Catching a thief (anyone)

[Excel Esprit]

Excel's eyes darted from side to side as she looked through various places. There was a lot to see in the city and many people to meet. However, the small girl was far too shy to come up to someone and speak. Also, she didn't want to bother anyone. Quite frankly, these people were older then she was and so, she was a little anxious to speak to them.

As she walked, Excel brought both hands up gently and began to play with the left braid, tightening the ribbon and making her fingers play through the hair at the tip. She was nervous of course. She was a new face and she hadn't come here with anyone. Not a pet nor a friend or family member. But she knew she had to be strong and just...GO for it!

Her brown eyes stopped at a small store. Inside...was a few interesting items. Statuettes and such and many many decorations. The sheer beauty of the colours and fun shapes made Excel quite excited and she quickly ran through a crowd, pushin through and entering quickly into the shop. Her eyes rested upon almost every object in the store, capturing the beauty of it and the detail. She was a sucker for beautiful things and art. It was no wonder she was so intrigued. The store clerk watched her in amusement as she ran around to every corner of his shop before stopping infront of something.

"Found something you like, my dear?" he asked her. Excel quickly turned around and smiled. "Oh no. It's just that, one or your statues are broken..." she replyed, her voice flowing from her mouth like a gentle whisper. "I was looking for the missing pieces.."
The store clerk tilted his head and walked away from behind the counter to join her. He took a look at the statue and laughed a little. "Oh no no no, my dear! This statue is supposed to have missing limbs and appear broken. That's the art behind it!"

Excel looked at th statuette again and tilted her head to one side then the other to observe in different angles. She shrugged and smiled turning to the clerk and laughing softly. "I see. That's an interesting piece..." her sentence was left unfinished however. What her eyes saw made her frown. "Sir, a boy is stealing your merchandise!" she exclaimed. The owner turned around and looked at a boy, stuffing his hat and bag with some of the items then running out the door. "That little thief!" he scowled. Excel lowered her brows and dashed away, exiting the store and running fast on the trail of the little thief. She couldn't stand this. A boy stealing pricey items from such a nice clerk. She wouldn't have it.

She trailed after the boy, turning street corner after street corner. Eventually she began to catch up with him, the boy frowning and chucking fire balls back at her. She barely dodged them and with one fine leap, she grasped at his ankle and brought him down with her. The boy fell down on his stomach, the bag flying through the air. Excel's eyes looked up in shock. "No! The statues!" she screamed, not letting the little thief go. If the bag landed on the floor...the statues would surely break.
What a first time in the city this had turned out to be...

[Xeryth Varson]

The statues slipped from the bag, flying through the air, heading ever closer to ground zero, upon the point of impact wherein they would surely break. Onlookers all around gasped, first at the little girl so bravely taking down the thieving boy, and then even more air was sucked from the world by a second, stronger wave of gasps, as the expensive busts and small statues, neared ever closer to shattering.

Only to find themselves all hovering merely inches above the ground, as if held there under their own power.

Just a few feet away, standing within the crowd, was little Xeryth Varson, decked out in his usual faded blue jeans and black long-sleeved shirt, his right hand extended towards the scene of would-be chaos, his eyes closed. It was just another display of the extraordinary that seemed to happen so casually within this city. The boy was holding the statues up telekinetically. A few more moments of this passed before they slowly set down upon the street, safe from harm.

Releasing a long, low, previously held breath, the boy opened his eyes, revealing pale blue irises that seemed to be mostly dull, but with the slightest spark of life still barely visible. Quietly, he researched the scene with his own eyes. The boy, an elementalist, it seemed, in command of fire, had stolen a few statues from the art shop only a ways down the street. This girl, one he'd never seen, though considering how little he got out, that wasn't too surprising, had apparently noticed this action and chased after him, bravely, but recklessly and rather foolhardily, tackling him about the legs to bring about his downfall, both metaphorically and physically. This had left the statues in a sudden state of extreme fragility, which Xeryth himself had come to resolve.

Xeryth nodded quietly to himself, understanding the situation. He did not step out, however, but his eyes were transfixed upon this girl. Her presence here was interesting, to say the least. So seemingly selfless, yet so young. Xeryth was unsure if she was a member of the Academy or not, she hadn't shown any powers, but she did seem to have that certain edge about her, the craftiness and personality that stood one out from the crowd.

Xeryth would merely have to watch and see.

[Excel Esprit]

No crack? No horrible smashing noise? Excel was rather perplexed at the moment seeing as no one had jumped out and caught the statue. It was...just floating there!
Her eyes grew wide at the site, never seeing such a thing before and going through any answer possible to explain such an enigma. But, she knew that it was some form of magic. It had to be. Her parents had sent her here for a reason and there was no way everyone would be Shamans like her.

While laying flat on her stomach, staring in quite a confused state, the boy managed to take this time to wiggle himself away and run off, leaving the stolen goods behind. This made Excel snap back to reality and quickly turn to follow where the boy was going. "No...." she whispered in disappointment as he ran through the crowd, Excel losing him from her sight. Instead of going after him she walked over to the bag and the statue that had fallen but landed quite safely. She shoved it in so she could return it but before turning to leave her curiousity got the best of her.

She picked up a stone from the ground and looked towards Xeryth for a moment and smiled. "Really? Him?" she asked it seemed to herself before her eyes lowered down to the peice of rock in her palm. She set the rock back on the ground and skipped towards the boy, a few years older then she was, for sure. Soon enough, she was before him, her head lifting up to look at his face and a gentle smile on her lips.

The crowd began to seperate, going on to their normal business and still some discussed what had just happened. With the crowd now gone, Excel decided it was the best time to speak up. "You are so kind to have caught the statuette." she said. "Merci beaucoup."
It was funny how, even though she was from France and spoke beautiful French, when she spoke in english one wouldn't even know she was French. One of her little talents it seemed. "I owe you so very much for saving the statue. I am sure that the store clerk will be very happy too. I'm Excel Esprit, what's your name?"

It was strange. She wasn't nervous about speaking to this person. Maybe because she didn't feel very threatened, or because he was closer to her age then the other people she had seen. Whatever the reason, Excel felt that he was alright. 'The spiritual power...maybe it is why?' she thought to herself with a shrug. She raised her hand to shake after her introduction and thank yous and after giving a little curtsy. It was the polite thing to do.

[Xeryth Varson]

The girl had noticed him, somehow, apparently, and began to walk over to Xeryth. Upon seeing her, he smiled weakly, very, VERY shyly, and watched her approach him. She was cute, in that 'young girl' way, but Xeryth didn't even notice. He was still SO bad at judging people physically, as he had yet gathered enough information about the different types to categorize them into different groups. Thus, it was simply another person that came up to Xeryth, just another person that Xeryth was still rather shy about conversing with. His social skills may have progressed considerably since joining the Academy, but he was quite far from being any sort of a conversationalist, yet.

She spoke to him quietly and plainly, mixing English with a speck of French. Xeryth knew very little French, yet he was luckily enlightened enough on the language to understand the phrase she had used. He was silent for a moment, still trying to muster the courage to speak in return. She wasn't horribly forward, and did not intimidate Xeryth like so many others did. She wasn't shy, but she was very middle-of-the-road, one of the more approachable people Xeryth had personally encountered since his escape. Finally, he was able to speak to her, though with his usual stammer.

"I'm.... Xe-Xeryth. Xeryth... Varson. It's... a pleasure, Excel. And... it... it was nothing... the statues, I mean. I... they... I thought they were just... too beautiful to become..... mere shards..."

He smiled bashfully at her, shrugging his point aside with a casual rise and fall of his shoulders.

"You... you enjoy art... as well?"

[Excel Esprit]

At the stammering, oddly enough Excel hadn't even really paid attention to it. She just kinda waited for his words and nodded with a gentle smile on her face. She was glad he had felt that way about the statues. Who know? Maybe if the statues wouldn't of meant anything to him, he would of let them fall? Well, she was just glad they were all safe.

Th bashful smile made her giggle a little, always enjoying happy looks on other peoples faces. It was like...as long as someone was happy, she could never feel sad. If many were happy and one was sad, she'd feel compelled to help and if many were sad, she was too and still there she'd want to bring joy to them.

As he asked her the simple question, Excel's eyes became deep and distant, bringing her hands up to her chest and feeling the thumps of her heart. Soon her eyes closed and a placid look was on her face. "Art...art is a passion of mine." her voice whispered. "I have not discovered any of my artistic talents yet, maybe I have none, but I have an eye, and intrigue, for art. Any forms. I guess I like beautiful things."

Her eyes opened up then, her tone had been filled with passion as she spoke of her love of art. She couldn't help it. It was...so beautiful to see what this world could show. Anything beyond what the eyes can see. Colours, figures, photographs, music and drawings. Everything led her to trails of thoughts and she could spend hours observing art and trying to discover any hidden meanings.

"The way you put it, Xeryth, it seems you enjoy it too? Do you have any preferances?" she asked with a tild of her head, letting her brown hair fall to the side a bit while her eyes blinked a little. She turned a bit and motioned with her hand for him to follow her as she began to walk down the street in order to, stay in the company of Xeryth and still be able to observe the yet to be discovered by her, places of the city. She knew she wouldn't see it all in one day, but why not let her eyes absorb as much as she could today and continue on some others next time? At least with the power of observation, if she would ever need to find a nice place for a snack or certain items, she'd already know a few spots. Although she was sure he had gotten her message to follow, she still looked back towards him and spoke "Come come, follow and tell, please."

[Xeryth Varson]

The girl, Excel suddenly began to walk off after asking her questions, and Xeryth, shy and meek but certainly not stupid, began to follow, especially after she turned and stated quite simply that she wanted him to follow. Xeryth smiled and began to walk, just a bit behind her, as she seemed to be interested in leading the way. He wasn't sure why, but he liked this girl. She didn't seem to be like most others at Arcane, who all had their amazingly eccentric personalities, which Xeryth knew he, himself, was guilty of as well. She was, well, quite normal. Not too terribly shy it was impossible to speak to her, or so forward that she intimidated him, or anything of the sort. Thus, he followed with a smile on his face, finally considering an answer to her question, and summoning forth the woods with his usual degree of trouble.

"I... I have some appreciation for the arts, yes... I... well... before... before coming here... there was little in the way of beauty. So... it's still somewhat new and exciting to me, to see something besides.... greys... and... other drabs..."

Xeryth shrugged, an action that was more to suit himself than anyone else. He wasn't exactly against sharing his past, it didn't hurt him at all to relive it, however, the sheer monotony of it was of such little detail that he, honestly, simply thought no one would want to hear it. Thus he kept the information mostly to himself.

"Excel..." he began, most likely catching her attention, "Do you... do you attend the Arcane Academy... as well?"

[Excel Esprit]

Excel nodded as he spoke. She didn't know how she would of survived without art and with only being able to see dull colours like grey. "Oh my, how horrible." she commented. Of course, it wasn't that much of a horrible thing to some, but to Miss Esprit, it was a nightmare! Colours were her life! Her attires and accessories were enough to tell. Bright colours mostly.

She couldn't help but wonder just WHY he was new to beautiful things. Did he live with gothic people? Or maybe he grew up in a cave? 'No no, Excel. Don't think like that.' she thought. Regardless, she knew she could further inform herself on this. Well, whenever she'd feel it wouldn't be too imposing to ask.

After a bit of silence, Excel turned her head to take a look at Xeryth after her spoke her name. "hmm?" she asked. He proceeded to ask her if she went to Arcane Academy and tilted her head. "Oh is that what the school is called? I forgot. But that does sound familiar." she said. "I guess so. Yes. I will be attending there. I got my dorm and everything now I just need to wait until classes start, which is most likely tomorrow for me. I suppose I'll be seeing you there?"

Her eyes looked around then, catching a glimpse of some of the stores she had previously looked at. Her eyes lowered down to the back she was holding with all the statues and her jaw dropped. "Oh I forgot about these!" she exclaimed. She turned to Xeryth and motioned with her finger to wait one second then quickly ran off towards the little shop. It wasn't terribly far away from where she and Xeryth had been walking and so in a matter of seconds she was there.

"Mesieur! Vos...er, your statues. I got them back! And someone I just met also helped. One statue was going to break and he stopped it!" Excel smiled brightly and held the bag up to the store owner. He smiled to her and thanked her, also telling her to tell her new friend thank you as well and he took the statues back.

Excel left the shop and met back up with Xeryth.
"Okay all done. The man who owns the store says thank you."
She turned around to continue walking and looked towards the sky, sighing deeply and contentively. "Hey, I'm guessing you can conrol things with your mind huh? The rock from earlier told me so. Can you guess what I can do?" she asked, turning momentarily to face him then turning back to look before her. She didn't want to bump into anyone, that's for sure.

[Xeryth Varson]

Excel was speaking to him, before suddenly disappearing, running off with the bag to return the contents within to their rightful owner. The store owner must have thanked for, for she came back looking and feeling quite pleased with herself. The happiness was infectious, and Xeryth couldn't help but pull up a little grin himself. She conveyed the storekeeper's thanks to him, and to this he nodded, and shrugged a bit.

"It... it was the least I could do..." he said, smiling meekly.

Excel turned as if to continue walking, and Xeryth began to ready himself to do the same, before suddenly turning once more, to regard upon Xeryth his own powers, as well as give a guess at her own. 'Sudden' seemed the word that defined Excel's existence, Xeryth thought with an internal grin, and answered in kind as best he could.

"Yes, actually. Tele-...telekinesis is what its called. It's... the least of what I... what I can do, actually. I'm a... a... psychic. Most all psychic powers are... available... to me. In fact..." Xeryth grinned, his mischievous side starting to poke through yet again. In truth, this would mean that he was starting to become a bit more comfortable with Excel, not being quite so shy as usual. Whether Excel would know this or not was anyone's guess.

"You want me to guess at your power? Well... hehe..." Xeryth closed his eyes, entering mind's eye view. "Don't be alarmed... if you.. feel something, okay?" He asked semi-pleadingly. This would be the first time he'd done this since he left D-13, and he was quite sure that he wasn't proficient enough yet to do it without detection. He focused his Mind's Eye first upon her head, then delved deeper, focusing inward, to her mind. Thankfully, the information he sought was at the forefront of her conscious, seeing as she had it in mind since it was the answer to the question she had asked of him. Excel would feel a strange presence in her mind, hard to fully describe, but a presence nonetheless. But, in a flash, it would have been gone.

"You... you are... a spirit wielder?" He asked quizzically, slightly unfamiliar with the title. "A... shaman. The... souls of the dead... power you in some way? In...interesting..."

Suddenly, Xeryth had realized what he'd done. He'd entered another person's mind without permission or decent cause to do so. Quickly, Xeryth lowered his head, apologizing profusely for his actions.

"I... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. I... I didn't look... for anything else... but your magic... I'm sorry..."

[Excel Esprit]

Excel made a note in her mind to remember the names of the powers. 'Telekenesis, A psychic' she thought, smiling and nodding to herself. The first word was odd to her, and saying it felt weird. But it wasn't terribly hard. It was just something she thought she'd have to learn how to say more easily.

As he spoke of not being alarmed, Excel looked towards him and tilted her head. "Don't be alarmed if wha-?" But it was too late to finish her phrase and soon she felt a little odd. She blinked slowly, then a few times quickly, and then as quick as that the feeling was gone. "Whoa..." she squeaked, shaking her head a little then turning to Xeryth as spoke. Her mouth opened up in shock as her eyes rose wide. He...he got it!

Her face turned serious for a moment, her brown eyes low and dull. She listened to his appology and bit her lower lip. Her hands slowly rose towards her face, quivering a little. She looked like she was about to cry or something. But then...

Her arms shot up into the air, her eyes sparkling with joy and her smile wider then ever. She burst into giggles, hopping up and down a little before settling down grasping Xeryth's hands.
"Are you kidding me?! This is the coolest thing ever!!" she exclaimed. "I'd give anything to do that! That way I'd be able to know what people are thinking really and..um, I'd get to know how people feel about me. If they like me or not!"

She looked into his eyes, hers, people could SWEAR had actual sparkles in them. Her voice lowered as she said softly. "Your soooo lucky. Your power is so cool."

She blinked a few times then, realising how she had gotten a little carried away in her excitement, coughing a few times and bowing her head softly. "Heh, I'm sorry about that." she said softly and more calmly, forgetting completely that she still had his hands in hers.

She didn't know why. She always saw herself as a calm and collected, quiet kind of girl. But at times she'd be...different. It was truly odd to say the least, and even now at twelve years of age she hadn't quite gotten used to it. All she hoped was that she hadn't scared Xeryth or something.