing the path.

He kept half his attention on Cassie, half on where they were going. He didn't want her wandering off, but he also didn't want to abandon her or anything. Kalispell wasn't exactly spectacular, but it was somewhat distracting, especially if you were going to be situated here for an extended period of time.

Cassie seemed determined to do things her own way though. Beau chuckled and stuck his hands in his pocket, pressing the folders tight against his body with the motion. "Well, I ain't about to take away your adventure. Ain't many of those about here, less you run into the right people," Beau shrugged, then came to a stop in front of a little coffee shop. He nodded toward the shop, then pulled a hand out of a pocket to gesture. "You know what they say, ladies first."