Pick Up Off The Floor

[François Laffont]

After six years at Bellefonte, Franck liked to believe he could take on any of the rooms in there no matter how crowded. If he had proven that he could eat in the cafeteria with the rest of the students, his statement was flawed. He could take any room no matter how crowded... under certain conditions. The amount of people in a room mattered, sure, but how they felt in there mattered even more. If they felt their own emotion, different from each other, it might be really stuffy for him but nothing would stick and after a while he could get used to it, like one gets used to a big change of temperature between two rooms. When they all felt more or less the same however, that was when the troubles started. He could keep laughing long after the joke was done if everyone around him had been amused by it. He would cry endlessly despite the source of the pain being far away from him. And he would be like that until he found a way to get those emotions to slide off him.

Bellefonte was not the only place that could make it hard for him though, Kalispell had its spots too. He didn't think he dealt with a particularly intense emotion but he still felt like he had an overload of those inside of him. He could barely breathe right now. Normally, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal but he was working right now. He managed to get a summer job at one of the coffee shops in town. It wasn’t always great and sometimes it was pretty tiring but it was experience and, in the end, that was all Franck wanted out of this. Plus it was nice practice to control his power. Except he wasn’t much in control right now.

“Can you replace for a moment? I’m not feeling so good, I’ll get some air,” he told another employee present. There was no major rush so it was fine and the other guy nodded. Franck barely noticed though, he quickly went in the back and opened the door wide to get out. He started breathing deeply. Anyone who’d notice him would probably think he was hyperventilating or something. He moved away from the huge garbage bins before he’d rest his back against the wall. Franck then closed his eyes and tried to relax. Meditation was a technique he learned during his training sessions and it helped. Slowly, he calmed down.

[Ellen Banks]

Ellen shut her eyes as she leaned against the wall gently. Ellen was very good at hiding her feelings she lived her life behind a large brink wall keeping any feelings or people at arms length. No one could see her vurnarable, no one can see her in control.

…No one could see her like this….

Yes, she was feeling emotional, weak, vulnerable and all together worthless, the worse thing was she was self aware of these emotions. Like she had some kind of virus that was making her weak. She felt like she should be able to just brush off such feelings of worthlessness…and the fact that she can’t just increased her helplessness.

There was only one person that could inspire such feelings in Ellen: Daddy. Once again they had a shouting match…well…He shouted at Ellen, she just sat back and took it. So she needed a moment to herself to recover.

…To regroup

[François Laffont]

For once, Franck heard the person coming over before feeling them. It had become something he was used to, sensing people’s emotion before they reached him. When he knew the person well, he was even able to tell who they were, but that required more focus than Franck ever bothered to put into it. Either way, when he heard someone, he looked up. Rare were the clients coming over here. Some people came to smoke a cigarette though, as the many cigarette butts lying on the ground proved. Maybe it was just that. Or an animal passing by.

But Franck then felt it. A pain, a vulnerability and sadness so great that his heart was slowly breaking at the mere feeling of it. Who could feel so terribly down? Franck didn't want to think someone might be in here, destroyed inside, and he did nothing. He might be turned down by the person but at least he would try.

Following the emotion was not hard. The person was just there, dealing with them. But Franck did not come to the person in question. He froze when he recognized who it was. No way. Not her. How could she of all people feel so weak? Oh, he remembered how deep inside she was not as strong as she appeared to be. Didn't make this encounter any less strange for him. “Ellen, is that you? What are you doing here?”

[Ellen Banks]

Ellen stared at the ground, tapping his foot against the ground sighing. Most people had someone to go to when this happened to them, but a side effect of being Ellen Banks was that she tended to burn all her bridges with the people in her life…That was fine though, she didn’t need help nor did she want it. She was a survivor. This os what she does. She was a rock at all times, she would never show the world the cracks she had.

To do so was weakness

So Ellen planned to just take a few deep breaths. Compose herself, put her walls up and go about her day

But that plan was cut off once she realized that she wasn’t only. Her face twisted towards Franc a scowl on her face as if he was intruding and in a way he was no one saw her like this…No one and worse of all, it had to be Erika’s pet empathy which could only mean one thing.

He knew…And they both knew it,

Ellen eyes narrowed at him in her traditional look of vague contempt already beginning to back off “Don’t ask stupid questions you know the answer to. Of course it’s me and as you can see I’m busy at the moment solving nuclear cold fusion”

[François Laffont]

Franck couldn’t say he had a good relationship with Ellen. She was the one who decided to make him her enemy, before he could even understand why. It became clear over time that the fact Franck was an empath and so able to tell this girl was not as icy and tough as she liked to pretend was the main reason. He did not try to pity her. She didn't want that, that much was clear. And since her attitude was not compatible with his, he agreed to just keep a distance between the two of them. Except this time she was the one coming close to his working place. He could not blame her, it was not like she knew he worked here for the summer. But it was one hell of a coincidence.

He expected her to lash out on him. Everything about her just tried to hit him hard with the disgust, anger and any other emotion of the like as if to make him pay for intruding. It made him step back. Still, under it all, the pain was very obvious. She could hide it, cover it with as much disdain and she could muster, he sensed it. And she knew he sensed it. That was not going to make her like him more.

Her tone had to be rude as well, of course. It would not matter how kind and polite he’d be, this would always be the way she’ll address to him. “This problem seems to give you a lot of trouble,” he let out, staring at her but not daring approaching any further. He doubted he’d be able to contain all of this anger if he got any closer and the last thing he wanted was to start a fight. She was down, he had no desire to bring her even further down.

Printing an expression of concern on his traits, he looked at her. “Are you sure you’re alright? I won’t say I met you here if that’s what you worry about but I’ve never seen you like this.”

[Ellen Banks]

Ellen didn’t really have a good relationship with anyone and even those that considered Ellen their “Friends” had to put up a lot with how Ellen treated them. It was like she was actively trying to make sure any and all of the schools population looked at her with distain. It wasn’t that she was against the idea of friends. It’s just that she felt she had no need whatsoever for friends. Most people needed a shoulder to cling to, for someone to hug them, kiss their boo-boos and tell them that everything was alright. That was fine for the weak people of the school, but Ellen didn’t NEED anyone. Nor did she want someone to hold her hand, she never needed it before and she turned out just fine didn’t she?

People just tended to hold her back

Franc was the last person Ellen wanted to meet with that power of his. Honestly, he was a fly buzzing around looking for food when it came to this kind of thing. Honestly why would Franc had any interest in how she was feeling? It wasn’t like they were close. Why doesn’t he consoled Erika in her lastest crisis

Or someone people actually cared about

“Why on earth would you be concerned about me?” Ellen asked coldly hitting Franc with her cold stare of hers, before she shook her head crossing her arms over her chest “If you really must know…” Ellen took a deep breath can’t believing the words were coming out of her mouth “I had a fight with my father..It happens. I’ll survive…I always do”

[François Laffont]

As unfriendly as Ellen tried to act around everyone, this was something she was really good at, Franck couldn’t just turn his back on her when she felt like this. It was not like him at all and the fact this was Ellen Banks, and that he would surely regret, it didn’t change anything. If she couldn’t help crushing people under her boot until they could no longer get up, he couldn’t let someone be in pain without doing anything to help.

He was not expecting her to let him help her however. She was hard and refused to admit she could use help, even when she really did. He bet she’d refuse his hand even if she was drowning. Well, maybe not, since he believed she wanted to live, but he was not going to get a thank you from that. “Because, Ellen, I can see you’re not doing so well and I don’t like to see people like that. Even those who consider me their enemy. Or whatever you think I am to you,” he answered her. He tried to remain calm but her temper was rubbing off on him. As he thought, it was just too strong to fully ignore it.

He took a deep breath and waited. He expected her to blow him off. It seemed to be what she always with people. She told him however and he didn’t hide the surprise that she confessed that to him. He couldn’t tell what was most unbelievable, that she would talk or that she would talk to him. But she did. And he felt sorry for her, the surprise on his face turning back to a concerned frown. “Do you want to come in, have a coffee? I’m guessing you’re not interested to talk but sitting down might do you some good. Or go to the bathroom and fix your makeup,” he told her, pointing at the coffee shop he just exited. Did she notice she was wearing the proper uniform for the place? Probably not as she was too busy dealing with the fight and ending up on him to see that. “It’s on me,” he assured her. As if she couldn’t pay a coffee.

[Ellen Banks]

Ellen could survive anything all by herself that was her philosophy in life. Hell she took two bullets to the neck and she was still walking around to tell the tale. She really did believe that she was better then most people. Smarter then most people. Mentally tougher then most people. Franc seemed to have trouble dealing with the assault of emotion that he has to deal with on a constant basis. To Ellen he was crying over nothing whatsoever and if the roles were reversed. Ellen would only be mildly annoyed, Emotion? If she could shut off her own, then how hard was it to shut out others?

And it went without saying that No one could handle Ellen’s particular power….no one could.

Ellen eyes widened momentarily looking somewhat amused by Francs words “Enemy? Is that how you think I see you” She paused momentarily rolling her eyes “Oh don’t be so dramatic. No one is my enemy. That would imply I consider them a threat…This may surprise you but I don’t go out looking for people to annoy. If people are nice to me I’m perfectly nice to them” Ellen said finishing up with a condescending smile “Glad we got that cleared up”

Ellen blinked momentarily surprised by the offer. He was actually willing to sit down with Ellen after months of her doing nothing but taunt him? Now why would he want to do a thing like that? “It isn’t poison is it?” She asked half mockingly half serious. Ellen wiped the underside of her eyelids sighing “I probably look a mess don’t I?” She muttered almost to herself more then Franc before she lapsed into silence. Eying him before moving forward towards the shop “You better be paying…”

[François Laffont]

Franck knew Ellen had but very little affection for him. He could not blame her to think he was being a drama queen. Last time they had a conversation together, just the two of them, he was starting to panic over the fact he could not reach neither Erika nor Frank and he regained some control only when he touched Ellen and talked to her with the same disdain she gave everyone. None of this must have given her a good impression. Or the fact he lashed out on her. She probably thought in did not, in comparison to how she can lash out on people but to him, he did. The only reason why he did not apologized was because he knew she wouldn’t want to hear about it. And he didn’t need to appear weak to her any more than he did. Plus it had been a year now. So, really, no reason to apologize.

He shrugged as she seemed amused by his choice of words. “I know you don’t consider me a friend and I don’t really know what words to use other than this one for the opposite of friend,” he explained. He could argue however that she considered him a bit of a threat. He knew she was able of feelings even she denied she could let alone allow others to believe it. He paused to take her words into consideration. Could she really be nice to others? Yes, he believed she could, otherwise he doubted Erika had accepted her as her friend for so long. Even Frank would have given up, he was sure. “I’m being nice to you right now,” he pointed out, to show the slight flaw in her statement. But he knew what kind of nice she meant. As long as they did not nag her. And the fact he was concerned, she might take it for pity. He could see why she wouldn’t be very nice to him then.

“I don’t think we have that flavour yet,” he said in an attempt to joke. Poison, him? Like he would ever do that. He’d serve Hitler that he couldn’t even spit in his drink. “it’s not so bad but you should judge by yourself,” he assured her. Was she the kind of girl to have makeup always ready, just in case? It was hard to tell. Franck was ready to believe pretty much every girl had makeup on them just in case but he was not exactly an expert. He smiled when she said he should be paying, he followed her. “You have any preference? And don’t worry, you don’t have to deal with me if you don’t want to. I’m actually working here.”

[Ellen Banks]

It was true that Ellen didn’t show affection to much people even people that she happened to enjoy the company of. It was most likely a side effect of she herself never gaining much affection as a child and therefore didn’t understand the true value of friendship, affection and the like. In some way the way she acted was some kind of emotion defence against people, almost like she was attempting to put as much emotional barriers between herself and others as much as possible, in order to avoid someone getting too close to her. Like a dog growling if someone she doesn’t know approaches her

“Think of yourself as a thing rather then an enemy” Ellen nodded glad to help out with his confusion “Think of yourself as a wall, or a chair. I have as much emotional attachment to one of those inanimate objects then I have to you” She said meaning every word she told him Ellen just shrugged her shoulders once he pointed out that he was being nice “What do you want? A medal?”

Ellen marched into the room not even bothering looking behind her at Franc taking a seat at a boot and taking out her hand held mirror “Coffee. Black” She said snapping her fingers at him

[François Laffont]

Unlike Ellen, Franck had been loved by his parents. Perhaps a little too much. Even if he experienced some traumatizing events later in his life, it never made him want to dissociate himself from others. He needed company, friends around him, to feel this bond between two people. Someone like Ellen might find this desperate, he would say it made him well-balanced. He couldn’t see how someone can be happy in life without people around they can trust and can support you. So yes, he pitied Ellen. As much as he could. The problem was that the way she acted made it hard to pity her and be nice to her while she was around, only making him regret he could not better control himself afterwards.

She wanted him to think he was a chair to her. “So I’m a toy to my boyfriend and a chair to you. I’ll really start feeling like an object,” he muttered under his breath, not meaning for her to hear that. Still, if a chair meant she did not hate him, he was fine being a chair. It was not like she intended to sit on him. “You did dislike me for a while,” he reminded her. He was pretty sure it had more to do with his power than who he was, although he could understand their personalities did not always get along well. They were just too different.

“Do you always have to be so aggressive? I’m not attacking you, I’m just offering you a coffee so you can calm down,” he told her as she mocked him again for being nice. He didn’t want a medal and even if he could understand this girl was guarded, she didn’t have to insult him like this. He already knew she thought him weak and everything for being nice to everyone, she didn’t need to add anything to that.

He didn’t particularly enjoy the snap of her finger as she told him what she wanted. He was not her servant. But he said nothing and prepared the coffee for her, even taking it to her table, warning the other one working that it was on him. “There you go. Next time though, you don’t need to snap your fingers at me, you can just ask,” he said as he placed it in front of her.

[Ellen Banks]

Ellen, did find Franc desperate for company, that was part of the reason that Ellen didn't particularly like him. He was desperate for approval from others, like a little puppy yapping at people constantly looking for that pat on the head. He lived for the approval of people because he needed people. Say what you will about Ellen Banks but she never once seeked out the approval of any of her peers, she said and felt exactly what she felt like and if people didn't like that Ellen didn't particularly care. Sure, she could turn on the charm when she thought it was needed, but she never attempted to be what people wanted her to be or force herself to fit in anyone's mold.

Franc may pity her but Ellen considered herself free in all the ways he was not.

“Please keep the details of your relationships to yourself, I assure you if I could care less I would” She shot back as quick as you would like “So? What's your point? I dislike everyone at one point or another, that doesn't make you special” Ellen shrugged she just thought that Franc was whining again.

He did that a lot...

Ellen just raised an eyebrow at Franc words clicking her tongue against her cheek not even willing to dignify that with a responce, this was her being nice. He did not what to know what happened if she stopped being so nice.

Ellen blinked for a moment at the coffee and back at Franc in some way she didn't expect it to come, she looked up at the boy blinking before suddenly patting the seat opposite her “Sit down before I change my mind “

It wasn't an offer

[François Laffont]

Franck believed he would make it in life better than Ellen. Sure, he had this need to be loved, but he was also not enough of a masochist to constantly seek it from someone who would never give it to him. There were plenty of people there for him after all. And he had this helpful and kind-hearted nature that just drew people to him without him to have to lift a finger. He repaid them well too. Ellen, on the other hand, if she stayed like that, would likely be alone all of her life. And Franck couldn’t believe you could make it entirely on your own, not without making many enemies and feeling terribly lonely and sad at night. He would die happy. He could not say the same of Ellen. Of course, she was likely to get further in life, if you thought only of ambition, but Franck was not looking for that so he didn’t see it as a problem.

He didn't think Ellen heard him. He even believed he only thought it. But he apparently said it too. “That’ll make you go far in life,” he spat back at her. He was fine not being special over the fact she disliked everybody at some point, but that did not help him pity her less.

Ellen needed to learn that the world was not here to serve her. Franck was ready to help her out and get her a coffee because she looked like she could use a drink, though this expression usually called for something stronger, but he drew the line at being bossed around. She seemed to ponder about his comment as he told her she didn’t need to order, that she could just ask and get the same result. At least with him. Her tone as she told him to sit still sounded bossy but he considered the pat as an improvement. Since there was no other customer, he figured he could see and talk to her. He still made sure he could see if anyone walked in as he would have to stand and serve them. He didn’t want for the owner to hear he was slacking at his job to talk to some pretty blond girl. So he sat down and looked at her, waiting for her to talk, as he figured it was the reason why she told him to sit.

[Ellen Banks]

She was strong, that's was all she needed. Not people, not affection. Nothing but herself and that unshakeable self belief that has never failed to steer her wrong in the past. She was a survivor that is what she did. That is what she did better then everyone else in the school, no one could do even close to taking the hits that she did constantly. Hell, she was shot in the neck and left for dead and yet here she was still standing. Still taking on the world. It was a constant battle for her. Ellen Banks Vs the world.

and she was winning.

"Yes it will" Ellen shot back calmly at the French man "..And Sarcasm is hardly something someone in your position in the school should be resorting too. Please re-frame from it in the future and maybe work on that tone. Hardly becoming..." Ellen tutted in clear disapproval as she walked

Why was Ellen taking a moment to converse with Franc? Honestly Ellen didn't really know why, there were a lot of emotions brewing within her and she supposed she wanted some kind of release. And in lo of a stress ball she had him. Ellen didn't say anything for a moment, she always foind it difficult to talk about this sort of thing and putting her feelings into words was not one of strong suit "Have you ever met someone, you couldn't make happy even if you'd like nothing more? All you get from them is disapproval"

[François Laffont]

Seeing Ellen vulnerable like that, she would kill him for thinking but he still pitied her. She was not wholly bad, she was like the rest of them, with her struggles and pains. He never thought he’d see Ellen so low but she appeared to him like this after a talk with her father and he could just see now why she was so guarded and cold around everybody. He doubted the words they said about her did not affect her, no matter what she would say to the contrary. She was affected, it made her colder and harder in order to get through it. That did make him wish to be nicer to her, show her you didn’t have to be so guarded all the time, that it only made you miss on some of the greatest pleasures in life.

And then she used her snarky comments to get him back in line and made him sigh, figuring being nice with her would prove harder a task than he had ever imagined. “I talk with the tone the person talks to me with, I cannot help it, it’s in my nature,” Franck replied, still some sarcasm in his voice as he said that to Ellen. He was not use to appear so dry. She probably thought it sounded more like the yapping of a puppy but to him, he was close to the scary barking of a Rottweiler.

When he returned with the coffee, he studied Ellen and the mix of emotions coming from her. It was very confusing and he could only imagine how she found it all, since she felt those emotions more than he did. Still, with his ability, it would be easier to read into each and everyone one of those. Not that he particularly like that prospect but he wouldn’t have sat down had he not been ready to do it. She finally talked and he paused a moment. So that was what her relationship with her dad was like? “Sort of. I used to be a mama’s boy, until... well lots of things happened at once, all which she didn’t like. But I supposed you’ll say I’m lucky, since she’s in France and I’m here.” He didn’t think it changed anything. His feelings were right here with him, the rejection he felt was not left in France with her. He was not sure Ellen might be able to understand that however.