[SB] Seasickness

[Tamara Sulik]

Tamara was not used to motion sickness. The only times she ever got sick in a car had more to do with the heat and what she ate than the actual motion. She also felt a little something while flying but it was nothing you could call a sickness. Travelling through water however proved to be different.

She knew she couldn't technically feel the waves but she was certain that she did. Seeing the water all around her did nothing to help. Luckily for her, the crew was sort of used to this little complication and offered her something to help with motion sickness. Though, of course, that thing didn't work fast enough for her not to wish she was at school right now instead. Why did she agree to come along and watch over the students? There were more than enough staff members, they didn’t need her. Even if they needed her, she wasn’t in any state to help.

Tamara refused to go on deck or even to look through the windows. Watching the waves sway and hit the cruise ship as it advanced only made her want to throw up. Instead, Tamara was sitting in a corner of one of the many rooms offering entertainment to the people on board. She had a blanket wrapped around herself. The medicine they gave her made her feel drowsy so she was dozing off while she was trying to watch over those in the room with her. At least most of them were outside, taking in the sun and enjoying themselves. She sighed heavily. Her brain refused to understand she was fine and still. It almost made her want to make them buy her a plane ticket home. They wouldn’t, of course. Then they better give her vacations to recover from her vacations.

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan was wearing a new outfit and was feeling GOOOOOOODDDD.  She ran across the deck and then spiraled into a cartwheel and then a couple of somersaults and then into a standing position.  She promptly added the flourish of jazz hands.  While other people were relaxing, and...that one lady nearby was looking sea-sick, Ryan was relishing in the tropical air and the freedom.  She ran over to the seasick lady.

"You look like you could've used a few more tropical boat vacations when you were a kid.  Boats are like a second home for me.  I'm good.  But you don't look so good.  It would be a shame to ruin your outfit.  Or mine.  So just...hold it in.  You want some chewing gum?  I heard it might help.  Don't quote me on that though."  She opened the pack of gum and offered some spearmint to the woman.

"I'm Ryan Alexander I."

[Tamara Sulik]

Tamara might not like this trip but she also didn’t want to spoil it for the students. When they’ll be in Mexico, she’ll spend all of her time on land. And then she’ll pray anything and everything one could pray on to be a little less sick on their way back. The students were so loud. She couldn’t blame them but she wished they’d just enjoy the sun and stop moving around so much. If she could, she would have stayed in her cabin but she knew she did not sign in to make sure her cabin was trouble-free. She had to check on the others as well.

One came to her and Tamara forced herself to look at her. She was overly happy it seemed and started talking on how much she loved boats. “I prefer keeping my feet on the ground,” she replied. She already intended on looking elsewhere but the comment on holding it in had her stare back at the young woman. She was this close to say something about the fact she could be sick anywhere she wanted but the other one was trying to be nice and even offered her gum. “I don’t have much to lose here. Thanks,” she said as she took a piece.

She looked at Ryan when she introduced. If her look could talk, she was probably asking if she was serious with the ‘I’ in her name. But she kept her comment to herself. “Tamara Sulik, but I suppose you already knew, we told all of you who were the staff to refer to during the trip.” She didn't recall Ryan, who called a girl Ryan seriously, but that didn’t play against the girl. It meant Tamara didn’t but her on her list of students to keep a close eye on.

[Ryan Alexander]

She could see the look on the woman's face at the introduction. She didn't care. She didn't need to explain why she added the first. She did though.

"The first in my name is indicative of the fact I am the first of my kind. Unique. And that anyone who tries to be like me is just a copy. Despite my obvious eccentricities, there have actually been people who have tried to be like me to do well in more famous social circles. Never ends well." She smiled. Then the woman introduced herself and mentioned that Ryan should know who she was and Ryan's face contorted into a look of total confusion.

"Ummm...I kind of zoned out during introductions..." Then she took in the sight of the woman before her and her eyes widened in recognition.

"Oh! Yes! I remember you...or...not your name exactly." Was it Ryan's fault she was ruled by hormones and had been staring at Tamara's amazing knockers throughout the trip's first introduction? No! Or...well...maybe. She scratched the back of her head.

"Good to meet you properly. Sorry you aren't feeling too well."

[Tamara Sulik]

Ryan explained the reason for the first in her name. It did seem rather useless to have it. She was no queen or anything like that. Even so, it made more sense to have a number when you were the second or any number after that, but the first... well, there was no real need to say it. The mention had less to do with her name it seemed than her personality, making Tamara believe the young woman chose to add it afterwards as opposed to their parents choosing this for her. Ryan was unique. Well, Tamara couldn’t quite argue with that. She had never seen one like her. People with strong personalities or eccentrics however, she had seen her share. “So you’re embracing you’re uniqueness,” she let out. It could be a question but Tamara said it more as a fact she stated. If she wanted to. It wasn’t even the craziest Tamara had heard or seen.

Ryan admitted not paying attention when the staff coming onboard was introduced to the students. “I’m normally your dorm monitor. If you don’t know me much, it means you haven’t caused enough trouble for me to go after you. That makes it a good thing.” Eccentricity was not a sin Tamara would try to correct. Tamara focused her attention on the troublemakers usually or those who caused accidents in the dorm. If you didn’t do that and the worst she had to do was to tell you to tone down your music, she was not likely to remember your name. Though, to be fair, in her current state, Ryan could have been a troublemaker that Tamara wouldn’t remember. She was too busy trying not to be sick.

Ryan was still there. She even said she was sorry for Tamara. “I’ll get used to it. I hope. You don’t need to worry about it.”

[Ryan Alexander]

"Well I'm new. There's always time to get in trouble sooner or later." She chuckled. Then she wiggled her eyebrows, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Maybe I have. Maybe I haven't. I guess you'll never know." Again, it was getting very difficult to look this Tamara chick in the face. It was almost like there was a magnetized pull. Ryan glanced down briefly and then forced herself to look up again. It wasn't polite, but she couldn't help it. She was sure better men and women had tried and failed. Possibly even some straight ones.

"For any trouble I might cause, sorry in advance. I say that because after the fact I might not be too sorry. I will be eventually of course, but it'll be too late then."

[Tamara Sulik]

Tamara raised an eyebrow at the girl’s comment. It might be better if she avoided trouble, or not tell a staff member she might get involved in some eventually. She was someone Tam will have to keep in mind, should anything turn up at some point. She could have said that just to give herself an attitude but, just in case, Tamara would keep an eye on her. “I’m pretty sure that I will, at some point,” she argued. It wouldn’t be hard either to look into her file and see if she got involved in any sort of shenanigan before. In fact, it might not be a bad idea to do that when they’ll return to school.

For now, however, Tamara could barely stand on her feet without feeling sick. Her stomach really didn’t like sailing. Any stare the girl could have given her chest went unnoticed by Tamara. Even if she was to notice it, she was in no state to do more than warn her not to do that again.

Ryan was already apologizing for any mischief she might be responsible of. “Then I’m sure you can forgive me for giving you detention when it’ll happen. It isn’t against you, it’s just my job,” she replied. It was sort of weird to have someone apologize like that over this. Or have a student talk of this with her to begin with. “Just so I know, what kind of mischief should I expect from you? Or do you intend to keep it a surprise?”

[Ryan Alexander]

"I'll be honest though. I haven't caused any trouble at Bellefonte yet. I'm...not a bad person. I've done some things wrong at previous schools, but I'm hoping Bellefonte can be my fresh start, y'know?" She shrugged and smiled.

"I hope your stomach feels better soon. I can remember when I used to get sea-sick, before I got used to it." She sighed.

"As for the mischief...I don't go about planning trouble really. Just...I end up acting on my instincts, or doing something fun. Fun that I thought was harmless. And then it ends up not being harmless. Or I get annoyed and I can sometimes lose control. So...even if I wanted to tell you what kind of mischief to expect, I couldn't. Because I don't know that myself." It was a little scary not knowing those things about yourself to be honest.

[Tamara Sulik]

Tamara agreed to nod but that did not mean she would not keep an eye on her. “You’re a transfer student?” She was impressed at just how many started off in a different school, mainly St Bethany, before going to Bellefonte. What called them to this school, Tamara had no idea. She started to work here even thought it was not the school she studied at but she never transferred. She didn’t see what was so interesting in this that got so many of them to do it but she supposed it was not the only thing they did she did not fully understand.

“I’m not sure I want to get used to it,” she let out. She wouldn’t go on boats enough for her to get used to it, no doubt. She was more likely to avoid taking any more boat trip in her life. Planes were fine, this, not so much.

She was not expecting Ryan to tell her what she could do in terms of mischief so she stared at her when she tried to already justify the things she could do. “Well, that won’t really change my position here. I don’t really have a choice, I’m sure you can understand that.” Maybe not, especially when that’ll happen, but she cannot say she was not warned. “You know, you don't have to stay here. I'm sure it was not your plan to watch over the seasick staff member.”

[Ryan Alexander]

"Yeah. Well kind of. I was at St. Bethany's and I graduated. And they were kind of sick of me so I decided to transfer to Bellefonte for my college education. Even though I could've gone back to Acton Vale. I did like Acton Vale and it was close to home, but I wanted to try somewhere new." She shrugged.

"And no, there will be no hurt feelings when you 'bring me in' or whatever. I usually have it coming. I don't mean to cause trouble, I just do. And I've made peace with the fact that I have to accept the consequences of my actions. I just wish I had that compass that told me what was going to get me in trouble and what wasn't. If I had that, I wouldn't be a troublemaker anymore...except for when I pulled out the fillings from those two losers' teeth at St. Bethany's. I kind of had an idea that would get me trouble but they were being TOTAL jerks to a couple of girls I knew. I couldn't just stand by and watch them harass the poor girls, and there weren't exactly staff members to call over at the time." She sighed and shook her head. Then Tamara mentioned that she didn't have to watch over her and Ryan laughed melodically.

"Naw, I know I don't have to. But you seem interesting. And you don't seem to mind talking to me, which honestly isn't a trait a lot of people have. Really I'm trying to brush up on my social skills as much as keeping you company while you're green around the gills. Pardon the sea pun."

[Tamara Sulik]

Saying that a school was ‘sick of you’ to a staff member might not be the smartest of moves. Tam started to see why she claimed she might do some mischief without totally meaning it. She was surprised the girl tried so many of the schools. Truth be told, Tamara had no known there were so many, or so few it really depended what you compared it to, in the world. She knew of St Cadou and never really tried to know about the others until she wound up here to work. With the international thing they did earlier this year, she sort of learned about the other schools more. And judged she preferred it here. That idea had been good at first but went all kinds of wrongs and she’d rather not remember of it.

“It’s already more than most students. They know they are doing something wrong but they don’t want to pay for it when caught,” she replied. It was surprising how, as she was focusing on this discussion, no matter how surreal discussing future mischief can be, she didn’t feel as sick. It was as if her mind didn’t think so much about the fact they were on water. Those cruiser were so smooth, you could barely feel it anyway. It was just her inner ear that seemed to remember of it.

She tried to portray herself as Robin Hood. Tam said nothing about it. In a way, she knew she could have gotten herself in trouble for less noble actions than this. It didn’t mean she would get soft on the young woman if she did that and Tam caught her. It was just weird to her to find out she had more affinity with the ‘bad seeds’ of the school than the good ones.

“No problem,” she assured about the pun. “I usually don’t have students talking to me so I guess we are equally surprised here.”

[Ryan Alexander]

"Well I learned early to take responsibility for my actions. Maybe it's because I was a little wild as a little kid. Or maybe it's just because my family had a reputation to uphold. Accepting consequences was kind of just...needed." She shrugged. Ryan had to say, she liked this teacher. Not all judgy, and not all ready to tell her what she was doing wrong. But honest at the same time.

"In fact, if I do something wrong...I kind of appreciate it when someone tells me. That way I know it was wrong. Otherwise...well my moral compass is kind of royally screwed up. Maybe it has something to do with my metal manipulation and any residual magnetism throwing it off." She laughed. It was just a joke. She didn't have any control over magnetism after all.

[Tamara Sulik]

Did Tamara ever take responsibility for her actions? Now, a lot more but when she was a student, she knew she did not always. She was ready to drag down with her as many people as possible. Of course, St Cadou was more strict than Bellefonte, at least it was her opinion, so she did her best not to get caught. Things were different now however. She was in charge. She could not just let things go by because it was an accident or the person was not ill-intended. She could not let them do whatever they wanted because they were young and they should experiment. Sometimes, being the one in charge was nice but she wouldn’t mind not having to be the bad guy sometimes.

“Even when that sends you in detention?” Somehow, she found it hard to believe she wouldn’t mind or even appreciate it. The rules were rather easy to know. To follow, it could be a little harder but still not all that complicated.

He raised an eyebrow at her joke. Because it was a joke. Even if she had any control over magnetism, the moral compass didn’t exactly need any. It was a metaphor. Tam was not really laughing at it though and Ryan was free to claim it was because of her current state. But she doubted she would have laughed it even when in good health. “Metal manipulation... I’ll keep that in mind.” So if there was anything involving metal going on, she would know who to look for.

[Ryan Alexander]

"Even detention. Like I said, I have no idea what's going to land me in trouble. Regardless though, I understand rules have to be kept for order to be maintained. Even if I don't understand what I'm doing that's against the rules, I understand why the rules have to be there. And I understand they work for people who understand what they mean." Maybe she was just slow on the uptake?

"Uh...why would you keep metal manipulation in mind? Need a fridge moved or something?" She honestly couldn't think of another reason. She was feeling helpful though!

[Tamara Sulik]

She argued that she wouldn’t mind even detentions. “I guess we will see then, right?” Tamara doubted someone would not mind detention. Who wanted that, really? Even when they pretty much asked for it with their actions, no one wanted to be stuck for hours in detention. Though Tamara never really bothered to ask what they were doing here with students in detention. She knew what they did to her school but she realised how strict they could be, more than here. So maybe they were more lenient. Who knows.

At least she understood the importance of rules. The way she talked of it though, it was as if she understood without understanding them. Amoral much? “They are not always fair but you’re right, they are here for a reason,” Tamara commented. And then she felt slightly sick. Oh God, did that ship started to sway? She was certain it hit some huge wave or something. She managed not to be sick right there but she lost track of the conversation for a moment. Ah yes, rules.

Except now they were talking powers. “I like to know what are the students power. It’s good to know it when an accident happened, so you can rule out a power that went haywire,” she explained. She might not know exactly what this Ryan did with metal but if something turned out all bent, she might come to her first, if she was around or spotted nearby when that happened. It was not like she was hard all the time, she could understand that accidents happened but it was important to rule this out before thinking it was someone who did that on purpose for whatever reason.