Featuring: Calyx
Where: Boys Dorm
When: Monday the 21st, Evening

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Even though he wasn't satisfied with how the last mission turned out, Calyx had enjoyed the team he was on. Adrian was in his class and pushed Calyx to loosen up. He even got Calyx to drink his first beer. Nadia was an inspiration as always. Grace was quiet, but solid. She had character in spades. Tobias seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, and had a personality that blended with Calyx's. The winged boy was disappointed that he had been switched off of the team so quickly.

At the moment Calyx was walking down to Tobias's room. He was feeling bored and lonely, as wasn't really sure who else wouldn't mind him popping in for a moment. He had heard the buzz around the school that he and Grace could become an item here soon, and Calyx carried an envelope with him that he thought could help Tobias with that.

Calyx quickly covered the distance between their rooms and gave a few knocks on the other boys door before taking a small step back and waited.

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Summary: Calyx pays Tobias a visit
Tags: Linen

Tobias had a mouthful of pins at the moment as he was working on a suit the old fashioned way, no powers or anything, and he said, "Juff a mihit," as he reached for a cloth tape measurer with a metal tip on the end and sent it spiraling across the room, wrapping around the end of the doorhandle and turning it. Pulling the pins out of his mouth when he saw Calyx standing there, he nodded to the boy and said, "Come on in." He had some light instrumental music playing, Tchaikovsky, and the whole room was laid out in a very neat fashion with straight lines. His desk had a pile of magazine clippings of clothes on it, and two thick binders full of patterns were resting on his bed as he was doing one of the sleeves on a gray double-breasted suit. "How's it going, Calyx? I'm not used to getting visitors, which is sort of why I haven't cleaned up."

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Summary: He's in a fairly manic creative phase
Tags: Calyx

Calyx recognized the music floating through the door. He had played Tchaikovsky pieces before, but only the super well know Nutcracker ones, none were in his current repertoire. He stepped in, a little cautiously, and shut the door halfway behind him. "Hey, I hope I'm not interrupting too much." His eyes ran over the patterns on the bed and his desk. Calyx made a mental note to keep his wings still to prevent some of the loose clippings from being blown away. "Looks like you're giving your powers a rest." He commented as he moved closer to the suit to take a look. "I was kind of bored," Lonely really would have been the accurate word, "so I thought I'd come by. This is really good. How long have you been sewing for?"

In his hand he held a long, cream envelope that he appeared to have forgotten about as he kept talking. "So have you heard about the newest team assignments yet? You're still with Grace and Nadia, but Adrian and I are both going to different teams. Looks like you'll be with the newest bunch of students coming in."

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Summary: Calyx is really just happy to talk for a moment.
Tags: Linen

"No, I didn't see them yet. That's kind of sucky that we're not on a team together, but I'm sure that they probably have a pretty good reason for things. To be honest, I'm still kind of learning the ropes anyways, so it makes sense that I'm going to be on a team with the new people." Putting the pins down on his desk and leaning against it for a moment, he laughed and said, "I don't know how long I've been sewing, honestly. Probably since the first year that I ended up taking Home Ec and we had to do little pillows. It opened my eyes to things, really. I'm not using my powers right now because I wanted to have the seams in it instead of just doing one without any stitching. Besides, it's good to get back to fundamentals on things."

Motioning to a chair in the room, he said, "Grab a seat." Clearing some of the stuff off on his computer desk, he hopped up on it. "I know it might be a little prying, but do you have a little bit of a thing for Nadia? She's pretty cute. Not really my type, but then, I kind of have my eye elsewheres, right?"

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Summary: Tobias moves some stuff, chats for a bit
Tags: Calyx

He accepted the seat, sitting on it crosswise so his wings could dangle without being caught by the back of the chair. He was finally feeling comfortable maneuvering them around without having them tucked into his clothes. He couldn't understand why someone would purposely choose a cape for their costume, they must get caught on everything!

"You've been doing great in the crash courses." He added. "but I know how you feel about learning the ropes, I sometimes think its an accident anything I do turns out all right in our training sessions. But I'm being put on a team with Autumn. I doubt accidental success is good enough for her."

"She's in a thing with Curcio." Calyx said it as if that should clear up any question of him having a crush on Nadia. The truth was he wasn't sure how he felt about Nadia. At times she seemed like someone completely unapproachable, and other times very close and near. "She's a good friend though. I only wish she didn't have so much on her shoulder's all the time, you know? But what about you? The gossip around here says its Grace you've got in your sights."

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Summary: Calyx has his own gossip
Tags: Linen

Laughing, Tobias couldn't help but nod in response to what Calyx had to say. "I thought it was fairly obvious, but yes, definitely. I know that she comes from a very traditional family, though, so it might make things difficult. We haven't talked about the whole situation too much, but then again, I guess I haven't really brought it up, so bull on me right?" The smile on his face was a little deflated, but he did his best to keep a stiff upper lip like his father had always told him to be.

"If not Nadia, why don't you try for Sheridan or Yvette? Both of them seem like pretty nice girls, and they're both good looking. Yvette is a bit, eh, individualistic but that isn't a bad thing, right?" Touching a spool of thread, he started to neaten up a hem line on the suit he'd been working on and pointed towards the envelope that Calyx had in his other hand. "Mail from home? I've been waiting for Mother to send a letter, but I imagine she's busy at the moment."

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Summary: Tobias suggests some other ideas for Calyx and admits his crush
Tags: Calyx

"They are both very pretty." Even such a simple observation made his ears start to heat up. "But Andy's been trying for Sheridan, and when I first met Yvette she said she would like to marry Headmaster McNeil. And not in a joking kind of way. I'm not sure how to handle." Without even trying Calyx was able to give himself a tolerably good reason why none of those girls would go for him. It was self-handicapping to be sure, but that is how he thinks about girls. He stretched his rings to the side as he added "With these I have no right to complain about others' unique appearances, but Yvette doesn't need any sympathy from me. I don't think she even notices she's not like everyone else. It's charming."

Calyx held up the envelope as Tobias pointed to it. "This one's not from my mother. It's from Headmaster McNeil. It was part of my Christmas present. He gave me season tickets to the Beaudrie Opera House. I thought Grace would really appreciate something like that. If you'd like, you have have these two tickets for their upcoming show." He extended the envelope towards the other boy as he kept talking. "They are putting on Tosca next. By Puccini. It's a great opera, but my parents took me to see it before. I thought you might want to ask Grace."

Calyx had enjoyed the last show he had gone to at the Opera House, but he ended up wasting the other ticket and going alone. It had seemed even more depressing when Mimi finally dies to tuberculosis when he had to sit through the show with nothing but an empty seat next to him. On top of feeling lonely and a little lame on that night, he also felt incredibly embarrassed. The chances were microscopic that any of the other patrons had even cared that he was there by himself, but Calyx felt like they were judging him for not having a single person he felt comfortable inviting to sit next to him. "It would be a chance to see her all dressed up, too."[hr[
Summary: Calyx offers Tobias his Opera tickets. Because that's what teenage boys like to do. Go to the Opera.
Tags:Linen

There was some shock on Tobias' face when Calyx handed him the tickets, and a bit of a slow smile started to form on his features as he took the envelope and set it in his lap. "Really?" It'd been a while since he'd really done anything that his family would have approved of in terms of being with a girl, and considering his last solo outing ended up with him getting kidnapped off of a train bound for Paris after being gassed and nearly getting brainwashed by paramilitaries, maybe bringing someone along with him was the lucky thing to do. Not to mention the fact that he really had a bit of a torch burning for Grace, whom he was sure was probably fairly oblivious to his feelings.

It was a heavy situation, and Tobias had to blink a few times to get his bearings back. "You're serious? Wow, Calyx... that's, that's something else. Thanks, man...". He was trying to scan his brain on something that he could do in return, and his eyes ended up falling to the suit that he was working on. "Let me do something in return for you, say, make you a suit or something." He reached over and grabbed the cloth tape measure again, which reached almost ten feet in length. He'd gotten it before his powers came out as a novelty, something nobody would want to unravel because they'd have to wind it back up. Now, though, it made things a lot easier around his "workshop", which was basically just his room. The end of it snaked around like it had a life of it's own. "Every man should own at least one, and I can make one that works with your wings. Girls dig wings, even if you don't think it. Check Deviantart sometime and then try telling me otherwise."

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Summary: Seriously, do a search on that stuff. It's ridiculous
Tags: Calyx

"Yeah, really. And it's no big deal. It's just a gift." As Tobias mention the suit Calyx shook his head. It was too much... until he mention tailoring it to fit his wings. "You could really make a suit that would work with my wings? I can usually get by with holes in the back of my shirts but coats never work out right. But don't feel like you have to." He said that while hoping desperately Tobias wouldn't back out.

"Girls dig wings? Online they are attached to these big muscular hunks, and their wings are all feathers and, i don't know, sex hormones!" He was suddenly doubting having Tobias make him a suit was worth the effort. "They don't go for scrawny bug-boys. Tobias, where would I even wear a suit with my wings exposed. I have to tuck them in if I ever go out in public. I never have the luxury of sharing who I really am. I can't even be myself when I go to a church to pray." There was a weight that was tangibly sitting on the boys shoulders. "I don't think it would be worth your time. Just take the tickets and don't worry about it." He tried to play it off like he really didn't want the suit, but Calyx was very transparent with his emotions.

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Summary:Life is really unfair sometimes.
Tags:Linen

"Right. Because that's going to work on me. I used to be rich, Calyx, I know a thing or two about being underhanded and doing something regardless of what a person says they want, even if I don't put it into practice alot." Getting himself a clean piece of paper from his design notebook, he motioned for the boy to come closer. "Here's how it's going to work, for the record. The jacket's going to be double-lined so you can feed them through the middle, and then I'm going to do the same at the waistband of the suit's pants so you can feed them right down towards your feet. The way I see it, they might even give the suit a little more structure."

Looking over his design, he was jotting down notes as he looked up at his classmate. "If you get worried about it, it's not that hard for me to make something like a cummerbund that'll help keep them in place. After I try this out and have some more time on my hands, we might even be able to work it so that we can do it under a vest instead of the jacket at some point, so you can take the coat off."

"And another thing.." The look on Tobias's face was serious, but there was also a hint of a grin on it. "Word around the campfire is that Nadia and Curcio aren't as solid as you'd think, and I sure don't see a wedding ring on Yvette's finger either. Women might go for the muscular type, but think about how many skinny guys you've seen with girlfriends. Style is one of the great equalizers in the world, and once I'm finished working some stuff up for you, yeah, we're talking GQ here."

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Summary: Tobias isn't having that defeatist attitude
Tags: Calyx

Looking over the design, Calyx was impressed. Internally he wanted to feel comfortable in the clothes he wore, and Tobias's drawings were amazing. "Well, if you're going to twist my arm..." He smiled as he looked at the design further.

He nodded a little as Tobias gave him the pep talk. He was conflicted. he knew what he was saying was true, but at the same time he had a hard time believing it applied to him.

"Can I ask you a question?" He was a little embarrassed, but it was also easy for Calyx to trust. "I've never, well, been on a date. How do you ask a girl out?" The question came out hesitantly, but his eyes showed that he was eager for an answer.

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Summary: Calyx needs some directions
Tags: Linen

"Never as in never never?" There was a little bit of surprise on Tobias's face when he asked the question, but then he figured the whole wings thing had probably kept him from really being as outgoing as he should've been. "If you haven't ever done it before, you're going to realize after you're successful for the first time that it's a lot easier than you thought. Right now, you're just letting your nerves get the best of you, but the thing is, it's hard not to. When you really like a girl, you're always going to feel that, because the thought of getting rejected or laughed at or something really sucks."

He was holding onto a long piece of burlap which was slowly starting to transform to a pinstripe color, the fabric resembling cotton now. "The best way to go about things is to find a mutual interest that the two of you have and just go for it. Try taking a deep breath or two before you ask, get your heartrate down so you don't sound all jumpy. And you just say, 'Hey, do you want to come out with me and do blank sometime?'. Just remember, you always have a fifty fifty shot and that's a lot better than chance. Really, the worst thing you'll probably ever hear is a no."

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Summary: Tobias gives Calyx a combination pep talk and pointers
Tags: Calyx

"Never." Calyx answered back. He was slightly hurt by the shock that Tobias showed, but he decided to ignore it. He nodded his head as the older boy gave his explanation. It all seemed to make sense - and all seemed so easy. "Sometimes a "no" seems like a pretty big deal, though. But you're right. It can't be that hard, or no one would do it."

He watched as the fabric shifted in Tobias's hands. Not only was he talented, but his meta-powers were incredibly useful. Plus he had Grace who was obviously interested in him. Calyx could feel a pulse of jealousy, even has he reminded himself that Envy was one of the seven deadly sins.

"Have you dated a lot of girls, then?"

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summary: Why are girls so scary?
Tags: Linen

Shaking his head and pushing his hair back a little, Tobias gave a little grin. "Not as many as I'd have liked to when I was at my old school, but they got the wrong impression. I did the whole fashion thing, which was already a strike against me because it made a lot of people think that I was gay, and I used to end up playing confidante a lot with some girls, which put me squarely in the friends zone, which is a dangerous mire there."

The leather on his gloved hands stretched a little bit, the noise irritating but better than the alternative of feeling all of the maddening textures of the cloth he was transforming. "No is hard to hear, really hard, but if you think about it, you've always got a fifty fifty chance of hearing yes instead, and it's worth it to be a little bit forward. If you've ever watched one of those tawdry reunion shows that they have on, well, I forget the channel, but they show people that all graduated in the same high school class ten or twenty years ago. Oli, Oli Stone, she was watching it, and I know her from an old school, so she roped me into watching with her." Clearing his throat, he realized that he was getting a little off track. "Anyway, my point is, there were always people on there that said that they wished so and so would have asked them out, talked about their unrequited crushes and such. The way I've always seen it, it's better to make an attempt and get shot down than to have something like that bubbling between your ears for the next two decades."

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Summary: Yes, Tobias watched High School Reunion with Poltergeist
Tags: Ekron

Calyx nodded in agreement. "I guess your right. I'd hate to have regrets when we are all stars on 'high school reunion: superhero edition.' Thanks for the advice." He watched the other boy work for a moment. It was pretty interesting to watch how his powers operated.    

"So what was it like being rich? Both of my parents worked, so it's not like I was ever worried about money or anything, but that's a lot different than being able to afford the types of schools Oli's parents sent her to."

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Summary: How does the other half live?
Tags: Linen 

"Well, just for the record, Oli's a lot richer than my family ever was or probably ever will be again. It's the difference between a couple million liquidity and enough money to buy stock in everything if you wanted." He'd never really had the question posed to him like that, and to be honest, it wasn't something that he'd really thought of that much, at least not like that. Having money, what he considered having money, was just something natural to him. What felt strange was knowing that he couldn't go out and buy a new pair of shoes, or a new cellphone.

"It's... very strange. There don't seem to be as many limitations on the world when you've got a lot of money, but when the money's gone, that's when things seem really desperate or bleak. Sometimes I get tense just thinking about the fact that I can't put something on a credit card anymore. For what it's worth, though, I'm not sure that it brings happiness. Maybe facilitates it a little." The topic was one that made him feel a little ashamed, to be honest, but he did his best to hide the fact.

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Summary: Tobias tries to explain something difficult
Tags: Ekron
OOC: I don't know how a rich person lives! Never been one! But I play one on the Internets

"I think it's really true that the love of money, not wealth itself, is the root of all evil. Afterall there are loads of bibical characters that were rewarded financially - Jacob, David, Job after his trial." He listed them off on his fingers. "Maybe if I'm good enough I can get some Solomon-level wealth, right? But until then living on a budget isn't so bad."

"So when do you think you'll ask Grace out?" Calyx was still very interested in how Tobias was going to do it, and steered the conversation away from the other boys change of fortunes and towards girls once more. He wanted to glean as much as he could on the subject.

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Summary: Calyx talks riches
Tags: Linen

His hand touched a spool of black thread as he closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating on the fabric that he was changing as he transformed it to a forest green colored satin for the lining of the jacket and the vest that he'd be making underneath for Calyx's suit. "When will I ask her out? Probably pretty soon at this point, to be honest." He was surprised to find out that he wasn't as bothered as he thought he'd be talking about his family's fortunes, and he laughed just a little bit.

"I guess it's that whole thing where you have to strike while the iron is hot, right?" The mere gift of the tickets made Tobias think that he could give her something that would make for a fantastic date, and he was feeling more confident as well. "I'd been having some trouble getting up the nerve to ask her, but the tickets, well, they make a big difference. Thank you man."

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Summary: Toby's both grateful and feeling optimistic for a change
Tags: Calyx

"You're welcome, again." He let himself feel good about helping Tobias out. "So is it best to have a date in mind when you ask someone out? Like, have it all prepared. Or would that be too presumptuous? Would it be better to just ask her, and then see what she would like to do?" He was still anxious about the topic, but felt comfortable discussing it with Tobias.

"I've contacted one of the public schools Drama departments. I'm going go be competing in their Shakespeare Monologue Competition. It's the only way I can qualify to perform at the regional level. Would that be a good thing to invite a girl to - I'd be able to sit with her except when I performed - or would it be showing off too much?"

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Summary: Calyx asks some more girl advice and shares some future plans.
Tags: Linen
OOC: Yeah, I know I took forever.

Listening to what Calyx had to say as he started to touch one of his bobbins and began doing the stitching on the suit that he was working on, Tobias's face was impassive. "I don't really think it's showing off too much, but that's kind of more of a friends thing than an actual date. For starters, how much time is it going to afford you actually getting to know her? It's not like you can really have a very in depth conversation with a girl while people are onstage talking, and unless she's a very special girl, Shakespeare isn't liable to get you many kisses."

Both of the arms were already starting to come together on the suit, and he held a finger down on one of the buttons he was working on as the stitching more or less did itself. "The best thing to do is come up with two or three good ideas before you ask her out, and then make concrete plans afterwards. One of the biggest things you want to keep in mind is that unless she's got a very strong personality, you want to call the shots. Women like guys who're in control of the situation. Now come here." Holding the suit up to Calyx as he held a needle in his teeth, he then moved the jacket down and said, taking the needle out, "You should wear this at your competition. You'll probably get some telephone numbers just for being in it."

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Summary: Tobias gives more advice, makes sure the suit's going well
Tags: Calyx
OOC: No worries because there's no hurries

Internally he took a little offense at the comment about The Bard. He thought it was romantic! But that was far outweighed by his gratitude he felt over the dating advice.

"So, like, what are some things you've done for dates? Were you really get a chance to talk?"

It was exciting watching the jacket come together so quickly, especially since he knew it was for him. "A full suit might be too much. But this jacket by itself is already pretty impressive."

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Summary: Needing some ideas
Tags: Linen