The water nation

[Tomas Vega]

Training for all water based powers together. Why did he come here? Tom winced nervously as he walked around the room, trying to keep a low profile. Hard to do that when your skin was bright blue. He walked past all the people, his eyes fixed on the floor of the room, trying to find a partner to train with. Isn't that what the trainer has asked of them? Not that he had any powers that would be useful in an actual fight. Breathing underwater was pretty useless on land. 

He sighed, hugging himself when he almost tripped. Maybe he shouldn't have come. Maybe he should've stayed inside his room. Maybe he should have just accepted the fact that his powers were lame and he was- was- Hey, that was that girl! The... girl with the rumours! 

Tom hurried to approach her, actually smiling thankfully at the familiar face. "Hey." He called her, in a low voice and then cleared his throat. "Hola." He started in Spanish, knowing exactly who she was. "<<You're that girl, right? From Santiago. Selena? Something like that.>>" He cleared his throat again and took a step closer, still nervous. A lot of people had been mean to him back at school, but this girl had always been nice. "<<I uh- I didn't know you'd transferred. It's uh- Tom.>>" He sighed as he knew the other name would be more familiar. "<<Fishito.>>"

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina was tired of being here already, but she was determined to gain better control and discipline over her own power. It was something of a personal goal of hers to see just how far she could push her own limits, whether physically in Aikido, mentally in school, or both in using her power. Selina looked around for a partner who wouldn’t distract her too much and who could hopefully keep up when she saw a face she’d never thought she’d see again.

    Selina was so surprised to finally see someone from Santiago, she forgot how to speak otherwise she would have immediately called out to him. The smile that instantly lit up her face was bright and genuine when he recognized her and introduced himself, “<<Of course! I remember you, Tom! And yes, though it’s Selina,>>” she added with a grin. Selina felt like hugging him, but she also didn’t want to invade his personal space or make things awkward. She hadn’t really known him that well... or very well at all really.

    Selina frowned at his mention of the name he’d been called and shook her head, “<<Damn bastards thought they were so clever… How have you been?>>” she asked as she looked him over once more checking for she didn’t know what. “<<Has Kalispell been any better for you?>>” she asked before realizing she might be prying, “<<Sorry, it’s been so long… I guess I just got carried away,>>” Selina explained as her cheeks tinted pink with embarrassment. How long had it been since she’d blushed? She honestly couldn’t remember.

    Speaking in Spanish, not only that but Chilean Spanish, and seeing someone from Santiago… it was like she had a brief taste of home in the foreign and alienating town that was Kalispell. Selina hadn't been this emotive since she'd come to the states, and she was amazed at the effect that merely being around someone from Chile had on her. Maybe she was a hell of a lot more homesick than she'd ever let on.

[Tomas Vega]

"<Selina! Yes, of course. Sorry.>" He scratched his neck nervously, his fingers rubbing the gills on his neck. He was smiling though. It was so refreshing to hear someone speak his own language again, particularly with that accent. There was something nostalgic about it, kind of like listening once again to his mother, which was probably best kept in his thought since he didn't know if Selina would find it offensive in some way. Girls were weird like that.

He laughed a little, shrugging as she spoke of his nickname. "<Well, it's not really that smart, but... yeah. It's- uh, what most called me. It's really nice of you to remember my name.>" Especially so because he didn't know hers right. Well, to be fair they hadn't been in the same class, just the same school, but he remembered her from always being nice to him. Rather than that, from never being mean to him, which was the same thing in his book.

Had things been better? "<It's fine! Really.>"Tom smiled shyly, thinking of all the friends he'd made already. "<Yes, actually. I- uh, I miss the beach and the food. I haven't had pastel de choclo since forever, and there're no good empanadas around, but... um, the people have been... nice. Really nice. Much more so than in Santiago." Another shrug, "<So yes... How- um, how about you? Do you like it better here? I-uh, I didn't know you'd left.>" He eyed her curiously, "<Were you... um, having problems with classmates too?>" He didn't remember her being bullied, then again, he'd never really heard or paid attention to anyone in school. Not enough to actually remember things like that anyway.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina smiled and waved off his apology with a smile, “<No worries, you got it mostly right.>” She paused and listened to him with a solemn nod, “<They certainly didn’t send the smart and genteel students to study with us,>” she offered wryly. Sure, send all the delinquents to South America. Such a great idea. Selina absently wondered who’d come up with the idea, as she would really appreciate giving them a piece of her mind.


    Selina was happy he seemed to be doing well here, but then anything would have been better for him than Santiago, she imagined. “<Mmm, I’m drooling just thinking about a good empanada,” she admitted with a laugh. “<Not to mention the terremotos and the pisco,>” Selina gave him a wicked smile, “<I haven’t been near as drunk as I ought to have recently.>” Her expression softened the slightest bit as she continued, “<It’s good to hear that they’ve been better here.” Even she remembered hearing about the paint incident.


    Selina’s expression sobered when he asked why she’d left and she wondered how much to tell. “<I wanted to go to a school more concerned with academics. La Delgadillo Academia seemed more dedicated to rehabilitating ‘problem’ students.>” A bitter edge lined her last few words, but she recovered quickly and smiled at him, “<Besides, I’d always wanted to see the world, so why not start with the U.S.?>” It was sort of the truth. Definitely not the whole truth, but it would work for now. Selina had always been a loner in Santiago, and so any struggles she’d had weren’t shared with anyone else. She’d kept that trait here at Bellefonte as well, and her history wasn’t something she was willing to get into with a guy she barely knew. She liked Tom, but they weren’t exactly close friends.

[Tomas Vega]

Tomas laughed awkwardly, hugging himself. "<Yeah, they didn't.>" he agreed, looking down, "<But at least back there I was near my family. I mean, I never saw them but I knew they were close.>" He never saw them because he wasn't allowed out of school grounds, and most students knew that of people like him. "<Not like we don't have enough crooks as is, right?>" He said with a small smile, "<Well, not in Chile but... you know.>" She had to know. It was common knowledge most countries in South America had a few less than nice people, but he was starting to learn it was the same way every other place. He'd heard some news in the US now that he was here that he could think 'That'd never happen in Chile'. Each country had it's issues, he'd learned. 

He laughed at the mention of pisco and terremotos. "<I wasn't allowed to drink yet.>" He admitted and he still wasn't. "<But I remember drinking pisco sour. It was the best.>" It truly had been, especially so because it'd been his mother who'd insisted he had a drink with her. One of the moments he truly remembered fondly from his time in Chile. 

Concerned with academics. That's why she'd come here. At least her transfer had been voluntary then. "<Ah, mine wasn't- um... well, it wasn't as... voluntary.>" He shrugged, smiling awkwardly, "<Jo-Ah, my counselor thought it'd be best for me to move out from the... uh, the drama.>" He shrugged, trying to dismiss what'd happened to him, "<After the- uh... the paint thing, things didn't get any better so... so here I am.>" He shrugged again, waving a hand dismissively. Better change the subject.

"<So you've seen much of the US then?>" He wondered, "<Travelled a lot?>"

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina nodded to him. She’d never heard much about the situation with his family, but then she’d never exactly kept up with the gossip. Talk around the school was often as likely to be about her as it was to be about someone else, so she’d held no interest for it. She wasn’t even sure if she could have kept up with it had she tried to. None of the types involved with gossip had ever talked with her. She just knew the most basic details, “<This is the farthest I've been from my parents as well,>” she admitted quietly. "<I don't think I'm used to it either.>"


    Selina nodded to his statement, “<We just needed everyone else’s problem children to even out all the angels already there,>” she added with a smirk. Just because some South American countries had a more obvious issue with violence than other places in the world, didn’t mean that the rest of the world was somehow less violent in nature, just that the violence took on a different form and/or was publicized as legitimate. Besides, the richest nation with the most resources to spare in terms of ‘rehabilitating’ those ‘delinquents’ should have been the one to take them on in her opinion. But she knew her opinion didn’t count for much.


    Selina smiled at his admission to not being allowed to drink, “<Neither was I until the last year I spent there, but my mom always allowed me to have whatever she did after I turned thirteen, so long as it was in moderation. And pisco sour… man now I just want to get out of here and head to a bar,>” she teased with a wink. Selina almost felt it like a physical ache for how much she wanted to go back, but being able to talk about it all with somebody else made the ache slightly less noticeable. Chile certainly wasn’t perfect… but she understood it. Selina knew how to navigate it and how to survive in it, which was more than she could say for Kalispell.



    Selina nodded, her expression once again sober, when she heard his explanation for coming here. She was about to say something, but the way he waved it off made her think he would appreciate her silence more than any sort of continuation of the subject. “<I was lucky,>” she admitted. Selina had dealt with a lot of shit, but her mutation wasn’t visible. She’d never had to deal with the particular discrimination that came with having blue skin and she knew that her life had been a hell of a lot easier for it.


    Luckily Bellefonte was better for her as well. Sort of. Both schools had their drawbacks. Selina smiled at his question and shook he head, “<No, I’ve only been here in Kalispell and to a Park where all the ‘troubled’ kids were supposed to go to get… rehabilitated…>” Yeah, so maybe not that much of an improvement. Damn. Everywhere she went… but then her actions weren’t exactly innocent. She’d tried so hard to be good and to start over here, but she’d already gotten into it with a trainer. Why the hell did she always screw herself over? Selina sighed and deliberately tried to think of something, anything, else, “<But I’d like to travel elsewhere when I have the time.>” And the money, she thought wryly.