[SCT] Hot Cocoa Party!

[Charity Croft]

"Alright, are you guys ready for the super awesome fun time to begin?" asked Hope as she looked around the room, where she'd managed to gather a few students (mostly via bribery, which was currently the only tactic Hope could employ that actually worked... mostly). She smiled a big, goofy smile that made her blue eyes light up. It definitely didn't help that she wore a fluffy sweater with a snowman that literally puffed out on it (because it looked adorable, that's why).

"Right, sooooo," Hope hurried over to a table that she'd covered with a cloth, "here it is! Ta daaa!" she pulled the cloth back, showing several steaming pots of brown liquid that bubbled cheerfully. The smell of chocolate and cinnamon began immediately wafting through the air, overpowering the lesser odors of the ski lodge.

Hope clapped her hands together and nodded, turning to look at the gathered crowd. "It's a hot cocoa party! Isn't that awesome? We can all sit around," she was moving to adjust it, "and drink hot cocoa and maybe sing a few songs and have just a great time!" She looked around hopefully, nodding as she looked at each student's face, certain that she'd just scored majorly.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy was the first one to go for the hot chocolate, his eyes a bright yellow. He hadn't even needed to be bribed; as soon as he heard there was hot chocolate involved, he was all over it like... like... like something that goes over stuff. Metaphors are complicated. As far as he was concerned, hot chocolate was a gift from the gods. It was like chocolate milk, but... hot! And sometimes without any milk involved at all, but whatever! It was delicious and there was no way he was going to miss out on it.

As the initial excitement wore off, Cassidy finally glanced at the auras in the room and immediately felt self-conscious. The room was aglow in a variety of colors, none of them positive. His eyes swirled into brown as he stared at all the negative emotions, wondering what was wrong. Was there some sort of unwritten rule about not enjoying delicious beverages? He'd probably just looked like an idiot for being excited about a hot chocolate party; it was so embarrassing being an empath yet be so completely clueless about how to fit in with regular society. Understanding people was supposed to be his thing!

Cassidy looked back over at the teacher, her aura bright and hopeful, seemingly oblivious to the mood of the room. He fidgeted with the shark-tooth necklace around his neck, trying to decide if, and how, to break it to her. He hated ruining a good mood, but he really didn't want her to embarrass herself further. Making up his mind, he moved slightly closer to her, lowering his voice. "Er... I don't know how to say this but, uh... I don't think they want to be here."

[Charity Croft]

"What?" Charity managed, turning to look at the incoming boy. He talked like he knew, and not just knew but knew, which immediately made Charity's heart sink. She studied the boy for a few seconds instead of challenging him, and then frowned a little further. "You're an empath, right?" she didn't really give him time to respond: "I guess you're right..." she looked over at the gathered students. A few of them were giving nervous smiles, but most seemed to be looking at Cassady as though he'd just rode in on a white charger.

"Have you guys ever actually tried having a hot cocoa party?" Charity asked, looking over the crowd. She placed her hands on her hips. "How will you know that it won't be fun unless you try it? Trust me: I make some awesome hot cocoa and this definitely isn't the first party I've hosted." She nodded confidently, then turned to the young empath.

Charity leaned forward and whispered: "Work with me here, okay?" and jerked her thumb toward the hot cocoa. "It's good cocoa, I swear, and, like, we could cut back on the singing and stuff if it's just not what's cool." And lord help her if she didn't nod and then do a motion that she probably thought was cool but probably had never, ever been remotely close to it.

Except maybe in the 80's when, like, everything was cool.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy deflated slightly at her disappointment; sometimes being honest really sucked. He didn't mean to upset her, he was just trying to help her out with the rather delicate emotional situation in the room. He blinked as she quickly and accurately guessed his power, his eyes gaining vivid orange highlights in shock. He'd never met anyone who'd figured out his power so quickly, most of time he had to just tell them directly, or wait until they noticed his eyes changing. Not only that, she still seemed pretty determined to make this thing happen, which he could appreciate, although he wasn't quite sure if such a direct approach would work.

Cassidy barely managed to turn his grimace into a half-smile at the last second, wincing at her attempt to be "cool". She was... trying... really hard? He tried to force himself to think positively, focusing instead on trying to help her out. Anyone with this much raw enthusiasm and perserverence was good in his book, and a bunch of angsty teenagers were not going to ruin perfectly good hot chocolate. Just thinking about the delicious drink brought back some yellow to his eyes, his joy lending him determination. He found himself getting irritated with them, and the direct approach seemed more and more appealing by the second. He gave the teacher a quick nod before turning back to face the small group.

Cassidy glared at the group, with his arms crossed for good measure. He wasn't sure what color his eyes were, but either way, as long as they were moving, it should do the trick. He was pretty positive he hadn't met anyone there before, and with luck, not too many had heard Charity ask about his power; for all they knew, he could be able to shoot lasers from his eyes or something. "Yep! And everyone is going to have a good time, right?" he asked, trying to sound as subtly threatening as possible. Unbeknonst to Cassidy, his irritation, shock, and joy had all mixed in his eyes, the three warm colors blending together in his eyes. And so he stared them down expectantly, literally with fire in his eyes.

[Charity Croft]

Charity looked around at the group as Cassidy did, nodding. The kids all seemed to be considering, though less considering Charity and more considering Cassidy. That didn't really bother Charity all that much: she'd essentially worked with Cassidy to get things rolling and all.

"Right," she said, scooting forward toward where she'd set down the various chocolate containers. "I've got several different kinds of chocolate ready here, all of which is super good," she said. Charity shifted and grabbed one that she'd spent some time on, both perfecting its taste and actually making this specific pot. She carefully grabbed it and filled a mug with it.

This she turned and extended toward Cassidy. "Come on!" she said, nodding toward it. "Give it a sip. Trust me," she extended her other hand in the "OK" gesture. "You're gonna find that it's just all kinds of super awesome," and she nodded most emphatically, before looking around and nodding to the gathered group, as though that would somehow further convince them of the rightness of her statement.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy was relieved as it seemed they were at least considering his somewhat forceful "request". He normally didn't like using threats or any sort of violent measures, but hey, it seemed to be working. Besides, he was more worried about the teacher than them; she had a lot of spirit and enthusiasm, and he didn't want her to lose it. The students here could really use someone else trying to keep the mood up, because there was no way Cassidy could do it all himself.

He watched expectantly as she poured out the hot chocolate. Getting everyone to cheer up and enjoy themselves was good, but he was there for the amazing drinks. He smiled gratefully as he was handed a mug, despite feeling a bit like someone from a commercial where products are tested on "random bystanders". He took a sip and found that it was actually quite delicious! Of course, he wasn't always the best judge of taste when it came to chocolate beverages, they were all perfect to him.

"This is good stuff! You guys should try some," he hinted a bit threateningly to the others, fixing his currently flame colored eyes on them once more. He took another sip as he turned back towards Charity, the red colors in his eyes slowly receding, leaving them yellow with ribbons of light orange slowly swirling across his irises. "Seriously though, this is really good," he said, looking at the new teacher somewhat searchingly. "How'd you manage to figure it out so fast, anyway?" he asked, curious as to how she'd understood his power so quickly. "Most people don't guess it right away, I usually end up just telling them," he explained. Perhaps she had a power that helped her learn about his power, like mind reading or something.

[Charity Croft]

Charity nearly cheered as Cassidy admitted that her chocolate was good. "It should be: I made it myself and all," she insisted, puffing up slightly. A few other students cautiously approached, looking at Cassidy like they strongly suspected he was either brainwashed or some sort of plant, and then at Charity like she was the crazy person. A handful actually took sips though, and soon they realized that it was, in fact, good hot chocolate. And while the person making it still seemed determined to do crazy things like sing songs, she was also distracted by someone else.

"Oh, it's not that hard," she said, waving a hand, "you just melt up some chocolate and mix it up with the right creams and stuff. I actually have a mint flavored one and--" Charity leaned over to point, pausing as she slowly processed the tail end of what Cassidy said. she retracted the finger, then slid back onto her feet. Said finger came out again, this time pointing at Cassidy.

"You were talking about your ability, right?" she said, licking her lips and nodding. "Right, should've guessed that first," another head bob, and then she shrugged. "I can figure out people's powers, sort of intuitively and all. I can actually figure out your power better than you can. Well, for most people, especially younger ones and all, since you haven't had it long and all. I can't, like, get into your skin and stuff," Charity added another shrug and then began preparing her own cup. She definitely wanted to add a bit of cinnamon.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy sighed in relief as the students finally started joining in, even if he had to look like an idiot to get them to do so. He still wasn't sure what the big deal was about not wanting to drink it, but it looked like things were becoming a bit more comfortable. The hot chocolate was good; there was no reason for them not to enjoy it.

Cassidy smiled indulgently as she obliviously went on about the hot chocolate. He knew she'd probably figure it out in a few seconds; he could already tell that they shared some similarities between them, and this was pretty much something he would do. He watched in amusement as she slowly processed what was being said, his eyes setting to a light gold color. Said eyes widened in amazement as she described her power.

"Woah..." he practically whispered in awe. "You just... know it? Like, everything?" he asked incredulously. He could barely believe it despite all the unique powers he'd seen so far. "I barely understand it myself! What've you figured out so far?" he asked, his voice coming out in an exited rush. He wanted to know everything she knew, considering it was likely that she did in fact know it better than he did.

[Charity Croft]

Yep, that was definitely the reaction Charity got whenever she got more inexperienced students. They so often didn't understand much about their power or how it worked or anything, so having an adult type person who could effectively outline their entire ability often felt like a miracle, like some twist of Fate made especially for them.

"Uhh... lemme see..." Charity squinted, leaning forward, studying Cassidy more closely. "You... see emotions, like, literally and stuff. You can see the patterns and emotions, so, part of your power, like a chunk, is all in your eyes," she pointed at them in particular. "I'm... I'm betting it comes in colors or something? Maybe like some kinda aura? Like a mood ring? Yeah, that kinda works," she tapped a finger on her chin just where it met her lips, "you're kinda like a human mood ring."

Charity paused, then nodded, then took a sip of her cocoa. "Though, um, I don't mean that in like an insulting way or anything. It certainly sounds like a fairly useful power, especially for, like, figuring out how to interact with people and stuff."

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy listened intently as Charity outlined his power. Sure, he already knew all the stuff she said, but it was still nice that someone really understood how his power worked. As awesome as it would be, there was no instant understanding, no quick way to figure out his power-related problems. He smiled as she compared him to a mood-ring, considering his choice of accessories.

Resigning himself to the fact that that was about all he was going to get about his own power, Cassidy flipped the conversation around. While not the strangest power, this teacher's power was certainly one of the most useful, and most puzzling. "Okay, what about you? Do you just know or do you like, have to actually do something to learn other powers?" he asked. He was dying to ask all sorts of questions about it, but he just barely managed to stop himself from being annoyingly nosy. She was still a teacher after all; he didn't want to look disrespectful with all sorts of personal questions.

[Charity Croft]

The smile confirmed that Charity got it right, not that she really expected anything different. She smiled in return, nodding. "Oh, well, uh, it sort of depends? You know how you sometimes get this gut feeling that, like, you can totally get this answer right if you just write it down? Or you just know that one direction is right? It usually works something like that. Though I can also, like, study you intensely and my brain kind of figures things out."

Charity paused for a moment, then chuckled. "I guess that's sort of what a lot of people do, right? But I can detect mutants too, just not good enough to really be useful as a recruiter or anything," she shrugged. That was definitely the lesser part of her ability, more just tied into how she intuitively understood powers and could dissect them better than anything else.

"I guess it just sort of goes along with the theory that we really just do stuff that most humans can do, only better," Charity paused again and chuckled. "Though that doesn't really explain the people that breath fire, does it?" She then reached and started doctoring her cocoa again. After all, the point of the cocoa party was to experiment with pretty well every flavor and variety you could manage.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy nodded as she explained, sipping his slowly-dwindling hot chocolate. He thought he sort of understood how it worked; she just knew it. He supposed that would be cool, just to have an instinct like that, although it definitely didn't lend itself to easy explanation. He'd spent the first few days of his power just learning what all the colors meant, and even then he still didn't quite grasp all of them. Most people probably would have been bothered at the thought of her "studying" them, but considering Cassidy essentially did the same thing regularly, he really had no room to complain, especially if it meant he could learn new things about his power.

Cassidy pondered over the comment about mutants doing normal human things slightly better than regular humans. "Yeah, I guess that's true," he agreed slowly, mulling over the response. "But they don't have to deal with all the bad stuff that comes with it, at least," he remarked. They had to take the bad with the good. Was it worth being better at things to have to deal with the side effects? Either way, they didn't exactly have a choice in the matter. He chuckled along with her about the fire breathers; he still wasn't really sure how that even worked.

[Charity Croft]

Charity nodded as Cassidy agreed. She also extended the tray out, letting the handful of others that had gathered about get their hot chocolate too. Now that word was spreading that the "hot cocoa party" really was less some kind of crazy woman's strange social experiment and more about drinking really good hot cocoa and chilling near a fire, people were starting to relax and get into it. Charity still itched to grab her guitar and start doing something, but she did have Cassidy to distract her for the time being.

"It does seem like the side effects for the flashier powers sort of balance stuff out, huh?" Charity said, nodding. "Like, I think fire breathers have to be on a special diet or something, and some of the ones that shoot lightning have to let it travel through them or they feel the burn out or something. I know I used to think that it would've been better to have a power that was a little less," she raised a hand, wiggling it, "weird. But I just sometimes get distracted by other mutants. Oh, and the tingle. And headaches," Charity chuckled. "We all get the headaches."

She poured herself another cup of cocoa, this time aiming for the darker stuff. "Did you try the white chocolate kind? It looks kinda just like milk, so I don't think it's going to be as popular," she leaned over and looked at the white bubbling mixture, her nose wrinkling. It did look decidedly less touched than the others.

[Cassidy Laramie]

Cassidy was able to relax more as the rest of the room seemed more agreeable towards the idea of a hot chocolate party. He didn't even realize how tense their emotions had made him until they were gone. He finished off his first cup of hot chocolate before focusing back on the conversation.

"Yeah, exactly," Cassidy agreed. He wasn't a big fan of his side effects, but the thought of having to deal with some of the side effects he'd heard of was unbearable. He laughed along about the headaches, knowing them all too well. "I hear you. I swear I've had more days with headaches than without," he said, not exaggerating in the slightest. "It seems like for every happy person there's at least ten more who are constantly angry and upset," he observed, trying to keep any bitterness out of his tone. 

Cassidy had to take a deep calming breath at the topic of white chocolate. "No. Just no. Don't even get me started on white chocolate," he said warning, but it was too late, the hatred was already building. "White chocolate sits on a throne of lies! It's not even really chocolate! It's sweetened chocolate-ish butters wrapped in a cloak of deception," he ranted, complete with limited hand gestures in his free hand. He was able to hold a serious expression for about three seconds before he broke, cracking up at himself. "Totally kidding. Well, only a little. I'm sure its good, but I'll pass," he said, the grin never leaving his face.

[Charity Croft]

Charity chuckled as Cassidy talked about the headaches. "Pretty sure that's about half of what the nurse treats," she added. "It's always been like that," Charity nodded. It had been that way back when she was a student, at any rate, so she just sort of assumed that it had been that way for mutants since the whole mutant thing started. Though Cassidy's later comment had her wincing.

"Yeah, the school's... well, it's tough, being away from home. Then you add on the whole powers thing and it just gets... messy. But you know that," Charity said, nodding. She was reaching for the white chocolate, only to pause and pull away as Cassidy went off. She stared at him, suddenly regretting even bringing it up. however, Charity did sort of catch on that Cassidy was mostly teasing, enough that she nodded.

"Aha, good one. But you should at least try a few of these flavors. That's, like," she shrugged, "the whole point of a cocoa party, after all." Charity paused, and then reached to pour some of the dark chocolate kind into her mug to give it a sip. Lead by example and all that good stuff.