HELLO STRANGER {MASSY!}

[DAPHNE SAPPHIRE CYPHER]

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So! It was Daphne's very first day at AMG, and boy, was she nervous. Not only was she transferring a third of the way into the year, there was a roommate who Daphne would have to meet. What if she was one of those people who hated the way Daphne was? The kind that resents her and makes it clear? Daphne could barely stand those people. And to make matters much worse, what if she had a really really cool power and shoved it in Daphne's face? Like, what if she could change her appearance and was the kind to shove it in Daphne's face? What if she could move objects around and threw them around at Daphne all the time? What if she was a telepath? Oh, dear lord, Daphne could barely stand just her being in her own mind.

Daphne stood outside of the door for several minutes, contemplating close to every kind of person that could be behind that door. When another girl huffed impatiently at all of Daphne's suitcases. There were only three (well actually one suitcase full of random clothes and miscellaneous junk and then one duffel bag full of more clothes and a mini duffel bag with even more random junk like toiletries and what not). They were all stacked on top of each other, but they still blocked the hallway a good bit. "Sorry, sorry, let me move those." Daphne sputtered and moved the stack of luggage, strengthening herself enough to get the key in the door and open it. She dragged in her stuff, tripping a bit. She smiled widely and looked around the small room for her roommate, ready to meet'n'greet.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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Massy had been cleaning and rearranging furniture and re-cleaning all day long. She had been informed at the beginning of the week that she would be getting a roommate, and had marked off her calendar in advance as soon as she could. Now it was time for the other girl to move in, and Maslynn had gone into overdrive. It wasn't so much the meeting of this new person, but the living with her that freaked Massy out.

It had been easy enough for her to avoid the occupants of her home before, but this room was pretty close quarters. It was tiny. There would be no avoiding her roommate. If they didn't get along, she was just going to have to deal with it. The thought had Massy close to a nervous breakdown, but she was able to distract herself with rigorous cleaning and the moving of heavy furniture.

In the middle of making her bed for the third time, Massy heard the door open and spun around swiftly to see her roommate and return her smile a little over enthusiastically. "Oh, hi! You must be Daphne. I'm Massy. It's nice to meet you," she said brightly. She had been practicing her greeting as well. "Can I help you with those?" she asked, her gaze wandering down to Daphne's bag. She felt rather proud of how well she was doing with this.

So far, anyway.

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[DAPHNE SAPPHIRE CYPHER]

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It looked like the girl Daphne would be spending several months with was about twelve. Well, maybe not that young, but she was very... small. She seemed nice enough, introducing herself as Massy and offering to grab Daphne's stuff. Daphne grinned. "Oh, no, it's no problem. I, uh, I got it." She yanked on the handle of the suitcase, which of course had chosen that exact moment to get stuck. It looked a bit awkward with Daphne's guitar case on the back of her because that's totally been there the whole time and the author did not forget about it what are you talking about run-on sentences and fourth wall breaking are cool okay?

One more, tug, and the suitcase was convinced to come into the room. Happy with her success, Daphne flopped down on the seemingly unoccupied twin bed. She spoke rapidly whilst tossing her guitar case on the floor next to her. "I'm Daphne, but I believe you said that already! Daphne Cypher, to be precise. I'm pretty excited to be at this school, but wow! Just... the kids here are SO BIZARRE I mean I never knew many supers growing up except my brother and he's a gravity manipulator which I guess is pretty cool and all but some of these kids are downright scary I mean with the weird mind tricks so many can do like woah." Daphne took a deep breath and realized that she should probably find out what her roomie could do, before she went around accidentally insulting/acting silly and in awe of the kids with the very extreme superpowers.

"So... Massy, right? What is it that you can do?" Daphne sat up, looking right at her roommate, who she decided she liked quite a bit. "If you want to know, I'm an omniglot- I speak and can understand every language including some of the weird ones I'm not sure how it works but I guess you'll never have one of those funny romcom situations of he said she said with me and wow these sheets are really scratchy I'll have to ask my mom to send me some from home sorry I'll stop talking now and let you introduce yourself or what have you." The more Daphne talked, the more relaxed she felt. It was one of her strange little coping skills.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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Massy found that she felt overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of speech, but it made her feel more comfortable, because she didn't think she would have to worry too much about awkward silences. Besides, Daphne seemed nice. Maybe they would be able to get along. Massy really hoped so. She knew that if they didn't, she would be pretty miserable all the time.

While Daphne talked about the school, Massy tried not to feel offended; she could empathize (ha) with feeling like a tourist on her first day; like every power was a new attraction and she needed to learn her way around while gawking at everything all at the same time.

Massy let her talk on until she was asked a question, and she sat down on her own bed, pulling her zebra pillow pet into her lap and leaning down to press her chin into it while keeping her eyes on Daphne. "I'm in empath. I can sense peoples' emotions and I can mess around with them a bit." Normally, Massy was very quick to point out that she had no intentions of using her powers on her fellow classmates unless she was forced to. She decided that she would let the conversation lead up to that point for once. Or maybe Daphne would just assume she didn't use her power on other people or something. That would be nice.

Massy tried to imagine what it would be like to be an omniglot. She imagined that she would talk a lot, too, if she were one. She bet Daphne could travel anywhere she wanted to; that would be pretty nice. Massy wished that she could travel to places that spoke other languages and still be able to get around easily. As it was, she knew a little French and was semi-fluent in German, but that was the extent of her language adventures. "Can you even understand, like, written word in other languages?" She chose to ignore the comment about the sheets; she had made the same complaint on her first day.

Massy let out a small laugh as a thought occurred to her. "Did you ever notice that your last name is the root of the word 'decypher'. I mean, think about it in reference to the fact that you're an omniglot."

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[DAPHNE SAPPHIRE CYPHER]

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An empath, eh? Daphne smiled. She didn't suspect for a moment that a girl like Massy (you know, one she'd known for all of four and a half minutes) would use that power in a bad way. She was too sweet. "Man, that must be useful! I can barely control my mouth, let alone my emotions. Although, I don't think I'd like very much the whole sensing emotions all the time... But, uh, I digress." Daphne picked up her guitar case which had been so carelessly tossed on the floor and set it up properly. Mostly, she was giving herself something to do. While she talked, naturally.

"Oh, yeah, written languages are way easier to understand than spoken ones. I mean, handwriting can make stuff a bit difficult, but not nearly as much as the different way people speak. But written languages let me understand weird stuff like... Computer binary code, or, hidden messages, or whatever." Daphne paused, thinking a moment. "Hey, I'd probably be able to decipher the matrix easily!" She laughed, then responded to Massy's other comment. "Oh, yeah, it is kind of a funny coincidence, isn't it? I guess the only difference would be the spelling. My last name is spelled with a 'y' instead of an 'i'. But, yeah, cool observation." Daphne leaned her arms on her knees, looking more directly at Massy.

"So, Massy, tell me more about yourself! I'm going to feel silly if I'm just sitting here talking about myself (it's not like I don't do that constantly so you'll learn plenty about me in no time... probably more than you want to know). What grade are you in? How long have you been here at AMG? What kind of hobbies do you have? Oh, do you like music at all?" Daphne straightened up from her previous slouch, excitement winning over bad posture. "I don't mean to brag or whatever, but I kind of play a few different instruments, like, piano and guitar (obviously), and random other ones I'll fiddle around on oh hey there's a pun for you and I also sing in my band but I don't know what's up with that since I'm stuck here and as far as we know none of them are, ahem, 'gifted'. You see what I mean about me talking about myself? God, Daphne, stop being so self-centered." She rolled her eyes and shut up for a moment, letting the fellow blond get a word in if she chose to.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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Maslynn kept trying to reply to Daphne, but she never seemed to have a chance to. Normally, this would have annoyed her to no end, but Daphne was amusing and Massy figured that she was just nervous for her first day at a new school. That, or she did this all the time and the younger girl would just have to get used to it.

"Oh, wow. Um, I'm a freshman. So I haven't been here very long--just since a little after the start of term. Uh, yeah I read a lot but I'm a dancer at heart. So, yeah, I'm definitely into music." Massy laughed then, trying to imagine her life without music. She couldn't. "You sure talk a lot. Do you do that all the time?" Masylnn did her best to make that sound good-natured. She was determined to make a good first impression. Normally, she was just honest. She was trying to do that with Daphne but be more pleasant at the same time. She didn't think it was working.

Ah, well. There would be time for her to be herself later. She decided that she was thankful that her roommate was someone who could appreciate music, and, by default, hopefully the art of dance as well. She hoped they would have similar tastes in music. It would make for good conversation. If not, maybe Daphne could introduce Massie to some interesting new music and vice versa.

She really did hope that they could base their roomate-ship off of more than just music, though. Maybe Daphne liked to read or something. Massy could only assume so, given her power. She would have loved that ability; she could read novels in more languages than just English, and, as vast as the English literature world was, she would have loved to explore literature from other cultures. Plus, she would be able to communicate with anyone on the planet. That could be really useful. To someone, around the world, somewhere. Maybe the government, or in education. Massy bet that Daphne would make a great French or Spanish or Japanese teacher. Maybe an English teacher in Portugal.

That thought brought her to the question, "Is there anything you want to use your power for? Like, career wise. You could be a powerful asset."

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[DAPHNE SAPPHIRE CYPHER]

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Daphne kept her eyes on Massy, watching the girl as she responded. "I'm not even going to lie, I'm a wee bit jealous that you can dance. I mean, I can dance as much as the next guy, but I lack grace in every definition of the word." Still bursting with energy, Daphne got up and began to poke around the small room. She discovered the unused dresser and began dumping out her clothes. There was some organization to the task, mostly distinguishing what clothes should go into it now (the warmer, wintry stuff) and what should remain in her suitcase (which would naturally be shoved underneath the bed).

"Oh, gosh, I sure do talk a lot!" Daphne spoke while doing the unpacking chore. "If I'm just going on about nothing or something or whatever, please, feel free to interrupt me. I think it's just because communication is part of my power and all of that. It makes me feel more comfortable, blah, blah, blah." Daphne mulled over putting a skirt in the dresser or back in her suitcase, but she tossed it on into the dresser. Massy's final question caught her slightly off guard, but she answered it promptly. "Oh, you know, I really hope my band makes it big and all that. We've played in different gigs before, opened for a few big bands, but you know, that's my big dream."

Done sorting her clothes, Daphne shoved her suitcase full of spring and summer clothes underneath her bed. "As far as a back up plan type thing, that's where I guess my power would be way more useful. I've always wanted to travel the world, and I really enjoy helping people. I'll probably study to become a teacher. It's something I know I can do, if I don't rise to my other aspirations. And there's still plenty of opportunity for travel, even though the pay may not be, you know, the best. But, hey, summers off, right?" Daphne stared at one of the duffel bags that had toiletries in it. Putting that task off until later, Daphne flopped onto her bed and stared at Massy upside-down. "What about you? You'd make a good therapist, or a social worker, what with that talent of yours. Ooh, you could probably be a political figure if you wanted." Daphne grinned, the upside-down smile looking a bit like that of the Cheshire Cat.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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Massy shrugged, sort of uncomfortable with the statement. She wasn't sure exactly how to respond, so she went a safe route and said, "I suppose everyone has their own talents." Massy rather loved the fact that she was a good dancer. She probably would have loved it despite her skill level, but having grace and poise probably helped out a bit. At least, it was better than falling flat on her face all the time. That might decrease her motivation by quite a bit. Of course, she thought anyone could learn to dance. Even without talent, someone could be really good at it. So long as they had more coordination than Lucia, anyway.

Massy watched Daphne fill up the dresser with her clothes and laughed at her comment. "That's kind of funny. Talking has the exact opposite effect on me most of the time. It makes me nervous because I'm afraid I'll say all of the wrong things and embarrass myself." Massy thought about what made her more comfortable, and she decided that she was most comfortable around books. Books don't laugh at you. They don't kill themselves. They aren't a afraid of you. Yes. Books were quite wonderful.

Massy listened to her talk about her dream with a slight smile. She always loved people with big ambitions. It meant that they could be driven, reckless, spontaneous . . . . All things that Massy aspired to be but couldn't because she was entirely too nervous or shy or subdued, which, when you got down to it, were all a product of her paranoia. She was cognizant of this and tried not to dwell on it; to think of paranoia is to further dwell in fear.

"I think you'd be one of those teachers that got really off subject all the time," Massy chortled, picturing Daphne in a classroom full of lazy students trying to get her off track to avoid a load of homework that they probably would not do anyway. She stopped laughing and furrowed her brow at Daphne's question. She really hadn't given it much thought. Massy liked to take things one day at a time.

"Well, I suppose, ideally I would like to be a professional dancer or maybe a choreographer. Maybe a dance teacher. Anything that deals with dancing, really. I wouldn't even mind being a dance recital critic or something like that. But if that doesn't work out, I could be an editor. I read all the time already. I might as well make some money off of it." Massy's head whirled with all of the possible occupations she might take in the future. None of them seemed to really stand out. She didn't think she would really detest anything so long as it incorporate dance or literature. Except for, perhaps, writing. Massy is not a very talented writer. She nearly failed English in eight grade because her essays were so terrible. When she got her first report card that year, she had run home in tears complaining that her teacher had graded her essay in a very opinionated way and that it was entirely unfair. In fact, her teacher had graded the essay unfairly, and Massy got her English class switched and got a much more lenient teacher, which did nothing to improve her writing. It was a bit of a win-lose situation, but Massy places much more value on her grades than she does on the quality of her writing. She was rather pleased.

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