Teenage Satellites (OPEN)

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"Really? I kind of expected more of a reaction to the whole 'doomsday prophecy thing,' but if you're priorities are---" the next comment had Lorelei pausing midsentence (which was pretty standard for a Lorelei conversation, really). "You're interested in vampires?" Lorelei raised her brows. "Yet you didn't know that we had anyone at the school like that? I mean, there's a history at this school with vampires and stuff. There were at least...' Lorelei started counting on her hand, "three? Two for sure, but I think there was this brief time where they had one that was this scary chick."

Lorelei kept considering Aiden, listening to the music still thrumming in her ear. Would it earn her, like, friendship points if she told Aiden more information? But why was Aiden interested in information unless...

Lorelei's eyes grew big.

"You're interested in vampires---"

They grew bigger.

She twisted in her seat, digging around for a notebook. "I didn't even think about--" she grinned, leaning forward toward Aiden, earbud forgotten. "So, you're intereesssssted. In vampires. As in, say," she rolled a finger, "a particular vampire offspring?" Because if it was one thing Lorelei was totally into: it was shipping people she knew mostly from spying.

[Aiden Mumble]

Heck. She was reading into it. She was smarter than Aiden was giving her credit for. It did seem really odd that Aiden wouldn't know about Costin if she really gave two craps about vampires. Although, most people weren't as obsessed as Lorelei, perhaps Aiden had played up her interest too much to convince her that she wouldn't have looked into this herself. Still, Lorelei continued and gave Aiden hope that she'd get some useful information yet. What was it like to have Costin as a child? Did Lorelei have any of those journals she could share? That would be endlessly entertaining and a lovely bunch of blackmail.

"Right and two of them were the parents, right?" Aiden encouraged, hoping she'd tell her about them. Instead, things took a nightmarish turn.

No.

Wait!

This is not what Aiden was going for at all! Lorelei leaned in and Aiden pulled away, disgusted by the idea. "Oh my God" she began, shocked and feeling sick. Aiden didn't know what to say, speechless by the very idea that Costin and her....ugh. But then she she really thought about it.Was she just gonna give up on this? If she pushed the idea away, Lorelei would probably shut down. How much did she really dislike Costin? Was it worth all this. Maybe. It was at least worth swallowing her vomit and trying.

"You got me" She said, her jaw stiff. An uncomfortable smile on her face.

"Just trying to..." Aiden lost her voice and swallowed hard. "Just trying to learn more about him." She said, trying to look shy and innocent. It was an effort. Whether it was convincing or not was questionable.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei might have continued talking about Costin's parents. Actually, she could talk about them at length, including several fanfictions that may or may not have been written about them. They were space-faring vampire lovers, and Lorelei was a rabid fangirl; she probably a notebook just dedicated to stories of their space flying adventures and passionate embraces.

It seemed like she'd nailed the whole liking someone thing, which Lorelei was definitely grooving on now. She'd figured out people! And without having to take extensive notes and doing extra research! Go her! Lorelei just barely refrained from patting herself on the back.

"Well, I mostly know, like, history and backstory and some interrelations and maybe potential abilities based on cross-referencing various mythos with his current situation, so, like, if you're looking for stuff on whether he likes you or not, I'm not sure that I can even really give that," offered Lorelei. She was tempted to add that as far as Lorelei knew, most of the dudes here had things for other dudes. That might have been Lorelei projecting her own personal desires onto reality though; she did that. A lot.

[Aiden Mumble]

Aiden's smile was turning into a pained grimace by the time Lorelei finally spoke again. Was this really worth it? She had to keep asking herself. She wasn't quite sure she hated Costin that much, and yet, she'd taken it this far. Was there really any turning back after this point. Honestly, Lorelei seemed to delighted by the idea that Aiden wasn't sure she could convince her it wasn't true even if she wanted to. Oh, she wanted to, but Lorelei still might have something she could use. If she could just hold this smile...

"History and backstory are good!" Aiden said a little too eagerly. There was some dirt there, Aiden knew it. "I mean" she tried to regain her composer. "He...won't tell me about his past and..." she sigh, this was taking a lot of effort. She tried to play it off as something similar to love sickness. She just couldn't go on. It was too much. Gosh darn she just...she just loves that...that Costin. Aiden swallowed hard again. Hoping her glassy eyes appeared as something other than holding back vomit.

"Or..." She'd gone this far, she might as well just go for it. "Or maybe, anything about his friends." She said, her voice uncharacteristically small. There was some real emotion here mingled in with the fake, but she refused to acknowledged it. "So I can ask them some questions too." Aiden justified. Hinrik and Costin had been friends. Why Aiden never understood. Except, perhaps, that they were both stubborn and persistent in entirely different ways.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

History and backstory? "I'm not sure I would know anything that you don't already know," Lorelei pointed out. The girl was giving out those lovelorn sighs and stuff. That had Lorelei chewing her lips. She just had to help these two lovebirds out, right? A romance between a half-penguin mermaid princess and the adopted son of gay vampire space pirates? It was just begging to happen! Oh, and Lorelei could be the chipper sidekick/comic relief!


"Friends? Does he actually have those? I mean, I've heard rumors and stuff. Like, there's this... dark lord kid? Like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, except everybody just says his name. Also there's, well, I think there was this viking or something? He's super mysterious, and, like, they say he vanished to go fight off some killer monsters and is holding on to a trinket from a lost love that's supposed to protect him from all harm and maybe help him someday find his way home. But y'know," Lorelei shrugged, "that's just him. There's, uh, well, I think..." Lorelei's brow crinkled. "Costin's probably super lonely and really just wants to be loved. He's got that dark, mysterious loner thing. Oh! Maybe we could arrange it so that he has to save your life from an evil... like, wizard or something?"

Could Lorelei do evil wizard? She had seen her... wait, what was Morgana to her in the family tree? Cousin? Aunt? Adopted grandma? Man, sometimes the Camelot tree confused even an expert like Lorelei.

[Aiden Mumble]

Aiden was serious now, trying not to look like her heart was pounding in her chest. Did Lorelei know anything about Hinrik that she didn't? She hoped she wasn't just going to get a bunch of crap about his parents. Not that she didn't like his parents or anything....actually she only knew that vikings were involved. Was it really that important? Aiden didn't think so. Their offspring was who she was looking for information on. These were long odds she was fighting against, but Aiden didn't have many options. She could ask someone that knew her and they'd make some terrible comment about how she must miss him if she was asking about him. That was out. Not to mention just about the only person that knew both of them was Costin and that was never going to happen. Or she could try and write him, but there was no guarantee he would get the letter and, besides, she was never going to take a step like that. As far as Hinrik knew she could very well hate him. She'd certainly never said anything otherwise. Anyway, why should she?! It wasn't like she had feelings or anything, anyhow!

Lorelei made a comment about not being sure if Costin had friends and Aiden started to laugh before she could stop herself. She quickly started coughing and giving Lorelei an apologetic glance. Hopefully that was enough, Lorelei seemed eager to think they were in love. She Did continue speaking, at least. The first guy she didn't know, but he sounded vaguely like the description the office gave her about her new housemate. Unimportant.

Viking! That's the one she was looking for. Her heart raced. she felt like she was in some hazy hyper reality, listening to what Lorelei had to say. She couldn't quite comprehend them. She had to keep repeating the words in her head until they made sense. They never quite did. A lost love? Aiden, knowing Hinrik, was inclined to think Lorelei was talking about her. However, Aiden's cynical heart told her it could be someone else. Hinrik could have someone back home in either England or off where he was fighting that this story referred to. Home couldn't mean this school.

Aiden's eyes were far away, trying to work this all out. She barely heard Lorelei continue. "Mmmm" Aiden hummed a distracted agreement that Costin was lonely. What exactly did Hinrik mean by going off and fighting? It seemed pointless to Aiden. Ugh, why was she obsessing over this anyway? This was stupid. She was stupid. She had better things to worry about...and yet...

"Yeah..." she continued, when Lorelei spoke of a plan. "Yeah good idea." She said, her thoughts still miles away.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei must have reached Aiden with her little spiel or something, judging by the slightly far away look the other girl got in her eye. There was definitely something there, at any rate. Maybe she was thinking about how lonely Costin must be and how her arms would be a salve for that loneliness. Actually, that was quite a good line, and Lorelei made a mental note to add it to her notes at a later time.

"exactly. Y'know, I could totally help with that too. That way you wouldn't have to worry too much about it actually being something that would end your life. You'd probably have to catch Costin's attention a little bit first, unless you're pretty sure that he already knows you exist. Like, maybe accidentally trip in front of him or catch his eye during class. Something like that. Then, we can, I dunno, hit you with a carriage or---oh, there are those horseless ones, right? We could set something up like that. Or maybe convince him that a spell backfired and the only thing that will fix it is a kiss..."

Lorelei dug into her bags now, searching for her notebook. She know she had loads of ideas on how to get something like this set up. Meet-cutes were about a third of writing good fanfiction, after all.

[Aiden Mumble]

Aiden didn't return from her fog until Lorelei mentioned something about ending her life. Whoa whoa, what had she been agreeing to? Aiden tried to think back to what she'd been hearing just beyond the world she was living in inside her head. Something about....no it was gone. Whatever lead up to this moment, Aiden couldn't be sure. She should probably pay a bit more attention before this girl gets anymore crazy ideas.

"Yeah" Aiden laughed "I'm pretty sure Costin knows I exist." referring to the fact that their only meeting had resulted in some nasty words being passed back and forth. "A carriage?" Aiden stopped laughing. Aiden looked confused, then shocked when she realized she was suggesting getting hit by a car over this fake affair. This needed to end right here. "Whoa-" Aiden began, pushing the air in front of her away with her palms. She was trying to keep Lorelei's crazy all on her side of the room. "A kiss!?" Aiden added, the idea so absurd she almost laughed again.

"Listen, thanks for the offer and all.." Aiden was trying to think how she could let her down gently. She didn't need to use her and then rub salt in the wound. "But I don't think this is a great idea." she decided. She thought maybe she should add "also I hate Costin and never in a million years want to date him," but that seemed like overkill.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Ah, at least they had somewhere to start. Lorelei was already nodding, even as she kept rooting around to try and find some more ideas. Movement caught her attention, and her head all but snapped up, seeing Aiden sort of recoiling away (not an abnormal reaction to her, sadly).

"Okay, so that might be jumping--" she began, very nearly talking over Aiden. Lorelei shut up for a few seconds, hearing Aiden. Now it was Lorelei's turn to giggle, adding some eyerolling. "oh, c'mon, that's just the nerves talking! Look at you! You're a glorious definitely not penguin mermaid princess! He'll be thrilled at your attention. If you don't want to start with, like, kissing, we could maybe set it up so that he has catch you. Oh!" Lorelei had her notebook out, and it flopped to a page. "We could try tripping you into his arms! That way, he'll probably catch you because, hello, vampire reflexes. But you won't feel any pressure to do any lip motion until you're good and ready!"

Lorelei tapped her notebook, before flipping to another page. "I'm liking that idea... I suppose we could go for, like, you two trying to find the same library book or something, but I'm not positive Costin's much of a reader. I bet he likes fancy food. Maybe we could arrange for you both to have a reservation for the same table... he'd be all like, locked in because manners and you'd be able to talk to him all you wanted...' Lorelei looked up, leaning closer to Aiden (which if you're keeping track, means that Lorelei's about a half-wiggle from Aiden's lap). "Are you looking more for physical contact or, like, the opportunity to mind meld? Though we could try for both..."

[Aiden Mumble]

What kind of human being even was this girl? She had to be some sort of crazy alien. That would explain the utter lack of knowledge beyond her freaky research. I mean, yeah she'd already basically told Aiden of her parentage, but the way she was talking was well enough to cast doubt on it.

Aiden was staring at her again before she knew it. That same utterly confused, stupid stare that Lorelei kept bringing out in her. She always said so many shocking things that Aiden couldn't follow or react to them fast enough. Aiden felt her stomach tightening with each knew syllable of Lorelei's plan to get her and Costin together. What had she been thinking?! This was definitely not worth it. Even she didn't hate Costin this much. Or, maybe, it was just that she didn't hate herself enough to keep imagining herself having to kiss him. UGH. Disgusting. She had to get out of here.

"Nice, cool" Aiden said, shoving her phone and headphones back in her bag. "cool, yeah, ummmmm" She rambled awkwardly, starting to stand up. "I'm just not thinking now's the right time, ya know" she said in a voice much higher pitched than her own. She stood up fully and began to back away. "But, you know, thanks anyway" She said as she exited the building as quickly as she could without running. All she could do is hope she never ran into Lorelei again.