The Bead Panic of 2015

[Charity Croft]

Charity looked down at her relatively organized craft table. She'd been sitting at it for the last half hour or so, working her way through several different emotions, most of which involved frustration to some degree or another. The camping trip hadn't been quite the rousing success that she'd hoped for, and on top of that, the "Chastity" name was spreading further.

So naturally Charity decided that it was time to make herself a little something. She'd decided to lay off the kitchen, mostly because too many muffins would not mix well with her stress. That left a craft project. And currently Charity had elected to weave together beaded animals. She already had a few of them done up and sitting in various spots on the desk, their black beaded eyes looking at her. Multicolored beads formed something of a pattern, tied in place and woven with string to create various animal forms.

Charity adjusted another, took a deep breath, and reached for her beads. Charity couldn't quite find the bead she initially wanted, and so she ended up digging about. Two black beads. Wonderful. But Charity thought she'd seen some beads in a container on the other side of the common room.

So she sort of headed over there. She just needed a few black beads to finish up eyes, and she'd certainly replace them. Charity found a little box on a shelf, and started to pull them off. It was at that time that she felt them sliding from her fingers. With a shouted curse suitable for a children's cartoon show, Charity scrambled for the box, turning in a circle.

She'd just caught it, upside down, beads falling out, when she turned to see the roommate she was pretty sure owned said beads.

"Ah..." she said, pursing her lips for a moment, "oops?"

[Delilah Kotter]

Delilah had just woken up from a nap-- an event that she could solemnly found time to do with her usually-busy schedule, but since she had actually stopped procrastinating for once during her "Planning Time", and throughout her daily classes, she could actually get her work done that her fellow roommates were so used her bringing home, and completing during said night.

Feeling especially proud of herself for getting her work done, Delilah had decided that she deserved some free-time to just sit down, and actually Draw. She usually found all of her time to do some sort of artistic project soaked into either painting examples for one of her higher-leveled classes, or helping out with a student-ran project, so it was always nice to go back and dwell in drawing-- what had originally started her career in Art. Maybe, if she had time afterwards, she would even water her flowers she had scattered throughout the entire Dorm. Man.. Delilah was quite the Party Animal.

After a while of digging through drawers and cabinets in her specific room, Delilah couldn't find any trace of her sketchbook, which meant she would either have to give up, or go out and ask her fellow roommates if they had seen the sketchbook that began causing so much trouble for a leisure activity. Sighing as she looked into a mirror before deciding to exit her room and ask about, or further look, Delilah quickly brushed her now frizzed and tangled hair back, eventually giving up and just putting it in a ponytail.

Delilah opened her door, and began wandering out into the Common Area of the Faculty Dorms, as she heard footsteps, which lead to the revelation that at least one of her roommates were home. Delilah began projecting her voice as she walked out of the doorway.

"Hey, have you seen my Ske--". Began Delilah, until she walked fully out into the Common Area, to see Charity standing there, with an entire box of beads upside down, pouring out as the two made awkward eye contact throughout the entire situation. Delilah hadn't really formed that much of a strong relationship with Charity, but she had seen her and talked to her time to time occasionally.. well, considering that they lived together, so they occasionally joked around with each-other, and talked every now and then.

Delilah cleared her throat, and stared at Charity with the most bland poker face for about five seconds, until she began walking towards the poor roommate, as she just couldn't contain her laughter any longer, and began chuckling, as the last "drop" of the beads had scattered on the floor.

Delilah looked down, as beads surrounded her and Charity's feet, and Delilah's laugh had turned to just a slightly-tickled giggle. Upon staring at Charity for about 5 seconds with a snug face, Delilah cleared her throat.

"So.... Uh.. Watcha doing out here? Some professional Arts and Crafts, or some late Spring Cleaning?.." began Delilah, happy with the remark she had jokingly conjured off the top of her head, completely forgetting her entire reason for leaving her room.

[Charity Croft]

Yep, there was definitely that long, quiet moment where the two of them just sort of stared at one another. Charity would like to say that she'd grown used to this sort of thing, but just because you experienced something far more than was healthy didn't mean you'd gotten used to it. It just meant that you knew what it felt like. That was very much what was going through Charity's mind now, as Delilah cleared her throat. A few more beads had to drop at that moment, because of course they did.

Delilah looked down; Charity followed. Charity heard the giggle and looked up, slightly confused. Was this something they should be giggling about. She looked down at the beads, trying to figure out if it was.

She looked up at the question and, without thinking, answered: "Bead animals." Since clearly that needed further explanation, Charity also pointed in the direction of her craft table. "I've been making them. I needed a few black beads," she looked down at the floor. "I think I got enough."

[Delilah Kotter]

Delilah pushed her ponytail back, and continually glanced at the beads on the floor, feeling a tad bit sorry for being so giggly in the conversation; they were HER beads after all; but no matter who they belonged to, the mess still had to be cleaned.

"I don't know why I found that so funny, probably because I still feel groggy and sleep-deprived from my nap." replied Delilah, almost giving an unnecessary explanation for her actions that seemed perfectly rational in her head-- they after all were technically both adults.

"Wow. That played out a LOT less awkward in my head." thought Delilah to herself.

"Plus, those Beads if you got them over here are probably mine, but I won't mind if you take some of them.. But yeah, I suppose you have plenty of them." replied Delilah not meaning any malice, as she raised her eyebrow in questioning to the thought of "Bead Animals". Delilah began walking over towards the Craft Table, thoroughly looking at some of the crafts that Charity had began to create.

"Hmm... These are actually not that bad!, Pretty good to be honest," started Delilah as she began moving her body around the Craft Table, almost in depth staring into each of the little Bead Animals' Eyes, as a sudden look of shock came upon Delilah's face. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't even offer to help you," started Delilah, as she hurriedly made her way over to the side of the room where the beads had all fallen out on the floor.

[Charity Croft]

Charity definitely understood being sleep-deprived and all. That seemed to be part of her recent condition. Finals. Though right now, all Charity could manage was a few half-hearted, empty laughs, still stuck standing stock still. Delilah continued, and as she did, Charity flushed.

"Yeah, I, uh, kinda know," she pointed out. It wasn't as though they really had a whole lot of other options. Farrah wasn't exactly one to do beadwork, and the dorm common area was only shared by the three of them. Wasn't like Charity had wandered to the first floor to do her beadwork (being laughed at once by vengeful teenagers was enough, thank you).

Aaaand there was the raised brow. "They help me relax!" Charity said. "And they're adorable and I end up giving most of them---" she stopped, realizing that Delilah had walked over to look at them. They did look good: Charity had been making them since she was a girl after all, which meant far, far more practice than she'd like to admit. Still, she kind of wished that she'd had another craft to show besides something so childish.

"What? oh, it's okay," she said, waving Delilah off before kneeling, realizing that she should probably be scooping beads up. "It's not like I didn't just steal your beads without asking or anything. I totally meant to pay you back. It really is just one or two beads. I swear." Charity was already having difficulties, chasing a few of the beads around. After one shot from her fingers three times, she gave up and worked on just getting the bigger piles first.

[Delilah Kotter]

Delilah looked at Charity as she gestured to her that she had the situation taken care of, and just stood in silence as she looked once again down at the beads, as her roommate began providing her explanation.

"I usually don't really even do stuff with beads, so I kind of just leave them sitting out here, anyways.." replied Delilah, slightly rambling on more than necessary, but she was sure that all of the Staff that had to deal with her had become accustomed to her just plain old... social awkwardness in some cases. 

She didn't like that her roommate had immediately jumped to the conclusion that she was being judged by Delilah, or felt like she had to pay her back for just taking a few beads; especially when it came to just simply doing an arts and crafts project. That was kind of her thing, and she loved helping people out with their projects whenever they could, and she honestly didn't mind of someone took something small from her, without paying her back; most of the time she probably wouldn't even recognize that they were missing.

Seeing Charity struggle to get up the smaller beads that tended to slip out of her fingers, despite Charity's refusal for help, Delilah couldn't help but bend over, and help get up the small little sections of beads that drifted off beyond grasp. She did this to be helpful for the most part, but she also just wanted to get the whole dilemma out of the way.

"And don't worry about paying me back, It's just a couple of beads.." replied Delilah as she scooped up her last tiny handful of "excessive beads", which looked pathetically small compared to the monstrosity pile being tamed by Charity, as she flashed the most understanding smile she could for her current state of mind.

[Charity Croft]

"I don't use beads that often," Charity tried again. Yes, she did feel like she was being silently judged. Again. It seemed like every conversation she had with anyone here looked at her with some sort of judgment in their eyes. Either the kids were pointing out how much of a dork she was or the adults were noticing her utter lack of understanding of adult things. So what if she liked making bead animals or playing songs or doing other fun stuff? She still did her job and was one of the most hardworking trainers the academy had.

Though it felt grossly unfair to hold Delilah responsible for that. For all Charity knew, the other teacher was just as awkward or whatever.

So Charity held mostly silent as Delilah came back down. "Thanks," she said, looking away for a moment. She scooped up a few more beads. "I didn't--it's just--I dunno," she sighed, picking up more beads and studying them. "I think I'm regressing or something. I went here as a kid, and I swear that everything's just happening just like it did then and..." Charity sighed, giving Delilah a sad smile. "Sorry, I don't mean to unload or anything. Let's just get the beads picked up," Charity shuffled, trying to corral more of them with her hand, pushing them in as big of waves as she could manage.

[Delilah Kotter]

Delilah listened, as she helped Charity get up the last handful of the beads that had slipped towards her way, and placed them back into the box they had originally come from. She really hadn't been judging her roommate, but understood how it felt to always feel like you were being judged by someone, so she chose to not reiterate her point of not judging her, to just make both parties feel like they had to explain themselves for some odd reason.

"It's really no problem," started Delilah, as she began listening to the fellow staff-member beginning to try to explain herself, feeling an odd connection with the unloading-- as if it was kind of relatable to how she felt sometimes.

"No, it's totally fine if you feel like you need to unload," exclaimed Delilah, once again returning to her trademark sympathetic smile. "I think it's totally cool for you to do whatever you feel like you need to do. I went here as a kid, and enjoyed the arts and such, and Heck, look at me now! I'm an art teacher." replied Delilah in a way giving an unnecessary "Pep Talk", just trying to show her roommate. As she spoke, she slowly made her way closer to just getting excess beads, to moving in closer towards Charity, getting the beads in handfuls that were originally in the "I don't need any help" Zone.

"..And I seriously did like your bead animals." replied Delilah, as she continued to scoop up beads as fast as her body would allow her to.

Heck. Delilah and Charity made a pretty good bead-scooping team, and Delilah believed that if Bellefonte had a "Bead-Scooping Team Contest" for some odd, odd reason, Delilah and Charity would win. Delilah couldn't help but feel like her roommate had been reading her mind somehow at that exact moment, and just thought she was totally insane.

[Charity Croft]

No problem: Charity couldn't help but wonder if Delilah was just outright saying that or feeling sorry for her. Or was it some mixture of both? yeah, that seemed like the most likely excuse. Delilah was definitely striking Charity as someone who was most definitely kind and also the sort who would understand.

In fact, as she continued, Charity couldn't help but smile. It did make sense for them to all be here, after all: they were all mutant adults. Well, not quite every staff member, but very nearly all of them. "I thought about teaching art," Charity offered. "I do like it, and music and everything. I taught some younger children some of that before I came here. My power just pointed me in a different direction."

And really Charity didn't regret that decision, despite the way it sounded now that she said it aloud. There was another beat of silence before Delilah's compliment, which had Charity flushing. "It's just a trick I learned as a girl," she insisted. "I make them whenever I get stressed, sooo I've made a lot."

Charity adjusted, getting the beads a lot better gathered. In fact, with the two of them working together, this was looking more and more doable. They'd picked up a vast majority of the beads already, and only a few loose stragglers were left at this point. Not really thinking about appearance, Charity started crawling around, chasing those last few down.

[Delilah Kotter]

Delilah finally arose from her crouched position to scoop up beads when she saw that Charity most likely had the last couple of beads under control. Delilah smiled, beginning to reminisce in her past, during her years as a student in Bellefonte-- some of the best years of her life, but during the course of her education, it often time ironically felt like her worst time of her life.

She didn't know why, but it made her happy to be talking about her years to another staff member who also attended Bellefonte, and not just a student currently going through the education system, assuming that Delilah was just preparing to give them a lecture about "If I could survive it, so can you."

"I would say I know what you mean, but I don't.. I just kind of ignored my powers and followed my passions, but i'm glad you found something that seems to fit you." smiled Delilah, as she kind of laughed at herself after telling a joke in her own head inconveniently at the same time, which happened to be about the same topic, but not directed at Charity. From the laughter, whether Delilah liked it or not, she probably had to share the joke to either not seem insensitive, or crazy.

"Sorry, I was just thinking that if my power aimed my career choices, i'd be living on some Farm in the middle of nowhere." replied Delilah, not particularly expecting Charity to understand or find it funny, but just to-- Well--, if Charity didn't know she was awkward before, this clearly would show her.

"I've been trying to get back into more Crafts recently, since all I've been doing for the past, like, year is Painting and grading Paintings/Drawings." replied Delilah as Charity was chasing the last few down, trying to make some more small talk, after finishing off her quick, yet quiet laughter from her own joke.

[Charity Croft]

Charity smiled at the comment about her using her powers to pick her job. "I'm not saying it's something everyone should do or anything. I just... I always wanted to teach, and this seemed like a good way to maximize my abilities," there was also her relationship with her recently deceased father. Charity didn't really want to spring that on someone. Delilah either didn't know about Guy Legrange or hadn't quite made the connection between the semi-famous head trainer.

"I swear that's a mini-lecture I give to nearly every student, especially when they find out about my power. There's no reason not to just do whatever you feel like doing," she shrugged, then went back to picking up beads. Charity wasn't really sure what else she would be doing, well, besides what she had been: teaching younger children. But she'd just felt like she was missing something there, that she'd been not quite living up to her full potential.

Odd to be thinking about potential when picking up beads to be used in making animals. Charity smiled at the thought as she scurried about to pick up the last few. She'd pinched another when she heard Delilah's comment. It caused her to turn and look, and she smiled at the little joke. "Tell me about it: sometimes it feels like I all do is fill out reports about students. And[i/] they gave me a lot of students with difficulties," Charity rolled her eyes before leaning forward. "Just one last bead and I think that's all of them!" she nearly chirped as she started stretching her hand to swat underneath a bookshelf.

[Delilah Kotter]

"That's what kind of makes me glad to be an Art Teacher here, because I know there's a fair share of not-so-good Students going here.. I've ran into a couple of them." chuckled Delilah in a slightly resentful tone, thinking about some of the rude things students had said towards her.

"Luckily, kids here usually only take Art if they have some sort of interest in it, so we usually get along, except for the occasional student who gets stuck with it on their schedule every now and then. I can't really imagine having to deal with that many difficult students, part of me feels like I would snap." replied Delilah, slightly worrying about her excessive rambling once again, but by this point in the conversation she had finally completely eased up, and just realized that she was who she was, and not sorry if people don't like it.

Delilah could find a new found respect for Charity, as she thought about her job more in depth.. In reality, Delilah feels like after about a week of trying to be any sort of Trainer or Councilor, she would just completely flip. Despite how much she complained about her job, she couldn't wish for any other job in the world.

As Charity stretched her hand underneath the bookshelf, Delilah slightly half-crouched onto the floor, turning her head around, looking for excess beads in every nook and cranny-- luckily none were to be found.

"I know you did most of the work, but I think we did a pretty good job of getting them up, I expected it to take much longer when I saw them drop to the floor.." replied Delilah as she gave the room her final look-around, having some newly-found confidence and accomplishment in her tone. She always liked starting to form a new relationship with someone, even if it was just because of spilled beads.

[Charity Croft]

Gah, Charity so should've signed up for art or music or something. Then she would have only gotten students who actually cared. Then again, she'd signed up to do what she did because she had a power that would be supremely useful for students who needed a trainer. It was all about matching up your abilities to where you could do the best good, at least in Charity's opinion.

Didn't mean she wasn't seriously considering switching over to work.

"Yeah, it's gotta be better than just getting, like, every student who doesn't want to be there," Charity replied, rolling her eyes and letting out another little laugh. She bent down and grabbing the last bead, ready to put it back into the container. While Charity moved, she could see Delilah gathering up the container and looking around.

"Well," Charity said confidently as she moved the last bead back to where she'd started, "I happen to have way too many skills in picking up messes. comes from working with kids for a few years," she confidently put the bead back, nodding again. "Sorry about the whole bead mess again, really," she said, smiling bashfully. "All because I was just a few short," she turned, readying that last bead to finish up the last animal.

[Delilah Kotter]

Delilah nodded as Charity communicated her side of teaching, to communicate that she was listening. She had such a different class and method of teaching then most of the teachers she had talked to in her past, so she was interested in other people's teaching experiences and ways.

"Oh, it's really no problem about the beads, I promise." shrugged Delilah, offering a polite smile. "If you ever need to borrow something, feel free.. Even if we end up having to clean another mess." joked Delilah, realizing that her latest remark could be taken rudely, as if all her roommate did was make messes. As Charity turned away, Delilah bit her lip, hoping Charity wouldn't take the words that slipped out in a bad manner.

She stood in place momentarily, trying to rekindle her thought process as to what was going on before she helped Charity out, but her mind drew to a blank. Instead of remembering what she needed, she was too busy worrying about her words, and just remembered the feeling of deep-down anxiety as all of the beads came crashing down to the floor. In a way, Delilah kind of said "Screw it" to whatever she wanted, as if it were that important she would eventually remember.

Delilah began to approach Charity, as she readied herself to finish up her last animal. Since Delilah was so interested in learning about types of crafts she never had really practiced, she kind of peeked over Charity's shoulder, anticipating watching her finish the last bit of her latest "piece". It was kind of poetic, and slightly soothing in Delilah's mind, watching her as she began to finish the last animal, to watch the reaction and completion of something so simple that seconds ago caused a big "Hoopla". Kind of like watching the rainbow after a thunderstorm, in a way.

She hoped that her roommate wouldn't find Delilah watching her that creepy, but she felt like if she explained her thought process, that certainly would make her think she was creepy-- or at least weird.

[Charity Croft]

Charity smiled back at Delilah, nodding. "Well, I'm good at both making them and cleaning them up," she reassured Delilah, adding a bit more nodding. The making just came from Charity's natural clumsiness, though she at least tried to keep herself together somewhat. The cleaning, well, that at least came from experience again.

Experience made Charity's hands move quickly through the final parts of constructing her beaded creation as well. She could feel Delilah coming over to watch, which did make her a little nervous. Her fingers slipped a time or two, but Charity recovered easily enough. It only took a few seconds to get the eyes adjusted, and soon she had a beaded owl fully made and in hand.

"See?" She said, holding it up. "They were super big when i was a kid, and I just sort of kept making them. I know it's a little lame to make crafts and stuff like this, but,"Charity shrugged, "it's what I like to do." She set the owl down, looking over her table. "Clearly this is why I have to beat the guys off with a stick," she added jokingly, smiling up at Delilah.