Winter Says Hello [Open]

     Olwen walked down the road slowly through the thick layer of snow that had accumulated on the path. She had left her music class after a few hours of practicing her violin and chatting with the music teacher, Ms. Dolce. Afterwards she had returned to her dorm room to put away her violin before she decided to go into the village to explore. Since she had never been to the village, she didn't really know where she was going. But Owl didn't have anywhere to be any time soon, so that didn't bother her too much.

     As she moved into a marketplace like area, she spotted a coffee house close by and felt like a warm drink would do her some good in this nasty weather. Owl pulled her hood a little further over her face to protect her from the icy wind as she made her way to the entrance. Almost as blind as a bat, she bumped into the front door of the coffee shop and fumbled to get the door open, her fingers numb from having no mittens to keep them warm. Olwen felt a blast of warm air as she stepped out of the cold and into the warmth of the coffee shop. Her frozen nose smelled fresh coffee brewing and she smiled blissfully. She quickly turned around and pulled the door shut so that the heat would stay in and so the cold would stay out. 

     Owl shuffled over to a small table and sat down happily, pulling off her hood and jacket as she did so. Sighing from the wonderful feeling, she turned her attention to the cute little shop. A few people were scattered around the shop and by the looks of it, there were a few normal people too. But that fact didn't worry her, as long as she didn't read their minds she would be fine. 

Iris had been enjoying herself these past few days fairly well. Music class was one of the few joys she was able to discern from her life so far, especially as it proved to be a relieving break in the school day. And, despite having a few bumps in the road, specifically with Eris at their last encounter, she was able to push most of her troubles to the back of her mind, for her studies had consumed a large amount of her time. For now, she chose to investigate the town further, having pulled on a peacoat and a scarf to ensure her warmth in this type of weather. Last time she remembered it being this cold, she was with Sandra, and neither of them had prepared themselves for that climate very well.

As she entered a cute-looking coffee shop, the emerald-eyed girl noticed a familiar face: Olwen, from her music class. From what she'd seen, the female was gifted with the violin, and held the ability to read minds.. Through what medium, again? Forgetting one of the most essential facts concerning her peer, Iris gazed at her, stepping forward with interest despite her trembling body. Does her violin help her powers? she thought, taking a seat at a window booth in solitude. If she were a different person, she would've greeted the female, however a simple wave was all she could manage, not really caring if she noticed her or not. As she skimmed over the menu, she permitted a thin stream of a neon-green strand of energy to encircle her body, releasing a kind of soothing radiance that prevented the urge to slice up her fingers, as she typically did when in a social environment. She'd taken it upon herself to explore this place, and she would, but without being judged for her self-harm. Her body habitually trembled out of anxiety and cold as she clutched the table momentarily, before releasing it to flicker her eyes back towards the familiar virtuoso girl that had established herself only a couple tables away from Iris.

     Olwen pulled on the top of her mittens, sliding them slowly off her fingers. She sat for a moment and didn't even bother to look at the menu, her mind was elsewhere. It had been so long since she had been home and she was starting to get home sick again. Being home sick, to Owl, usually meant that she would get awful stomach aches and be reminded of home at the simplest of things. Sometimes she would even stay in her room writing letters to home that she would never send, or listening to music for hours on end. Though she rarely missed her actual family, they were cold towards her and wanted to stay away from her. Owl just missed the city life.

     Olwen slowly slipped out of her comfy chair and went to order a large hot chocolate and a cookie to satisfy her craving for something warm. As she waited, she heard the door open and close. And out of the corner of her eye she saw the girl who was in her music class, the one who was very shy. Olwen watched as she waved, she smiled and waved back before she turned her attention to the food that was being brought to her happily. She carefully grabbed the food, payed and returned to her seat. 
  
     When she saw that Iris had taken up residence a few spots away from her own table, she debated moving over to give her some company. But Owl knew that not everyone wanted company from a mind reader; so she slid back into her chair and slowly ate her food. Her eyes flickering around the small coffee house, thinking that this could be a possible place where she could retire after classes ended. 

With her stomach performing somersaults, the girl felt that ingesting anything right now would only result in nausea or.. Worse consequences. Instead, Iris reverted her attention back to the female from her music class, watching as she sat in solitude on her own. At first, the female simply disregarded this as she always would with others, assuming that she'd rather remain alone as most people did. However, there was something about Olwen that caused her to feel a pang of guilt raiding her heart. The way she ate her food slowly, and after having been in music class with her, Iris was given a hint of a reason to both feel sorry for her and trust her.. Besides, it only seemed morally correct to approach someone in this kind of situation, right?

Biting her lip with an incredible amount of apprehension, she rose, steadying her trembling body as best she could as she slowly approached the female with painstakingly slow steps. "U-Um," she murmured, nervously intertwining her hands together, "M-Maybe.. I-I could s-sit with y-you, i-if you w-wanted? Y-You... A-Are from m-my music c-class, r-right? O-Or not, I-I m-might be wrong.. Y-You don't have t-to, I-I mean.. U-Um..." She knew that this was a terrible way to word that she wished to keep the girl company, however at the moment, she wasn't able to voice that all she wanted to do was please the unhappy-looking Olwen. Maybe it was her good experience with Eris that had spurred her on to try and socialize a bit better, however that didn't mean she was going to improve her skills over such a short expanse of time. Despite this fact, her good intentions continued to peer through the shy wall she'd constructed around herself, filtering in through this choppy and vague speech. For now, Iris simply stood before Olwen, her eyes locked upon the girl as thoughts of rejection raced through her turbulent mind.

     Olwen munched on her cookie slowly as she watched the snow twist and spin outside the window. The frozen world beyond the coffee shop was now like an old movie with the most noticeable colors out there being the blacks and the white. The window that was next to her seat was iced over with patterns and she could see icicles dangling just above the window. Olwen felt both the chill from the outside and the warmth from the coffee shop from her small table. She pulled her hand out of her pocket, where it had been put to warm up, and slowly moved it to the glass. Owl smiled as her finger moved across the slick surface, and when she pulled her hand away a small smiley face shape was left behind.

     As she sipped at her drink, she noticed that Iris had gotten up and was walking towards her. She couldn't help but notice how much she was trembling or how she fumbled with her words, but Olwen didn't mind that at all. She smiled up at Iris, "I would love company on such a cold day as this." Olwen gestured to the open seat across from her and suddenly felt a little bit self conscious of how she looked. She had changed from when she was in class to something that would be a bit warmer so that she wouldn't freeze on her way to the village. Her large dark grey baggy sweatshirt, black skinny jeans and red scarf were literally thrown together just because of how warm she thought they would be. 

     Olwen sat for a moment and wondered what to say, since she had never really talked to Iris before she wasn't sure what was okay to talk about and what wasn't. So she decided to stick with the easy stuff, "So what brings you to the village on such a cold winters day like today?"

After the girl had accepted Iris' offer, she nodded hastily and seated herself before Olwen, her words swift and nervous as if she'd just received a stern command, "O-Okay.." It was obvious that the musical female had no intention of betraying Iris at the moment, however the anxious female couldn't help but remain in her fragile, untrusting and fearful state. She kept her eyes fixated upon the other girl's out of habit, trying to be polite in this manner, but not cognizant of Olwen's abilities. "I-I just.. I-I don't know, I-I g-guess, I-I wanted t-to t-try e-exploring the t-town, I-I think," she responded quietly, glancing about the room nervously. What would any other student do in her situation? If she'd been someone like Sandra, her confidence and socializing skills would surely surpass any doubts she may have once held, and if she was calm and collected like Eris, she wouldn't feel the need to be so fearful. These thoughts constantly fled through her mind as she watched Olwen, wondering what the girl was doing out here herself.

"Y-You.. Y-You play th-the violin, l-like M-Miss D-Dolce?" she said, trying to spark up some conversation by herself, which was incredibly uncommon for her. But, it was these small steps that drove Iris forward on her self-discovering journey, even if she didn't realize it. All she thought was that she didn't have to burden others by unintentionally causing them to assume that they had to the carry the conversation all on their own, and wished to share the load. It was right, wasn't it? The girl gazed apprehensively at the table then, her eyes clouded with worry. Am I doing this right? she thought to herself, biting her lip as her gaze connected with Olwen's occasionally, however couldn't maintain contact for all that long anymore. Why did she have to feel obligated to be so frightened?

    Olwen smiled as Iris sat across from her, she could see how hard this was for the other girl. She knew that company would be wonderful on such a day like this, where they could stay in the little coffee shop for a long time to avoid going out into the cold. Even though Iris was obliviously nervous, Owl knew that that wouldn't bother her too much. And since Iris was the one to come to her, she had the feeling that she was looking for a friend or was trying to work on communication skills. Either way, Owl was happy to help. 

      "Y-You.. Y-You play th-the violin, l-like M-Miss D-Dolce?"  Olwen smiled, happy that she remembered that tidbit about her. Though Owl was a bit saddened by the fact that she didn't really know what musical skills Iris had. "Yep, I've been playing for so long now. Sometimes it kind of drowns out other peoples thoughts, it's also a release for me when I get stressed out. Some people draw or listen to rock & roll while I make music on my violin." Owl felt like Iris's eyes were on her own, possibly watching to see if she would dare to look into her own eyes. Though she had mastered control of where her eyes wandered, she would sometimes find a horrible urge to see what color eyes they had. Something she couldn't discover without hearing their thoughts as well, but she always forgot about their eyes after she heard what they were thinking about her. 

     Owl quickly pushed aside the thought of eyes and wanted to dig into another topic, "So you said that your power has to do with energy, have you found any uses for it yet?"
    

Throughout the course of their conversation, Iris couldn't help but notice just how the other girl avoided her direct gaze, wondering if she also lacked certain social skills. However, she wouldn't press upon the subject and simply listened to her response. So, it was used as a stress-reliever? At times, the girl was able to use singing to alleviate her stress, however the most effective way of doing so would always be self-harm. Olwen's method was actually beautiful and painless, and in some ways, the green-eyed female envied her peer, however it wasn't evident upon her features. Perhaps it was just a tint of green flushing the edges of her heart.

To her, the pale, lavender color remained as a prominent color upon the female before Iris, for nothing she'd said had added a new dimension to her demeanor. "I-I l-like violins' s-sound.. I-I guess I-I can't r-really r-relate, s-since I-I've only sung a-and I can't p-play an i-instrument, b-but... I-I'm s-sure y-you s-sound wonderful wh-when you p-play." It wasn't until Olwen asked about herself that a charismatic, pale yellow combated the cooler hue, adding an interesting twist to her mellow personality. "W-Well... N-No, I-I only h-hurt o-others w-with it," she replied with a sense of wistfulness, holding out her hand and conjuring a light-green sphere of energy then, "M-Maybe I-I'll be able t-to destroy i-it s-someday, I-I d-don't know.." Her eyes were aglow with the reflection of the radiating energy in her palm, however her loathing for such a cursed ability didn't cease even with its visually pleasing manner. Habitually, her body continued to tremble as she spoke to Olwen, unable to prevent herself from doing so from socializing.

At this moment, a strange man walks into the coffee house. His eyes are bloodshot and there is a peculiar smell clinging to his person. He moves with a directness that is seldom attributed to denizens of a coffee shop. The shiftiness of his eyes contrasts directly with his way of moving.

The man walks to the counter and orders a black coffee. From the looks of his face, he needs it. Dark circles underscore bloodshot eyes. As he scans the room, the murky depths of his irises seem devoid of most human emotion even though he looks like an average guy. Plain suit, if a bit wrinkled, tie that may have been fashionable in the late eighties, sensible shoes. Dark hair that probably started off combed and impeccable, but had taken itself to new heights (so to speak). A face that could be forgotten in a crowd.

He is soon joined by a lady who looks like she is in her early twenties, wearing jeans and a black leather jacket. Unlike his cool, calm demeanor, she is quite obviously fluctuating between manic and spaced. She approaches the man quickly and he is unfazed by this. The way they orient their bodies makes it clear that they are more than mere acquaintances. He frowns at her when she mutters something in an undertone easily drowned out by the sounds of business as usual. He shakes his head just once and she subsides, running a hand through wildly curly brown hair.

He orders her one of those fancy numbers on the menu, further indicating that they definitely know each other, and well at that. Her drink arrives in short order and they leave as quickly as they arrived.

    She smiled at the almost compliment, since it would only really count if she had actually heard her playing her violin before. Owl made a mental note to play for her some time, once she improved on her playing first of course. She actually hadn't played the old thing for a year or so, since she was so busy moving in and exploring. She frowned as Iris spoke about her ability and felt a little bad for her, having such a negative purpose behind such a lovely power. Her eyes fell onto the little light green ball of energy and she didn't look away until she realized she was kinda staring. 

     Olwen looked down and reached out to grab her once warm hot chocolate. Her hands slid around it and she felt the warmth seeping through her fingers. She put it too her mouth and chugged the rest of its contents. Owl wiped her mouth and felt her eyes wandering around the coffee shop. Not much had changed while she had first entered the shop, a few people had left and some had moved but nothing to drastic. 

     As Iris was talking, two shady folks walked into the coffee shop who both looked like hell. The both looked like they were hungover or on some sort of drug. Without even thinking twice, she glanced over the mans eyes.

He had ugly eyes. 

     Olwen stared blankly for a moment, not sure if she heard right. In an attempt to make sure she was right, she looked into the eyes of the woman who seemed to be very close to the man. Owl watched them as they moved from the door, her eyes constantly checking for any quick movements but the just left without trouble. She turned to Iris and wondered what she would tell her, she needed to know what Owl had just heard but how would she tell her in a subtle way that wouldn't raise alarm in her. 

     "I don't mean to alarm you, but I have something I need to tell to the principal and I need you to come with me. Now."  

An appreciative smile befell upon Iris' countenance as Olwen peered at her energy. And, the charismatic yellow that now swam at random through the sea of lavender created an intriguing pattern for the green-eyed girl to admire. As of now, she felt a bit more comfortable with the musical student before her, perhaps in time, she would be able to officially consider her as a friend. For now, just friendly acquaintances would satisfy Iris, for it was far more than she could've hoped for.

However, the blithe atmosphere was broken by a duo that entered the coffee shop. Iris' eyes followed Olwen's as she studied the queer pair, noting the man's ominous, inky, muddled violet hues with flecks of a sinister, cold black laying beneath it, especially based off of his hardened expressions. Something about him made her uncomfortable, as well as his cohort, who appeared rather frazzled in a sense. Her anxious way about her movements and the impatient urgency she portrayed when speaking to the man dyed her form a brittle, pale yellow. Once more, a sinking feeling churned deep within Iris' stomach, unable to wrench her eyes away from the mysterious two. Apprehension filled her lungs at these unnerving and inexplicable emotions coursing through her, reaching for her necklace and releasing a few strands of the stress through the blood streaming down her hand. "Y-Yellow a-and purple," she murmured to herself, wanting to voice these hues aloud so that she could verify their existence for her own sake. Why did these two bother her so? Although this wasn't the first time that she'd been forced to examine some unsavory colors, that didn't make the experience any more enjoyable.

It wasn't until Olwen spoke that Iris faced her and returned to reality, listening to each word with an intense focus as the peculiar pair exited the coffee shop. She had the ability to read minds, right? And, seeing the desperation in the female's voice in front of her, she knew that she had to give everything she had to assist her. It was only morally correct, and Iris intended to abide by that principle. "Y-Yes, I-I didn't l-like th-their colors a-at a-all," she replied, her bloodied fingers laying limp at her side as she stood promptly, "L-Let's go, th-then."

     Olwen felt a wave of relief as Iris understood her concern, but she didn't know what Owl had heard. She rubbed her temples, trying to think straight. They couldn't just waltz out the front door, just because the couple could be waiting and watching just outside the coffee house. Olwen plotted as she slid into her jacket and pulled on her mittens. She quickly got rid of her hot chocolate cup and walked to the counter, and asked if there was a back exit that they could use. The short woman pointed down past the counter and Owl grinned at the sight of the door. Olwen motioned for Iris to follow her and she walked down the short hallway.

     She stopped at the end of the hall and stood before the door, listening for their thoughts. For if they were close by still, she would be able to hear their thoughts. If they were long gone, then they would have an easy jog to the school. Owl frowned, she remembered that another person was mentioned but she knew that she could momentarily freeze him/her if they were approached. Sadly that would only work if she could get the chance to look into their eyes, if she was taken too the it would be hard for her to make contact. 

     Olwen sighed as she rubbed her temples, her fingers pressing down on her skull. She wanted to tell the information to the principal but the trek there could become dangerous and she didn't have her sword. Owl turned to Iris and she tried to pull on a smile, "Remind me to never leave my sword a home again, big mistake. Now let's get outta here,"  Olwen turned around and pushed open the exit to the small coffee shop.