Title: A Chance Encounter
Description: [ISO:: Evander]
Zephyriah Beccaria - November 30, 2007 02:06 AM (GMT)
There weren’t very many times where Zephyriah needed to contact Evander, and almost all of them concerned his sisters. Unfortunately for Zephyriah, she needed to speak with Phoebe, but to her dismay, repeated calls to her cell phone yielded little, and she was not available on instant messenger. Amelia also yielded no help—she was just as absent as her sister. Just as unfortunately, she really needed her jeans back. The senior heaved a sigh and flipped open her laptop, resting it on her bed as she leaned forward towards the glowing monitor. Eventually deciding to bite the bullet, Zephyriah scrolled down her burgeoning buddy list towards the very bottom. Evander was still in the “buddies” group, but he certainly didn’t make it easy for the girl to like him.
Clicking open his name—and doubly checking to ensure that she did not click the very similar screen name of that royal pain in the ass—Zephyriah stared at the blank IM box. She bit her lip as her mind hunted for openings that did not seem extraordinarily creepy or anything of the sort. She knew that, for whatever unknown reason, Evander didn’t like her, but she also hoped that he wasn’t petty enough to ignore her altogether. Eventually, she mustered enough courage and stability of mind to type a message:
YouNeverDidLearn: hey
YouNeverDidLearn: have you seen phoebe?
Evander Stavros - November 30, 2007 02:14 AM (GMT)
It was Zephyriah's lucky day.
Evander had only just logged in, and had been about to message Phoebe and/or Amelia to see where the hell they were. Why? He had no idea. He had just felt like bugging them. He didn't need to speak with Phoebe or Amelia, he just wanted to. Oh well. He, unlike Ms. Beccaria, did not loan people his jeans. He liked his jeans, and didn't want other people borrowing them. And now he had just received two simply messages from 'youneverdidlearn'. Lovely. That... nevermind.
Evander most definitely did not feel like 'biting the bullet' or anything else as he bit into the candy bar he had just gotten up to get. Hmm. Chocolate. Yum. He stared at the screen, wondering why he should even type hello back. But it was IM, right? Not a real conversation. And if he pissed Beccaria off, who cares? She didn't have a useful ability, anyways. Omnipresence. Just like Phoebe. He didn't envy them much. The most they could do was threaten someone with 'I know what/who you did last night.' Not that threatening, especially if said person could throw fireballs at them. So he started typing. Two words.
the_better_illusionist: No
the_better_illusionist Why?
Zephyriah Beccaria - November 30, 2007 02:23 AM (GMT)
It really was quite something. She possessed the gift of omnipresence, but still could not find her damned best friend. What the hell was her ability good for, then? She mused about her downtrodden luck, but decided not to dwell on it too long. If Zephyriah allowed herself to dwell on her misery for too long, she’d eventually find that misery loves company, and instead of having to worry about one thing, she would turn around and find that her troubles had suddenly multiplied.
And it was a real shame that Evander didn’t understand the true power of omnipresence, especially since Adelphie was a particularly practiced user of it. If she focused—really hard, of course—she could put it to tremendous use. If she was everywhere, that also meant that her fist could be everywhere too, and that, unfortunately for her enemies, could result in a very interesting situation; she would have to try it out on someone someday. It certainly would give the term "shadowboxing" a new meaning.
Luckily, she did not have to wait for too long before her text box blinked with Evander’s reply. Not surprisingly, he didn’t exactly come off too sociable. Even though Zephyriah had anticipated a response similar to—or even worse than—the one Evander issued, she still felt the itch to return a cheeky response:
YouNeverDidLearn: well, i obviously wanted to experience your eternal sunshine
YouNeverDidLearn: but besides that
YouNeverDidLearn: i’m looking for her
Evander Stavros - December 1, 2007 12:16 PM (GMT)
Evander did not need to understand the value of omnipresence. It was a shame he couldn't make an illusion appear wherever he wanted it to. If that were the case, he'd create the illusion of phoebe walking in Zephy's door right now. That would end the conversation at least. He needed to be able to see where he was creating the illusion, otherwise it could turn out very bad. By the end of the year that was what he wanted to be able to accomplish. Make an illusion wherever he wanted, even if he couldn't see where he was creating it. For instance, make the entire school disappear. THAT would be fun. The illusion everyone had turned invisible. Interesting ideas. He would suppose.
Back to why Evander did not need to understand the value of omnipresence. He didn't have the ability, therefore he did not need to understand it. He could not be anywhere he wanted, and the ability had always annoyed him at home. Phoebe had always known where he was and what he was doing. He didn't like that. A bit of time being on his lonesome was fine by him. And unfortunately for his enemies, he had his own ability. And he could make very big rocks appear. And it would feel very, very real. He couldn't kill someone with an illusion, just make them fall unconcious. So if he were to create a gun, and shoot someone, they'd just fall unconcious. Lovely talent. He had actually tried to kill something with his illusions, the neighbor's cat. It had never appreciated Evander, and when he came at it with a pair of pistols and a floating boulder, it ran. He replied slowly,
the_better_illusionist: That's a shame.
the_better_illusionist: Dunno where she is
Zephyriah Beccaria - December 1, 2007 01:53 PM (GMT)
Truth be told, it would probably be a lot easier for Zephyriah to find Phoebe herself than to question her brother about it. Hell, it would probably be easier for her to use her power to bring her jeans back altogether, bypassing both Phoebe and her brother. The latter didn’t seem quite as enthralling, because she would not have a chance to talk to her friend. Of course, talking to Evander was far from enthralling either, especially when he made no attempt to respond in a meaningful or prompt manner. She sighed at her monitor as she clicked open another conversation, deciding to indulge herself with a more compliant target while she waited for the emo-kid to respond.
Over the last couple of days, Zephyriah had actually tried to avoid using her powers whenever she could help it. Outside of the occasional slip, where she almost subconsciously used her ability, she had been remarkably clean of her omnipresence. This year in particular, Zephyriah felt particularly angry—angry and, or perhaps ‘or,’ a bit empowered. Earlier in the week, she had the startling inclination to push a bunch of annoying sophomores down the staircase all at once, and all of them from the comfort of her own dorm room.
The recent desire to use, and abuse, her power scared her more than anything she could remember. She remembered that when she first learned about the extent of her ability, she was simply mystified; “omni” dealt in absolutes, and the only real inhibitor to it was her own imagination and control, both of which were better than ever before this year. This year, she learned she could actually project physical effect by being present; even though the ability seemed intuitive enough, affecting the world around her (everywhere), she had never properly mastered it up until now. Now the possibility for destruction was practically endless. The thought that she could potentially kill someone from halfway around the world was both startling and unsettling. Cue the “radioactive scrubbing bubbles” army of the dead deus ex machina from Lord of the Rings movie.
When his reply finally came, Zephyriah had practically forgotten about the conversation, and her reply came off more dry than she would have liked:
YouNeverDidLearn: yeah, i figured you wouldn’t
Evander Stavros - December 2, 2007 12:51 AM (GMT)
To be honest, Evander would have preferred to just shut off the chat at that particular moment.
He had no idea why he was still chatting with Beccaria. He wanted to simply log off, leave her to find Phoebe by herself, and play some video game. He had brought enough with him this year. He had had a lovely match with Arthur last night, playing on his XBox 360. For a strange reason, his memory was a bit fuzzy, and he couldn't seem to remember what they had been playing. Something with guns. Call of Duty 4? Perhaps, but that did not matter. Evander stared at the computer screen, urging her to reply quickly so he could stand up and leave her hanging. She did not reply, so he pushed the computer off his lap. He scanned the room, wondering where Arthur was and what he was doing. He wanted to get up and do a few things, so... he did. He had had to go to the bathroom for a few minutes now, but had held off because of Zephy's messages. He had also wanted to throw away the candy bar wrapper, which was now sitting at his side. He shrugged, and proceeded to get up.
So Evander rose from his bed, where he had been sitting chatting on the computer, and if it was previously mentioned that he was sitting somewhere else, disregard that statement, for it is a lie. Much like the cake. The cake is a lie. And Evander was not happy about that. How, if at all, does this relate to the contents of this post? Evander had wanted a piece of cake for lunch today. They had not had one. No, this does not relate to the post whatsoever, and end of random. So he rose from the bed and dropped the candy bar wrapper in the trash can. Check. He then proceeded to use the restroom, and a description is not needed for that task. Check number two. He made his way back to his bed, deciding he'd love to piss off Beccaria a little more. He grinned to himself as he took a glance at his computer screen. Oh, she had replied. Wonderful.
As he read over her reply, he frowned to himself. She either wasn't happy with his response, or she couldn't think of anything better to type than that. Either way, Evander needed to reply to her reply. But what to say. A pleasant reply, telling her how sorry he was that he couldn't be more of a help? Bah. It wasn't Christmas yet. A rude reply, yet to the point? That sounded much better. Maybe something along the lines of 'I appreciate how much you care about my sisters, but I'm leaving now'. He would have typed this, and had started to before he rethought that thought. He had nothing better to do than talk with Beccaria. So a bit milder of a reply wouldn't hurt for now. At least until she got him P.O.'ed. Then he'd have to make up some witty comeback and log off.
the_better_illusionist: do you think i keep track of my sisters all the time?
the_better_illusionist: i thought that was your job
the_better_illusionist: they seem to love you so much more
ooc; alright, editted it. hopefully no more meta-playing. <3