[SB] Hooked on a Feeling

[Beau LaRoux]

Hell, Beau didn't even know how he'd wound up in this mess. Probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was just hanging out near the side of the deck, minding his own business and enjoying slightly laxer alcohol laws, when he'd seen the guy approaching. At first Beau didn't pay that much attention: he had shades on and he was pretty much chilling like everyone else on the boat. However, he couldn't help but notice the guy as he started looking around real panicked like. Beau rose slowly, knowing that you didn't want to move quickly around people that skittish.

"Hey now," he said, raising one hand toward the guy while the other pushed back his sunglasses. The guy spat something that sounded like French to Beau and then literally climbed over the railing. Beau jerked upright, taking another step. The guy tensed and said something else, and, again, it sounded very, very French to Beau. He looked about ready to bolt.

"Alright now," said Beau, taking the standard American approach of talking slowly around someone. "You jus' hold on tight now," he edged back and began punching in a text. He only knew of one guy who could actually speak French, and even if Beau was wrong about the language, he'd at least have someone who could read emotions to help with this fun little situation. He'd just have to start the text chain to get to François Laffont , and hope to somehow keep the guy from jumping until backup arrived.

[François Laffont]

Franck didn’t get a lot of texts from Beau Laroux. The two guys knew of each other, of course, but they never had any reason to text or call one another. He was even more curious as to what a ‘French emergency’ could be. For all he knew, he was the only French student at Bellefonte. Of course, it wasn’t like he created a French club for all frogs to meet and speak in a language they all understood and be happy to know their accent wasn’t weird there. So it wasn’t all that impossible for another French student to be in Bellefonte. Besides, it might have nothing to do with a student. That French emergency might as well be some video in French with no subtitle they wanted a translation to, or the fact they couldn’t remember something about France’s geography or history while talking about it. Either way, Franck had no reason not to go so he told Beau he was on his way after finding out more or less where he could find the guy.

It took him some time to get to the right side of the deck but he eventually spotted Beau. He was not alone. Someone was over the railing. It clearly was not a wise spot to stand and Franck did fear what was going on. If he wanted to jump in the water, there were other ways, although Franck would still consider it now very wise.

“Hey,” he said as he reached Beau. He was not really looking at him and more at the other guy. This trip has been a blast so far. Everyone was so relaxed, happy and excited, he barely felt anything negative. He got some now and it made him a little fidgety. “What is going on?” Beau was athletic so clearly he didn’t need Franck’s help dragging this person back on the deck. Besides, if this was what he wanted, surely a friend from the football team would be a better choice.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau nodded and actually smiled a bit as Franck pulled in. Beau adjusted his own position, though he moved slow to not disturb the guy hanging on the edge all that much. Beau just wanted to get closer to Franck, pick up that empath power and see if that could help too. It wasn't just the French thing, after all.

"Howdy," Beau said, nodding. He tilted his head slightly toward the panicked guy. "I actually don't got a clue what's goin' on over there. Was jus' relaxin' an' this guy came runnin' through, talkin' what sounds like frog-speech... err," Beau rubbed at the back of his head, "French, I mean. Recognize bits an' pieces an' all, but not the whole," he looked over, taking a deep breath, "an' since he's panickin', well, figured that mebbe a levelheaded empath an' all..."

Beau studied the kid, who still seemed much more interest in the whole jumping thing. He yelled again, and Beau would still swear that it sounded French to him. The guy looked almost surprised at what was coming out of his mouth, which had Beau frowning and looking over at Franck. "Mebbe he's one of those whatchamacallits, types that speak all the languages an' all..." Beau would've snapped, but he didn't want to make the guy freak or anything.

[François Laffont]

There was something going on and Franck needed not to be an empath to get that. Right now, however, he didn't know what exactly was going on. Was this a prank of some sort, did this person want to jump? Only one way to find out...

He didn’t really think it was Beau’s kind of joke but, then again, he didn’t know the guy all that well. He seemed like a well rounded guy, very much like Franck and because of this he could not believe Beau would joke around with something like this. It was still a possibility though. Franck didn't always get people’s sense of humor.

Beau had an accent that could be difficult for Franck to get everything at times but he tried to follow as best as he could. He gave the young man an indulgent smile at the frog-speech. He had been called a frog before and in a more hurtful tone than the one Beau used. He understood he didn’t mean to disrespect him or anything of the like. Beau was barely over with his explanation that the guy screamed something, making Franck jumped slightly at the sudden sound. “Well, that’s French alright,” he agreed with Beau.

Franck was about to ask Beau how he wanted to play this one, if they shouldn’t, perhaps, get a teacher too, just in case, but Beau added something. He wondered if the other guy couldn’t speak every language or something of the like. Franck frowned and stared at the boy. For someone who acted as though he wanted to jump, he wasn’t really doing any actual jumping. “You think he would be able to understand the French too?” he asked Beau. Speaking it thanks to a power and understanding it might not be related. With mutant abilities, Franck preferred never to assume anything. “What do you want us to do? Maybe I can try and talk to him, focus his attention on me. And maybe we’ll be able to grab him and pull him back on the deck...”

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau's head swiveled back to the guy as he screamed. At least Beau was enough in control that he didn't jump or anything: just looked at him. Soon enough he was nodding. "Ain't the first time I've heard it. 'course, back home, it usually sounds a bit, ah, rougher," and then that was generally people making fun of the ways the swamp people talked. After all, it wasn't like Beau really lived that close to a bayou or anything like that.

Beau turned to look at Franck, only to follow the Frenchman's gaze back to the boy. Beau ended up shrugging at Franck's question. "Sometimes it's like that. Guy could be havin' some kinda backlash or somethin'. Happens with the, uh, tongue---guys," okay, so Beau wasn't great when it came to the actual terminology. Most of that portion of his brain was dedicatedt o music.

"Well, I figured either you could try an' talk 'im down or read 'im out or somethin'. Didn't want to go chargin' in on my own..." Beau paused, then raised a hand up to rub at his face, "aw, hell, I coulda at least checked if he had the whole talkin' power thing. Really oughta be better at thinkin' 'bout my power by now," He let out a breath and looked at the guy. Said guy still looked panicky, but he also seemed to not be too enthused about the prospect of jumping either.

"If I really had a plan, I probly wouldn'a called you," Beau admitted sheepishly, looking over at Franck and smiling apologetically.

[François Laffont]

Franck had no real idea that Beau heard French before or whether or not he might speak some of it. He always assumed people here might have some notion based from books and moves and that he was one of the few who spoke it. Others might but they were not from France and their accent might make it difficult at times for Franck to understand them. So when Beau said he heard a rougher version of it before, he nodded. He wasn’t sure what he meant by rougher but he could understand it was not similar to his way of speaking it.

“So he might just speak it or he might also be able to understand,” Franck tried to summarize. He supposed if the tongue was all that was involved, he might not understand. Although, to speak French, he had to have heard it somewhere, right? did he pick up Franck’s music or something?

He could understand why he called Franck. Not just because of the language barrier but, as he pointed out, his power could help. He didn't think about Beau’s power either until he brought it up. Franck vaguely remembered hearing about it but it was not as if Franck cared much about people’s abilities. He had a small smile for the guy but it seemed to end in a wince. They were still stuck with a problem here, one that needed a solution and preferably as soon as possible.

“Do you need to do anything to have your power work? I can distract him if that helps, or do you need the focus on you?” They had the beginning of a plan but Franck wanted to make sure they did it right. He still let out a few words in French, hoping it would calm the other guy down. Surprisingly, it sort of did. “I think he understands. Or gets I’m speaking the same language he does,” he pointed out. Well, that would at least be one less thing to worry about.

[Beau LaRoux]

"That's pretty much it," agreed Beau, nodding. He shifted a little more aware from Franck. It sounded like they were more or less on the same page regarding what they needed to be doing and all. Franck was already asking for specifics, which Beau was more than willing to provide:

"Well, I need to get good an' close," he said. He took another slight step forward, keeping his attention on the guy. He still looked startled, but he also seemed decidedly more focused on Franck than he had been a few moments ago. That was at least somewhat relieving: had Beau nodding. "Though I can sometimes, uh, combine powers an' all, if I know 'em well enough..."

Though he didn't know if that would work in this case. Wasn't like he had a whole lot of experience with the whole speaking in tongues thing, or in Franck's brand of empathy. At least it did seem like Franck was making progress. The guy did seem to calm down further. "Didja try sayin' anythin' specific? Maybe ask him his name or somethin'?"

Beau shrugged and took another step closer. If Franck could keep the guy distracted, Beau could get close. Close enough and they'd know for certain whether this was a power or a language thing. Even closer, and Beau could just snatch the guy and solve their major problem.

[François Laffont]

The guy might not seem in any hurry t jump but that didn’t mean he would not if they did something wrong. Franck was not the best at working under pressure but he simply could not sit there and do nothing just in case he aggravated things. Besides, Beau asked for his help. He didn’t call a staff member or anyone else, he called him. Granted, it was probably more because of the French thing but still, Franck didn’t want to back down.

He stared at Beau while the boy explained what he needed. “You mean, like getting mine and his at the same time?” It could help but, at the same time, Franck thought it might be too much. He shook his head. “Just focus on him. I’ll try to talk him down the rail or at least keep his attention on me so you can get closer,” he told him. Beau wouldn’t be able to understand them as they would speak French, but once he’ll get a good sense of the boy’s power, then they would all be able to speak it.

Franck nodded as Beau told him to ask specific things. He purposefully stepped away from Beau. If he couldn’t have him come down on his own, Beau might have to pull him by force and he thought it would be easier to take him by surprise if he wasn’t able to look at both of them at the same time. Franck started to ask the boy if he could understand what he was saying. He got a nod and a long, slightly panicked speech in French he tried to calm down. He just wanted the boy to relax. Franck was able to understand him, that was more than what he seemed to get so far. He tried not to look at Beau too much, as he didn’t want the guy to follow his gaze and realise what they were doing. Instead, he tried to talk him into coming down, at least while they talked. No one wanted an accident to happen.

[Beau LaRoux]

No, they definitely didn't want an accident to happen. Beau kept moving as best he could, trying to angle for a good position. He could almost feel his body getting rid of Franck's power, or it weakening or however it was that his body worked through the power. Details like that had never been one of Beau's strong suits. He just knew he could feel something else starting to drift on.

Beau could also hear the other two conversing to one another. It sounded slightly panicky from the boy's end, but Franck at least remained as calm as ever. Beau edged a bit closer, and then, what he'd half expected happened...

He started understanding. Beau paused then, cocking his head, listening. "Sounds like he's stuck," he drawled, though, oddly, in a heavily accent version of French. The mixture did not do well, and got at least the omnilinguistic's attention, let alone what it did to Franck. Beau looked to him, smiling. "Hey, you ain't the only one who can have this sort of thing," he insisted, still talking in that horribly accent French. He spread his arms wide. "Jus' relax: we can help."

[François Laffont]

Had Beau been alone, it might have been useful to have both of their abilities, but Franck was here and he could be the empath trying to take care of any spike of panic that might come out from the boy. Luckily for him, Beau was concentrated enough on the task not to panic too much either. There was still something, a rush of adrenaline, but that might as well come from Franck himself.

He talked to the boy to have him calm down. He wondered if Beau would tackle him or something. He should have the physical strength to achieve this. Franck too, he supposed, but he was not likely to try that. The two of them startled when Beau joined them in the conversation. That accent... my, it was a real massacre to his poor ears. “Beau, where did you get that accent? This is just terrible. Our friend must have heard a different one, he speaks it better than you,” Franck let out. He meant no disrespect to him, he was being really nice to help the boy and it was great that they could now all understand each other, but he had to say it. It even managed to have the boy laugh a little, calming him perhaps even more than any other words Franck said to him previously.

“Can your power allow you to know how to make English his default language?” Franck didn’t know if that was the proper way to say it but it sure made it clear what he wanted Beau to do. And the boy was already coming down, Franck bringing his hand behind him in case he was to fall. He still made sure not to touch him though. This was not necessary for Beau to deal with two French panics.

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau made a bit of a face and shrugged apologetically. "I think it's just my normal accent, only gone all French," Beau admitted. His regular accent kept attacking the French, mangling it in ways that was at least getting the stressed out guy to relax further. Between that and Franck's joking and both their easygoing demeanors, the guy at least felt comfortable enough to step back onto the proper part of the ship.

Beau took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he watched. "Not really," he said, still mangling the language. He reached up to rub at the back of his head. "Just making me talk all Frenchy," which it still kept doing, even as he kept going. The boy was starting to climb down, looking amused and somewhat relieved.

Beau looked over to Franck. "Don't we got a trainer or something that figures out powers? Maybe we could get him to her?" it was worth a shot, right? Beau seemed to at least recall hearing about someone, even if he hadn't really encountered her yet.

[François Laffont]

Well, at least Beau’s terrible accent had the boy calm down and even laugh a little, so there was at least that. It was kind of painful to hear though. The grammar was excellent, he had to give him that, but the accent was terrible. There was barely any fear in the boy, though some panic remained, since he was still stuck like this. And Beau admitted not really knowing how to go back to English which was what they were trying to do here. “Obviously just speaking in English until he talks it isn’t enough, or he would have replied to us by now,” Franck said. He didn’t mean to exclude the boy from the conversation but he was talking to Beau mainly.

He looked at the boy, so he wouldn’t feel cut from them. “We’ll help you out,” he assured him. It was Beau who came with a solution, mentioning a trainer. Franck didn’t really know that her in question. His trainer was specified in mental abilities and he didn’t need one that could figure out his power from just looking at him. He needed one who could help him relax and take in loads of emotions without losing it. “It’s worth a try. You know who she is?” He asked Beau because, if they followed Franck, they might not find her. He wasn’t sure who he was talking of, only had an overall idea of her.

“Do you know her?” he also asked the boy but he only repeated how much he wanted to stop talking like this. “Alright, so... I suppose we’re looking for an adult not dressed in the crew’s outfit. Shouldn’t be too hard to find her.” At least, he hoped so.