Mason Crawford & Casper Vaile
Mason bid farewell to PK as she hurried off. She was cerainly acting rather oddly, but how was he to know any different? Perhaps she always acted this way. In his heart, he knew there was something going on there... But she didn't seem like she wanted to share it, and so he simply allowed her to go about her business in private. Mason was a big fan of privacy.
He continued through the reception, trying his best to blend in and avoid any more interaction. He was an inherently social individual, there was no denying it... But he'd be damned if he could handle any more conversation today. It was simply exhausting; he'd almost lost count of how many new names and faces he'd committed to memory. It was a blessing that he was good at remembering them.
He rounded the corner at the top of the stairs and continued down the hall towards the dormitories; the route was already seeming familiar, which Mason interepreted as good sign. He couldn't wait to get into his room; hopefully Zachariah would still be out, and he'd be able to have some time to himself.
Or not, he noted, as he spotted Casper waiting outside his room. He smiled as they made eye-contact. Sure, he was tired. But Casper had saved his ass earlier on in the canteen, and for that Mason was grateful. "
How you doing, Casper?" he asked, his chirpiness not betraying his wavering enthusiasm for the day's interactions
"H-hello...Mason." If anything, Casper deserved a pat on the shoulder for the amount of social interaction he had managed today. He wanted to say 'endured' but it wasn't really that bad...well, except for one incident. "I'm...I'm okay." The boy nodded, looking down as he was rather unable to look people in the eyes for longer periods of time. Maybe his meeting with Greg had left him a bit...scarred, too. "H-how...how are you...?" The boy fiddled with his hands. "I...I wanted to..." He breathed. "C-check...check up on you..."
Casper looked visibly shaken.
Fuck, what is it with everyone today? Mason asked himself. He smiled when the boy said he'd wanted to check up on him, and chuckled a little. It was an ironic situation, considering that Mason was three years his senior and a good foot taller. "
You didn't have to do that," he said earnestly. "
But I'm glad to see you and I'm doing good."
He put his dorm key into the lock, twisting it as he spoke. "
Y'know, there are just people in this world who are assholes. But it's nothing we can't handle, eh?" he asked, encouraging Casper to loosen up a bit The kid was so... Anxious. He swung the door open gently. "
You wanna come in?" he asked.
"S-sure..." Casper nodded as Mason invited him in. If he had come this far, the boy could as well just keep on going. He was doing well, he was communicating and
hanging out, in lack of better words. This was going well...wasn't it? "Th-there are..." Casper sighed as her answered Mason's statement. There were indeed assholes in this world and all one could do was deal with it, right?
Stepping into Mason's room, Casper felt a bit out of place but stood in the middle of the room and looked at Mason, waiting for further 'intstructions'.
Mason emptied his pockets onto his bedside table, a packet of cigarettes, his lighter, and a now-crumpled piece of paper that Chess had given to him. He placed it so that his drawings and notes were face-down, with Abbey's number facing up. "
The rooms here are pretty sweet, right?" Mason asked, making casual conversation. "
I haven't even started unpacking," he said. "
I should probably start..."
As he spoke, he unzipped one item of his luggage and withdrew his toiletry bag; toothbrush, deodorant, skincare lotions... That kind of thing. "
I'll do it tomorrow," he said, laughing at his procrastination.
"I unpacked in my room..." Casper responded casually, his hands placed together as he watched Mason walking around his room, putting things away. There seemed to be some papers, some cigarettes and so on. Something was written on one of the papers, numbers. Casper wasn't about to read it, but he saw a little when Mason took it up. It was after all none of his business.
"
As long as my essentials are where they need to be, I'm good." Mason reasoned, walking over to the bathroom and pulling the handle. He looked at Casper quizzically. "
It's locked..."
"Locked...?" Casper tilted his head slightly as he turned towards the bathroom door. "Didn't you uhm...have a roommate?"
"
Yeah..." Mason said, confused. "
Switch?" he called through the door. "
Zach, buddy? Are you in there?" There was no response. Mason shot Casper a puzzled glance, then pressed his ear to the door. He could hear breathing; long, deep breaths. He banged on the door. "
Zach? Zach, are you OK?"
He turned to Casper, looking worried. "
Dude's in there." he said, banging on the door again. "
Zach?" he called one final time. "
What should we do?" he asked. "
I have a bad feeling about this."
Casper couldn't quite say that he knew how private Zach liked to be in the bathroom...it's rather odd to hear your roommate banging on the door and freaking out. Zach could just be sleeping in the bathtub or whatever. "Uhm..." The boy scratched the back of his head lightly. "Maybe he's...uhm...busy...?" Casper looked down, knowing that he probably sounded stupid. "If it's nothing and...we break down the door...that uhm...that's bad..." Not only will they have damaged school property, but they might see Zach butt-naked in the shower. Neither was something Casper wanted to be part of.
"
If he's OK, why isn't he replying?" Mason asked. "
We didn't even know he was in there, he hasn't made a sound since we came in." he reasoned with Casper. "
I'm not saying we rip the door off... But if we ignore it and there's a problem... Isn't that our fault?" he asked. "
Besides, what if..." he dropped his voice to a whisper. "
What if it's not him?"
Mason had a point, if Zach was in there, he would probably have replied by now. He didn't seem like the most quiet of people and if he was listening to music in there, the banging on the door would at the very least have caught his attention. "Not...him...?" Why would there be an imposter in Mason's bathroom? This was getting a bit nuts but honestly, it was...'exciting' in a way. "Well...what do you want to do...? Is there a way to open the door without...breaking it...?"
Mason smiled wryly. "
Well, yeah," he said, matter-of-factly. "
The door is locked from the other side. So, we can just unlock it from inside." he said, purposely trying to confuse Casper. If he had to reveal his power to someone, he was gonna have fun with it. He strode over to the full length mirror by his bed, and turned over his shoulder to face Casper. "
Like so..."
Facing the mirror again, he raised both hands before it and breathed deeply. He focussed his mind, and after a few seconds placed his palms flat against the reflective surface. It rippled dramatically, as though Mason was dipping his hands in a pool of water. His hands slipped through the mirror, followed by the rest of his arms and then his body. The last thing Casper would have seen would be Mason's foot vanishing through the glass.
As would have been expected, Mason's words left Casper incredibly confused and unable to understand what it was the older boy was getting at. Of course, at this point Casper knew that almost everything people spoke about or mentioned that he didn't understand had something to do with their powers, this was probably one of those times. It was further proven to have been exactly so when Mason went as far as to literally step
through a mirror. "M-Mason...!" Casper took two quick steps forward towards the mirror placed he placed a hand upon its cold, reflective surface. Mason was gone and the only thing Casper was able to see was his own fragile image. "That was..." The boy stepped back, seeing his own confused expression upon the mirror's surface. "...cool..."
Mason hoisted his leg up through the mirror of the bathroom, sending various bottles of cologne and the like tumbling from the shelf below it. "
Fuck," he exclaimed, at both his own clumsiness and at the sight of Zach unconscious and fully clothed on the toilet. He pulled the rest of his body through into the bathroom and quickly hurried over to the door, unlocking it so that Casper could enter. "
I don't wanna move him..." he said, cautiously. "
Should we call for help?"
"H-how did you...?" Casper began as Mason opened the door but the worried expression on his face told Casper that whatever question the smaller boy had would have to wait. Soon after Mason's appearance, Casper could clearely see Zach unconcious on the toilet seat. "Oh..." Casper spoke quietly and approached him slowly. "M-maybe...?" Had something happened? Casper's eyes immediatly traveled to Zach's wrists, but they seemed undamaged, or rather, uncut. He hadn't done anything like that. Had he taken a bunch of meds? Casper quickly checked behind the mirror to see if there was anything in the medicine cabinet and there didn't seem to be anything present. Okay, that was good. There were no bottles anywhere, either. "I...I don't think he tried to...do anything bad..." Casper spoke, moving his eyes across Zach's body. "Should we...place him on the bed?" Either way, placing him on the bed would be better than having him in that uncomfotable position on a toilet seat.
Without waiting for Mason's approval or disapproval, Casper carefully placed one arm under Zach's legs and the other by his back, lifting him up and moved out of the bathroom. The boy would then gently place Zach on a bed and tilted him slightly to the side so that he didn't swallow his tongue. "Okay..." The boy nodded.
To Mason, the fact that the first thing Casper checked for were signs of suicide bothered him. It was too close to home and said a lot about Casper more than it did about Zach. Moving someone who was in some kind of ill state did not seem like a wise move to Mason, but who was he to boss Casper around? Mason knew very little about medical situations.
As it turned out, Casper seemed to know what he was doing. He lay down Zach carefully and did all sorts of checks, moving him into a position where he would be safe. Mason took a pamplet from his welcome package and whipped out his cellphone, hitting in the number for the medical wing.
"
Uh, hello?" he asked once his call was answered. "
I, uh... I think there's been an accident."
