[hr]                                                                                           [b][i]ELIGIUS PLAUTIUS[/i][/b]                                   [i]Star City; Corrigan School for [/i][right][indent][i]Advanced Learning and Development[/i][/indent][/right][hr][center]Collaboration with [@Blue Demon][/center]

The alien calmed down a little more, but was still panic-stricken and alarmed by all the costumes. He didn’t understand what these things were, or where they all came from. The day before he’d identified the group as simply human.

“[color=DBC96D]<What are these creatures? W-why are they here?>[/color]” He stammered in Latin, trying to simply focus on the person in front of him; to block out all the other things. Said person was holding onto his arms. Her hazel eyes peered into his as if she was trying to peer into his soul.

“[color=C0C0C0]<They aren’t creatures. Well…>[/color]” The girl trailed off with a shrug, still speaking in Latin. “[color=C0C0C0]<They’re not usually like that. Considering you’re an alien, we’re all aliens. Yeah, they’re aliens. But most look like normal people?>[/color]” The last was added as if she wasn’t sure. Either she wasn’t sure they looked like normal people. Or if they were even people.

“[color=DBC96D]<Aliens that look like people… but that’s what Domini are. A-are they Domini?>[/color]” He was calming down now, focusing only on the girl. His brain was still riddled with confusion, however. “[color=DBC96D]<And why don’t they usually look like this?>[/color]”

The white haired girl made a face. In her mind, if Sam was a mind reader, she was thinking that she had just opened a whole can of worms. Or that she had put her foot into it this time. Had this been what her mother had felt like when she had first tried to explain things to Aunt Kara? But Sam wasn’t a mind reader, so all he got was the face.

“[color=C0C0C0]<Look, it’s complicated. Let’s start at the beginning, yeah?>[/color]” The girl smiled. “[color=C0C0C0]<I’m Mailsi. And you are...?>[/color]”

“[color=DBC96D]<Mailsi…>[/color]” The word rolled off his tongue effortlessly as he made a mental note of the name in his mind. “[color=DBC96D]<I’m Eligius Plautius.>[/color]” He clenched his teeth, before adding. “[color=DBC96D]<Sam.>[/color]”

Mailsi tilted her head to the side and looked Sam over. “[color=C0C0C0]<Sam’s very different than Eligius Plautius.>[/color]” She pointed out. 

“[color=DBC96D]<It’s my human name. I learned it as I was growing up. In the fireball.>[/color]” He pointed towards the faint remnants of the event that transpired yesterday, just visible through the window. Corrigan were incredibly good at cleaning up messes, it seemed, as there only remained a fairly large patch of ground with not a single bit of grass on it, only mud and faint scorch marks.

There was a slow blink from the girl as Sam looked over at the crater he had made. The silence was accented by the conversations taking place around them. “[color=C0C0C0]<Well,>[/color]” Mailsi said after a long while. “[color=C0C0C0]<Guess I was wrong about how complicated…>[/color]” She trailed off, her already murmuring voice becoming silence.

She let out a huff of breath and finally let Eligius go. “[color=C0C0C0]<Why Sam?>[/color]” She continued on, almost as if the earlier statement wasn’t meant for Eligius to hear. “[color=C0C0C0]<Why not Eligius Platius? And why the face of disgust? Don’t like the name Sam?>[/color]”

He decided not to ask about her previous questioning of his human name, and rather focus on the ones he was entirely sure were meant for him to hear.

“[color=DBC96D]<I don’t know. I guess my father wanted me to fit in more. And I make that face whenever I’m frustrated. In this case, I’m frustrated that I keep forgetting to introduce myself with my human name.>[/color]” He tried to hide his frustration at the fact Mailsi picked up on his previous frustration, though being alive for only a day proved a terrible burden. That only made him more frustrated. “[color=DBC96D]<Earlier, several people raised their hands towards me, as if I were a member of the High Council. So, I try and remember to use only my human name. However, it’s not working as well as I’d hoped.>[/color]”

“[color=C0C0C0]<Human names aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.>[/color]” The girl winked at him. “[color=C0C0C0]<If you’re Eligius, you’re Eligius. Don’t let anyone take that away from you. Not even your dad.>[/color]” A small, tight smile appeared on her face. It wasn’t a happy smile, but echoed of an old pain. 

“[color=DBC96D]<Thank you.>[/color]” Sam smiled in return, though intrigued by the slight sadness he saw in her face. His entire attention was now drawn only to Mailsi, and he’d forgotten all about the creatures that were populating the general area. His fear simply melted away, and if it were a physical object, it would’ve pooled at his feet and disappeared into the air. That was, until, the sound of something impacting against the glass drew his attention. There was a boy, dressed in strange blue & green pyjamas, with a cap of the same colour slotted on his head. The Domini noticed that there were tufts of light green hair sticking out at the bottom. He waved in a peculiar fashion, muttering a faint hello, before swiftly running off.

This caused Sam’s eyes to follow the green-haired boy as he ran off, and notice all the other creatures once again. A wave of terror came over his face, before conflicting in an ugly fashion as he tried to calm himself.

Eligius, caught in his terror, missed Mailsi’s look of amusement and recognition of the new kid. The alien also missed her small wave as the figure retreated back into the crowd of people. He also missed Mailsi turning her attention back to him, and her amusement fade away.

“[color=C0C0C0]<Oi!>[/color]” Mailsi said, trying to catch Eligius’ attention. “[color=C0C0C0]<Eligius,>[/color]” Mailsi repeated his name a second time. “[color=C0C0C0]<Eligius. It’s okay right? You’re okay.>[/color]” 

“[color=DBC96D]<B-but what are they all? Why are they here?>[/color]” He tried to focus on her again, in case his panicking caused a crowd of them to gather around him. All he wanted is for them to all go away; to disappear into nothingness. But they relentlessly stayed - living embodiments of Sam’s fear.

“[color=C0C0C0]<Deep breath, yeah?>[/color]” The white haired girl smiled. “[color=C0C0C0]<Remember when I said they were human under the costumes? Yeah? Well, that’s all it is. Dress up, make pretend.>[/color]” Mailsi stepped backwards and did a little twirl. “[color=C0C0C0]<Even I’m doing it too.>[/color]” 

The girl stepped back up to Eligius and laid a hand on his shoulder. “[color=C0C0C0]<You said you learned about human culture yeah? Did you learn about Halloween?>[/color]” 

He did as Mailsi told him, breathing deeply.

 [color=DBC96D][i]They’re just humans in costumes. Dress up. Make pretend.[/i][/color] Sam repeated in his mind constantly, like his own personal mantra, focusing simply on Mailsi. “[color=DBC96D]<No, I didn’t. Is this why they’re dress upping?>[/color]” He hoped that’s what they called it.

“[color=C0C0C0]<Yup.>[/color]” Mailsi beamed brightly at Eligius. “[color=C0C0C0]<It’s a special occasion that happens once a year. We don’t do this every day.>[/color]” Mailsi winked as she said the next part. “[color=C0C0C0]<I promise.>[/color]” Then the girl frowned at Eligius and looked him over.

“[color=C0C0C0]<Gonna panic again?>[/color]” She added after the inspection. 

“[color=DBC96D]<No, I think I’m fine now. Though I honestly don’t understand why you feel a need to dress up in these ‘costumes’ like this. What’s wrong with the pyjamas you have?>[/color]” He gestured to the garments that Corrigan had provided him. “[color=DBC96D]<And what’s sleeping?>[/color]”

Mailsi looked blankly at Eligius for a heartbeat before she burst out laughing. Her laugh wasn’t a quiet affair, but loud and boisterous. When she finally caught her breath tears were coming out of her eyes. 

“[color=C0C0C0]<My Lord.>[/color]” The teen chuckled again. “[color=C0C0C0]<Costumes are different than sleepwear. Which you are wearing.>[/color]” She tugged on Eligius’ sleeve of his pajamas. “[color=C0C0C0]<We only wear these to sleep in. The rest of the time we wear studier clothes.>[/color]”

Sam retained a raised eyebrow though all of Mailsi’s laughter, and when she spoke afterwards. It eventually dropped, and his brow creased into a frown.

“[color=DBC96D]<But what [i]is[/i] sleeping? And why do you wear different ‘clothes’ for different things? Why not the same garments for every activity?>[/color]” His face briefly became deep in thought.

“[color=C0C0C0]<Because they’d get dirty, silly.>[/color]” Mailsi shook her head, still obviously amused. “[color=C0C0C0]<I don’t mind explaining, but I’m hungry yeah? Are you?>[/color]”

Sam’s face was now 100 shades of confused, but he nodded nonetheless. Nothing could be as bad as Halloween, could it?

“[color=C0C0C0]<Great.>[/color]” Mailsi beamed as if Eligius had hung the sun in the sky. Without much ado the girl grabbed a hold on Eligius’s arm again and pulled him after her, as if he would get lost without her. Which might possibly be true. “[color=C0C0C0]<What sort of food do you like? And that was Casey earlier, he’s a sweetie, don’t tell him I told you. Then again,>[/color]” The girl paused, looking thoughtful. “[color=C0C0C0]<Nevermind, just don’t.>[/color]” She winked before she continued speaking without giving him any chances to respond. 

“[color=C0C0C0]<Anyways, Casey’ll help explain things too.>[/color]” Mailsi apparently had plans to rope Eligius into who knows what. “[color=C0C0C0]<He was the guy you saw earlier.>[/color]” 

The girl’s head swivelled as she looked back and forth, trying to spot the person she was looking for.

“[color=DBC96D]<By the way… what’s food?>[/color]” He stared quizzically at the array of what one could only presume were meats, and some orange things he’d never seen before. There was actually a lot of other colourful items, in both bright and dark colours.

The human girl stopped abruptly and turned to face Eligius. Her eyes were wide, as if she had seen something particularly surprising. For a few seconds the only sounds that escaped her lips were a series of sputters. However once she closed her eyes and took a deep breath she actually managed proper words.

“[color=C0C0C0]<You, you.>[/color]” Mailsi attempted before tossing her head. “[color=C0C0C0]<Is this my life?>[/color]” Mailsi continued in Gaelic. She might have still been looking at Eligius, but it was apparent she was now speaking to herself when she changed the language she was speaking. 

“[color=DBC96D]<Um… hello?>[/color]” He recalled the phrase Casey had spoken before. “[color=DBC96D]<I-I [i]think[/i] this is your life, Mailsi.>[/color]” Sam spoke, understanding what the girl had said, regardless of her language change.

Mailsi continued to stare at Eligius as he spoke. “[color=C0C0C0]<You understand Gaelic?>[/color]” She asked him in Gaelic, completely ignoring that he had continued to speak in Latin. 

He nodded, before adding in Gaelic, “[color=DBC96D]<I speak it, too. Same for all languages. What about you? What languages do you speak?>[/color]”

Mailsi waited a few seconds before responding still in Gaelic. She could have been counting, but her next words belied that. “[color=C0C0C0]<All of them. From bird song to alien languages. If I hear it, I can speak it.>[/color]” The white haired girl shook her head in what Sam could only deduce was amazement. “[color=C0C0C0]<That’s so freakin’ awesome!>[/color]” She smacked her free hand into Eligius’s free arm before turning back around and tugging him along behind her. 

Sam was surprised by the sudden action, but followed nonetheless. “[color=DBC96D]<I-I still don’t know what food is, Mailsi!>[/color]”

“[color=C0C0C0]<And that is why I’m not going to tell you, I’m going to show you.>[/color]” Mailsi tossed the words back over her shoulder. “[color=C0C0C0]<Trust me, you are in for a treat.>[/color]” Something made the girl laugh as she finished speaking.

“[color=DBC96D]<Is it big? Does it smell? Why are you laughing?>[/color]” Eligius’ confusion was only multiplied as the girl cheerily led him along.

As if sensing his confusion and not truly caring she just shrugged and offered, “[color=C0C0C0]<Depends really. And I made a pun. He who thinks of it last and all that.>[/color]” She finally came to a stop and elbowed another person who was staring out of the way.

“[color=C0C0C0]<Food.>[/color]” She proudly proclaimed as if it was all her doing. “[color=C0C0C0]<I like omelettes.>[/color]” Without asking she snagged a plate, what must have been an omelette and a pronged utensil and passed it to Eligius with an expectant look on her face.

He stared down at the omelette, then at the pronged silver item in his hand. “[color=DBC96D]<You want me to [i]kill[/i] it?>[/color]” He looked at it from all possible angles. “[color=DBC96D]<What is it even made of? Where’s its heart?>[/color]”

Mailsi snorted. “[color=C0C0C0]<Eat it. It’s kind of already dead. Just try it, stop thinking so much.>[/color]” She still looked expectant.

Sam looked around anxiously, before noticing the costumed humans were doing what he could only presume was eating. Looking back at the omelette, he carefully rolled it up with the silver item, before stabbing it in the centre and raising it to his mouth, before clamping his teeth around it. A piece of it came off instantly, and he repeated the motion of his teeth moving up and down, before swallowing.

A great plethora of… he didn’t know what to call them, but whatever they were, a great plethora of them overcame him. His mouth, throat and stomach felt amazing. He advanced on the omelette, repeating the clamping of his teeth, the mechanical movement of his jaw, and the swallowing of its delicious contents. He closed his eyes and smiled with contentment.

Eligius would never know how much he had impressed Mailsi as he scarfed the omelette down with nary a breath. He practically swallowed it whole! Still, the girl laughed as he sighed.

“[color=C0C0C0]<See, wasn’t so bad was it?>[/color]” Mailsi laughed again. “[color=C0C0C0]<Though it’s usually proper to take smaller bites and not inhale your food.>[/color]” 

The girl then busied herself fetching an omelette of her own and grabbing one of the orange circles before she pointed further down the line. “[color=C0C0C0]<Want some orange juice? It’s tasty too.>[/color]”

“[color=DBC96D]<YES!>[/color]” He yelled, much to the surprise of the students near him, before speeding off down the line to roughly the area where Mailsi had pointed. [color=DBC96D]“Orange juice! Where’s orange juice?”[/color] He asked a random student in English. The poor student, unsure, pointed at the juice machine. Satisfied with the student’s response, Eligius practically attacked the machine, throwing all the orange coloured things he could find at it. He then glared daggers at the same random student, noticing that he was holding a cylinder containing orange liquid. [color=DBC96D]“Give me it.”[/color] Sam almost growled.

“[color=C0C0C0]<Hold it!>[/color]” Mailsi interrupted as Eligius nearly lunged, and mauled the bystander. “[color=C0C0C0]<Stop.>[/color]” She added in a commanding tone. She was frowning, though the image was slightly ruined by the fact she was holding a plate.

“[color=C0C0C0]<We do not accost people!>[/color]” Mailsi grabbed his pyjamas once more and pulled him away from the student. 

“[color=C0C0C0]<This is a drink machine. See the word orange juice? You take a cup, put it under and push the button. You do not grab drinks from random people.>[/color]” Mailsi demonstrated, then passed the cup to Eligius before getting her own. He took the cup eagerly, sipping the juice and feeling the same great feeling from before come over him.

When Mailsi seemed sure that Sam wasn’t going to go into another animalistic fit of rage, she nodded her head. “[color=C0C0C0]<Now, I’m going to eat my food like a normal person. I saw Casey over there.>[/color]” She tilted her chin, indicating a direction. “[color=C0C0C0]<If you feel like you can behave yourself, we’ll go on over.>[/color]”

Eligius had finished slurping down his juice, and set the cup down on a random table, garnering some distasteful looks from the student sat there. He simply glared at them, which managed to stop them. “[color=DBC96D]<Let’s go,>[/color]” He said, and Mailsi grabbed his arm and pulled them both over to Casey.