What You Can Do For Food

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

Akeem stood in line at the cafeteria. He already selected what food he wanted. He was very conscious of what he was eating. He claimed it to be the result of having a renowned cook for father. He was not eating just anything. Even his junk food tended to look almost like fine cuisine. Of course, when you ate at the cafeteria, your choice of menu could not be all fancy. Still, he managed to snatch some chicken he thought looked decent and accompanied it with salad, fruits, a small piece of cake and a bottle of water.

When it came time for him to pay however, he found out that he left the card in his room. He dug in his pockets for some change. That didn’t even covered half of what he had. No need to say he didn’t think about taking his wallet either. Of course not, because he would otherwise have found his card in it.

He looked at the woman staring at him. She was bored and wanted him to pay right now or leave the queue. Not that the line was very long, the others still seemed to be busy making their selection. Perfect. Akeem released some pheromones and made sure to lean forward so that she would get the most of it. “Can we make an exception? I have my card in my room. You just write a note and as soon as I’m done, I run upstairs, get it and come back to pay you?” To make it even better, he gave her his most innocent look his big green eyes could offer. It was nice to have a baby face, people always thought you look like a little puppy they wanted to adopt. She was about to give in, he could just feel it. He grinned at this.

TAG: Amerie Inouye

[Amerie Inouye]

Food. Had music not been her first love, Amerie was sure she would've married food if she could. She was pretty much a foodie, or whatever you called those who loved looking, and drooling over food all the time on tumblr. With as much as she ate, it was pretty hard to believe she could stay so small.

So now the question of today and every three hours of the day, everyday was; What would she eat? There were options but they didn't look as appetizing as yesterday's choices. Well, if she didn't get fulfilled, she could always head out and grab something outside the school grounds later. So she picked out a few things and of course her favorite bottle of soy milk as the line inched along.

Holding on to her tray of food, she looked ahead while the guy in front of the person that stood in front of her was hesitating to pay. That or maybe he forgot his money? She wasn't too sure. She could hear sighs and grunting coming the line behind her but for some reason Amerie didn't share the same impatience. She pressed her lips together as she could feel something, or better yet sense it. Pheromones? It was the same feeling she got when she used her own abilities whether it was on purpose or by accident.

It felt close, as if it was coming from the guy who everyone was still waiting to pay. Was he using it on the lady? Holding onto her tray, she stepped out of her spot in line, skipping one person and ending up in front of the guy. Blinking, she glanced back at him before looking up at the woman. "It's okay," She softly nodded as she got her card out, while trying to hold her breath. "I'm paying for both." She handed the woman her card as she tried to manipulate his own pheromones into helping her persuade that she had it. Which was awkward for her because she never had to do something like that before.

When the woman handed her card back, Amerie shot her a soft smile and before looking back at the guy with a less than satisfied expression. She quickly headed towards and sat at the nearest table and looked down at her food with her lips pursed. Finally taking a deep breath, Amerie turned back to look to see if he was still there. One could say she was a bit confused. 

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

Akeem must have a high metabolism to be able to eat so much. He was picky with his food however. Not in terms of calories ingested and if it had the right amount of sodium and fibers but in terms of quality. When he wanted something, he had a clear idea how it should be and couldn’t settle for less. You had to pay the price for that and sometimes you had to deal with what you had in front of you and could afford. What they offered was not gourmet food, as one would expect from a cafeteria, but it wasn’t all that terrible. The problem was that he couldn’t afford most of what was in his tray, all this because he forgot his card. It wasn’t like he didn’t have the money on it to pay for the meal, he just forgot to take it. And running to his dorm to fetch it would have him lose his food, or get it all cold and that was just as bad.

His pheromones might not have any particular scent, one could still sense them. They simply couldn’t tell what it was particularly. But obviously, they liked it. Akeem knew it was risky. He came back here precisely because he was using his power whenever he wanted. He did intend to pay his meal back though. There was also the risk that anyone coming in line behind him, if they were too close, would be affected too. But when you are desperate, you don’t always think things through. Since he was not talking to anyone in line, he figured it would not matter. It would only put them in a happy mood towards him and since he made them wait, it was better that way.

Someone suddenly broke his focus on the woman. She claimed to be paying for both. And something happened. Akeem could use his own pheromones on people but he was still affected by those of others and when he could not control his, he also could not control his reaction to that of others. And when she manipulated his pheromones, it had the same effect as if they were not his own anymore. That was strange. Was she able to mimic one’s power or something?

Either way, the transaction was done without any problem. Akeem followed the girl, first with his gaze and then walked to the table she sat at. “Thank you. I’ll pay you back, I’ve got the money, just not on me.”

[Amerie Inouye]

Her gaze broke and now focused on the scenery in front of her. Taking another deep breath, she ran through her thoughts. She was confused for a few reasons and she was distraught for the same exact reasons. She was in a school of mutants... where she chose to be, so there was no surprise when others used their powers everywhere, for anything. There was just something about being able to sense someone like her so close, using their powers to get out of paying for something. Or maybe that wasn't the case, she wasn't really sure but that's what it seemed like from where she was standing.

Or maybe she was just thinking too deeply about the situation. Yeah, that could be it.

She picked up her fork and took a small bite out of her pasta salad before putting it back down. Pursing her lips as she looked up at the guy, "You don't have to pay me back." Her innocent eyes blinked at him as her soft voice followed. "Wouldn't want you to suffocate me with your pheromones in order to get out of it." Looking back down at her plate she went back to eating as she looked forward. Amerie wasn't too sure why it upset her as much as it did, but brushing it away wasn't always something she knew how to do.

Other than her time with trainers, she never had to protect herself from someone else's pheromones and it was kind of a weird feeling.

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

Akeem didn’t release a whole lot of pheromones but still a good share and they would remain in the air for a while. The fact he moved even left a faint trail behind him. Luckily, it wouldn’t affect people too much, that is, they would not follow him like he was amazing and everything and they had to bask in his glory. This girl however, she was likely to be affected a bit as he sat next to her. Akeem was glad he tried to release pheromones that would make people trust him as opposite to sexual ones. He didn't want to think what could have happened otherwise.

He was about to tell her he didn't like owing someone anything but hr flinched when she mentioned pheromones. “So I was right, you sensed it? What are you, some sort of power sensing girl? Or is it mimicry?” He didn’t think she would tell. She could have done so instead of offering to pay, tell the person he was manipulating her. It might not have been enough to break his power of suggestion on the employee but it sure would have pissed Akeem.

“I don’t like being in anybody’s debt. I won’t use my power to get out of it,” he told her. He should more say ‘this time’ but she didn’t need to know that. She already looked as if she didn’t want him around. What was it, she didn’t approve of what he did? She shouldn’t have helped him then.

[Amerie Inouye]

She didn't really owe him an answer, nor did she feel like she had to but then there was just that small hint of trust that she could feel when he sat next to her. So why not? "Neither." Letting herself finish chewing the last bit, she looked at him again.

"Pheromone manipulation. Like you, or maybe not like you... I - uh, I don't know. I just know that I was able to sense what you did and I could change it." She didn't really care to tell anyone anything, for that matter. It wasn't like he stole anything and he did no harm to her or anyone else. She just didn't agree with how he used his powers. Then again, not everyone agreed on how mutants were supposed to use such things. "Something I didn't think I'd have to do..."

She chuckled but was more like a scoff, "I wouldn't call it being in my debt. Not like I'd come back to blackmail you." That just wasn't her thing but he didn't know that. "Or would I?" A less than innocent smirk played on her lips. She wouldn't, Amerie was sure she didn't have an evil bone in her body to do something as lame as blackmailing for something as small as lunch.

"Or you could just give it to a charity of some sort." Yeah, right. He didn't really seem like that kind of guy anyway. 

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

Now Akeem was puzzled. She claimed to be neither of those things? Then how did she know it was about pheromones? She answered him and whether or not it was the result of his pheromones still in the air was of no concern to Akeem. Wasn,t it nice when you could just make people do what you want?

“You... you manipulated the pheromones I spread?” Could someone really do that? Quickly, his mind started to think what the two of them could do together. He could secrete his super-pheromones and she could manipulate them to have exactly the effect they wanted. Of course, they’d have to work together and it was a little early to say such a thing was possible. “Actually I don’t manipulate them. I can just release some that makes me appealing to people,” he admitted. It could be risky to tell her that, after she claimed she could control them. He did not tell her it opened them to suggestion but it was easy to guess. But he figured that if she was able to manipulate them, she was probably able to resist them too.

He realised the whole idea of working together was not likely to happen. She didn’t seem to agree with what he did. To be precise, to what she did but he started it so he could read between the lines. He raised an eyebrow though, pleasantly surprised when she smirked at him. The other comment was harder to believe though. “Give the price of a lunch to charity? Yeah, I think I’d prefer to give it to myself,” he let out. He was not going to deny that he was not the most generous soul around. Not unless there was something in it for him. But apparently, that was no longer called generosity but opportunism. “I’m Akeem, by the way.”

[Amerie Inouye]

There were a lot of things that Amerie didn't feel like admitting to right now and what she had done back there was probably one of them. Nodding, her eyes studied him. "Yeah." Other than her training during her high school years, she never had the opportunity to mess with anyone else's pheromones until now. Being able to be around someone else who had less or more of the same ability was kind of... different. It felt like some sort of bond had to happen, as if there was some connection between the two and honestly, Amerie didn't want to give into that. Nor did she want to go into detail about how she was able to also secrete her own as well but keeping that bit to herself would be okay for now.

"I don't see why you'd ever need to use it, then." To some, that may had come off as a compliment, which it was but Amerie's soft voice just spoke on the obvious sometimes. It was human nature to have attractive people roaming the Earth and some others not so attractive but that's just how it was. It was nature. It was life, and he looked to be on the attractive specter of the two.

"Right, of course." She nodded jokingly, almost as if she was agreeing with his choice of what to do with his lunch money. "What was I thinking." This was why assuming wasn't always the best choice.

There was something about his name, like some sort of familiarity about it. "Akeem," She repeated it only to hear it again. It was soulful and just felt natural. Smiling softly, she gave a nod. "I'm Amerie. It's uh - It's nice to meet you." She wasn't sure if those were quite the words but it wasn't horrible to meet him or bad either, not at all. It was just... different. Brushing her hair back behind her ears, she looked to him. "So does your name explain an origin or did your parents just pick because it 'felt right'?" 

She was curious now. Sometimes people enjoyed the names of different cultures because of how beautiful it sounded to the ears when it was said, and how beautiful it felt when the heart reacted when hearing the name. Then there were others who just chose a name randomly without any true meaning behind it. Then of course, you had the names that followed religion or nationality.

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

Okay, any idea of using her talent to control his had to be pushed aside for good. He could deal with that. He didn't want to admit he could not control them. Once they were in the air, he had to wait for the proper reaction and play with that. The girl seemed to have struggle with what happened though, unless she was troubled by the fact there was another one with a common ability in school now.

Akeem didn’t think there was any particular bond connecting them. Sure, it was almost the same thing they could do, but he was not making a club with all the people who could text message someone or had ten fingers to go after those who had nine. If he couldn’t find that connection with his own family, he was not about to with a stranger. He could connect with her in other ways however, but he had a feeling it would take a bit of work to get that.

He smiled at her comment. “Is that your way of saying I’m naturally charming?” He knew he had the kind of look that could or could not work. Not everyone fell for his eyes. But he would still believe that they could. He shrugged however. “I just wanted to convince her there was no problem in me paying later. Is it really that bad?” Even if it was, it was not something Akeem really cared about. He had never been really good with what seemed to be the rightful thing to do. How could it be rightful when that would leave him starving?

Amerie. A name certainly as unusual around here as his must sound. Then she had to ask the origin. She was not the first and at least she didn’t look like she should be scared or something. “It’s Arabian. I’m Egyptian,” he explained to her. He was not ashamed of this in the tiny bit. Those who were afraid of someone based on their name and the color of their skin were just a bunch of idiots. Sometimes, dangerous idiots, but idiots nonetheless. “How about you? Which one of those two choices is it?” Akeem made himself comfortable so he would eat there, at her table. It was not like they had designated seats and he didn’t see the point in getting up at this point.

[Amerie Inouye]

A soft smirk appeared, she chuckled as she looked away, glancing at everyone else currently in the cafeteria. "More or less." Looking over to him, she lightly shrugged. "I - um, suppose there's something naturally charming about everyone." If charming was the word she was looking for but there was no point in contemplating. Some guys got a serious ego boost when it came to compliments and Amerie didn't think that she was trying to feed his ego. She was just being honest as usual.

"I don't think it matters anymore... Or at least what I think, shouldn't." She parted her lips as her brows furrowed slightly. "Bad or good, I'm sure you'd do whatever you want, like everyone else in the world." She couldn't trust that he'd promise to pay the woman back or if his whole talk about not liking to be in debt was actually true. Still, he'd do what he want and she'd do the same and if that meant helping a stranger get out of a simple situation, then so be it. She now knew there was no point in questioning that situation now.

When he mentioned being Egyptian, she couldn't help but to chuckle and that chuckle surely did turn into a giggle as she tried covering her mouth during it. Nodding, a smile stayed planted on her face and she knew why. "I guess you could say both." She pursed her lips, "Um I think Amerie was just a cute name my parents heard and fell in love with. My middle name, though... Isis; It's, of course, Egyptian which my last name follows soon after; Inouye. Which is Japanese."

She smiled sheepishly, "So yeah... I'm half Egyptian, Half Japanese." And that right there showed you how small the world could be. She wasn't entirely sure yet; If she was supposed to be excited or confused but it was new and she was kind of enjoying it.

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

She didn’t look all that flustered and even if she had been, Akeem was ready to believe it had more to do with the pheromones he threw in the air than because of his natural charm. “I suppose so. You are naturally charming too,” he replied. He was not entirely agreeing with everyone having their own charm. Some were, well the only compliment you could give was that they had a wonderful personality and even there you might be pushing it just so you had something to compliment them about. He was also not trying to flirt with her. She was cute indeed and he might like being around her but Akeem could keep his primary instincts under enough control not to try to bed with every girl he met. Besides, with her honesty thing going on, she would take time to get, especially since she seemed able to control his pheromones making his secret weapon useless. She was not unpleasant to look at and had yet completely bored him however, so he enjoyed her company.

“People sure do. But I don’t like to think in good or bad and right or wrong. People are always ready to bend the rules on what is right and what is wrong whenever it suits them.” It was easier then not to care at all about what was bad and what was good. Akeem preferred to think in terms of what he could do and what he couldn’t do. If that got him in trouble sometimes, so be it. At least he was not trying to justify his actions by twisting people’s moral compass into accepting it.

He frowned when she laughed. There was nothing funny about being Egyptian. Was she picturing him as some sort of pharaoh or some bad joke of the like? That didn’t seem like her, judging by what little he knew thanks to their conversation so far. He had to wait until she mentioned her middle name being Isis. Oh, there was the funny thing. It was true that he was not expecting to see many other Egyptians around here. That didn’t make him think they had even more of a connection though. He never even went to Egypt, he always lived here, in America. Common roots meant little although one might wonder if it was a racial thing to be Egyptians and also manipulate pheromones. Not like he cared much to find out.

“I’m not as exotic, my father may be Egyptian but my mother is white. That explains the eyes,” he said, pointing at his green pupils. You’d expect them to be dark. If you asked people, even when they saw him, if they never paid attention to his eye color, they expected them to be dark. “I’ve got nothing quite white other than that though. Not even in my name. Akeem Saif Ten-Amen.”

[Amerie Inouye]

He called her naturally charming also.

Hmm.

Smiling softly, she looked down at her tray and started snacking away on the rest of her food. Sometimes compliments weren't as easy to take as they were to give because you could always vouch for yourself when it came to the truth of your words... but you could not always believe and vouch for the other person. But she'd take it and humbly because now they were on simple speaking terms and she didn't feel as bothered about what happened back there.

Nodding, she finished chewing before fully turning in her seat to face him. "Tell me," Her eyes studied his face before she continued with her question. "Are you saying that because you're one of them?" Sure he could agree with her and he could agree with him. While it came to the subject at hand, Amerie was one of the many who rarely would bend the rules but would if she had to. So she could admit to that but what about him? She was curious and might not have meant to put him on the spot.

"Not as exotic to you but I'm sure you are to someone else." She munched on a baby carrot, as she sort of mumbled the next part. "But your eyes are still beautiful, along with your name and stuff." Even though she had an urge to randomly say something to him in Arabic, she decided against it. One of the most complex languages in the world and she just so happened to speak and read it fluently. That wasn't the case for many others.

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

He studied her as she looked down at her food, picking on it. He didn’t try to flirt with her or anything. Not more than he would naturally do with anyone who happened to be female and somewhat attractive. He wondered if the pheromones he spread were still in the air. It would be hard to use them on her, especially since they were not ones of lust and that she could sense it apparently, but Akeem was still tempted to try, at least so she would not look as guarded around him. You’d think a comment like that would be rewarded with a smile or something. She seemed to just take it and nothing more.

“Bending the rules, you mean? I guess so,” he admitted. Well, he more knew so but it sounded so much like he was a bad person to admit he was ready to ignore some rules when he thought them to be arbitrary. “I’m not evil or anything. I get there are things you cannot do. It’s more a question of... morality?” What one considered good could be bad for another. Akeem was not one to stop doing something just because one thought it bad. If they didn’t want him to do it on them, he might not, but that was a different thing. “I won’t commit a crime or anything,” he assured her with a shrug. One could argue he sort of committed one or almost did by not paying immediately for his meal but he’d rather not deal with those pesky little details.

He laughed softly as she argued his mix might still be considered exotic to others. “I guess you’re right. Though they do look a little like bug eyes sometimes no?” Despite saying that, he still considered them to be his best feature. He just knew he easily had bags under his eyes. “Yours are lovely as well. They do have something very... Nefertiti about them, even if I never would have thought you were part Egyptian.”

[Amerie Inouye]

She nodded. If that was the first thing that came to his mind, then she figured bending the rules was the subject at hand. Amerie wasn't really one to judge others so easily, nor did she want to slam the GOOD or BAD stamp on anyone specifically, she was just really curious. "Okay." She appreciated his answer, but couldn't help but to chuckle. "I don't think you're evil... or bad, for what it's worth. I just - you know, wanted to see where your head was."

She sat up a bit, only to face him with a smile as she crunched on another baby carrot. "Well if you ever do... you know, choose to commit a real crime. I just hope I'm not in a line behind you."

At the same time, she was trying to see where he got that he had bug eyes. Shaking her head, she looked puzzled. "Bug eyes?" She offered him a soft smile, "They're big, yes but also expressive. Besides you have these really long lashes that are like decorations for your eyes. Is that weird? I don't know but that's just how I see them."

She paused, smiling as usual but only to understand his compliment. Her lips parted as she chuckled. "I don't think I've heard that one before." Though, it wasn't the first time someone told her she didn't look Egyptian. It was never any offense taken. That's what kind of happened when you were mixed. "Thank you."

"Do you like music?"

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

He nodded as Amerie assured him not thinking he might be evil because of the way he was thinking. Obviously her moral compass might not point due north either or, at the very least, she accepted that sometimes the rules were meant to be broken. Akeem certainly thought so. Some had to be respected, of course. He would not murder someone and would consider this bad, but the moral rules were so arbitrary and different for everyone that he chose to listen to his own without really caring if others thought differently. In fact, he was not even sure he had moral rules. He just did what he wanted at the time. He could not see it as right or wrong. “Well, I’m glad that did not scare you away,” he replied.

He laughed at her joke, it had to be a joke, about him committing a crime. “I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll just have to walk away from it on my own. Shouldn’t be too hard,” he let out. Not that he was now considering trying, he merely stated a fact. With their ability, it did seem easy to get away with crimes, although the amount of effort might be quite draining. But Akeem was not thinking about the details.

He had a little smirk painted on his lips as she talked of his eyes. “I heard it said before,” he explained as she did not seem to understand where he got that he had bug eyes. He laughed at the way she described his lashes. “I never heard it said like that before. Long lashes are more something girls want, no?” He didn’t really mind though. He had no real problem with his eyes.

He didn’t like the description he made of hers but he never bothered to learn all the ways to talk of eyes before and the easiest way to say she had Egyptian eyes was, to him, to mention probably one of the most famous Egyptian woman. The mix of race on both of them made it difficult to know their ethnicity for sure but it had never been a real issue for the boy.

At her question, he turned his head to look at her. That was an odd change of subject but he would go along with it. “Who doesn’t? Why you ask?”