(2016-04-28) Aliens and Mermaids
Aliens and Mermaids
Summary: Oliver and Anna have a chat
Date: 2016.04.28
Related: Alien Day, Alien Day Two
NPCs: NA
Scene Runner: Oliver
Players:
oliver..annaliesa..

Annaliesa and Felicia Dorm

Detention has ended and students are doing what they usually do in the evenings. Instead of working on homework (maybe he finished in detention?), Oliver steps into the Ares Dorm Hub once again. This time, however, he passes by Grayson's and Derek's dorm room and knocks on Felicia's and Annaliesa's door. He's still in his school uniform, not having had the chance to change yet.

It's a room that is for girls, that much is obvious by first look, there's a closet that may be partially opened and is filled with an array of clothes, mostly in Annaliesa's size. Seems she may be something of a clotheshorse. At the moment, she has music playing from an MP3 player from a small set of speakers, and she's laying on her bed, on her stomach doing homework, wearing fuzzy pajama bottoms and a tank top, her feet are bare and her hair is pulled back in twin braids, each one spilling over a shoulder. The knock on the door catches her attention from the spiral notebook and text book on the bed in front of her (The prominent colors on her side of the room are pink and white) and she looks up, "Come in!" she calls over, not sure who is there.

Oliver pushes open the door and peeks in, "Oh, good! You're here!" And maybe Felicia isn't? That seems to be ok. He seemed to really be looking for Anna. "Can I come in?" He looks like human Oliver now…and pretty much has since they got back.

There's a wary look on her face when Oliver proves to be the one on the other side of the door. Annaliesa sits up and scoots her books aside to sit cross legged on the bed. "Felicia isn't here." Just in case he was looking for her. Still, he was Oliver, she motions him in, "Sure, you can come in. Have a seat." There's a chair in there, don't ask where it came from, maybe the main dorm room, but it's thick and plush and decorated with fuzzy pink and lime green throw pillows. "Is something wrong?"

"Actually, I came to talk to you," Oliver admits, moving to the chair. There's an amused sort of smile at its decor, but he doesn't seem to mind sitting with pink and lime fuzzy. He settles himself and clears his throat before glancing at the chair, "This is really nice! Where did you get it?" And he knows he's stalling. There's another shift in the chair before he lets out a breath, "I wanted to apologize for the other night. For freaking you out. I…was freaked out too, but I know you were and we were joking around some and…I'm sorry. I guess I should ask 'Is everything ok?'"

"It came from in there," Annaliesa tells him, motioning towards the main room, where the couches were. "We moved it in the other night," she grins. "I don't think anyone has missed it so far, but we're just borrowing it for now." She bends her knees, resting her chin on her knees as she wraps her arms around her legs. "I don't even know what happened. I mean, not really. You looked.." Well he knows how he looked. "What was that? And do you have your powers back now? I was worried about you.."

Oliver glances out towards the main room before looking back. "Huh. I may need to 'borrow' one from my hallway. Although not sure Max will want it there…" he doesn't have a lot of stuff so maybe he can keep it on his side. He tucks his own feet up to the chair and sits, cross-legged, on the chair. "I'm not entirely sure what happened either. We're…looking into it, but it's possible that…" he gives another sigh as this isn't the easiest thing for him to say, "I may not be human. The thing I found is being researched…my powers are back, yeah. But I can still…drop my power entirely and go all purple again."

All thoughts of extra furniture are forgotten when he starts talking about that thing, the box or whatever it was. "What do you mean?!" Her voice squeaks a little at the end. "You mean you may be.. that may be the real you? That purple.. But.." Annaliesa shakes her head, then her eyes widen as realization hits. "You mean you, Oliver, the way you look now, is just someone else's body that you're imitating? Like how you can look like others?"

Oliver lifts a hand to scratch at his nose, "Maybe. I'm trying to talk Max into nullifying me so we can see." Oddly enough, it's never happened before. As for his current form being something he imitated, he shrugs, "Maybe? I mean, if it was, it was something a long time ago since I pretty much was this," he gestures to himself, "For most of my life. Except that year I was a girl."

It was a lot to take in and Annaliesa doesn't look settled about it at all. She remains sitting there though, listening, questioning. "Max can do that sort of thing? Wait, does that mean you won't have your powers for a bit and you'll be.. whatever you were born with?" She smiles at the last part. "Sometimes it's no fun being a teenage girl. I wouldn't recommend it." Crinkling her nose, trying to be funny, but she still looks concerned. "Well whatever you are, just.. don't change who you are, you know what I mean? Like, inside."

"I was about ten when I did it. I knew I could shift then and part of it was to see what it was like and part of it was to get back at…well, it's not really important," Oliver waves that off. "I don't know how long Max's power would last with that, so that's one thing I need to talk to him about. I don't want to be stuck for too long, you know? I still have to work on the weekend." His knees come up and he wraps his arms around them, in a tucked position, on the chair, "I don't plan on changing who I am inside. I'm…me. No matter what I look like and that's important to me that I stay that way. And that people like me for who I am inside and not on the outside." He tries a smile, "That's why I don't care if I end up turning into a mer-maid-…it's just all me, no matter what."

There's a brief pause before he adds, "But I can't promise that I won't look like Ariel if I can help it."

Annaliesa doesn't ask, even if she wants to, so she instead focuses on the rest of what he says. "You won't be acting different if you're not a human anymore? But then you couldn't leave this island until you looked different again. That wouldn't be good." Falling silent, she ponders the mermaid thing and gives a concerned look. "Thing is, I don't have gills or anything when I'm a mermaid. I do have magic though, it's how I do some things. My powers. Just because you would change to look like me wouldn't make you have my powers. What if you couldn't breathe under water?" It's what's been worrying her most.

"Well, I guess I act different if I'm an animal, but…that form was humanoid? I haven't really turned into a humanoid before…except that one time I apparently turned into an elf when I had the Glitter Flu." There -was- that. "I still acted like me, you can ask Felicia." She was there.

He still stays tucked up, "That's why I need to see how long Max's thing lasts. If it's too long, we'll have to figure something else out to see, I guess." As she changes the subject to mermaids, he thinks a moment at her question before shrugging, "Well, I can still swim around…and if it gets too much, I can turn into a dolphin or an otter or something I know."

"It's been too cold for me to be anything other than what I am in this form, until recently. Cold.. it disables me. If I am like this, I can't be a mermaid. If I'm a mermaid I can't be like this again." Annaliesa tilts her head, she's openly curious as to his reasoning, "Why do you want to be a mermaid so much anyway? If you're already confessing to be able to change to an animal that can swim, why a mermaid?" She doesn't ask about the glitter flu incident, but she may ask Felicia when she sees her next.

Oliver nods, "I get it. I do. It's why I don't wear cotton. I can't shift out of the form I'm in when I put it on." The question though, gets a smile, "Because you don't see mermaids every day. To most of us, they're fantasy creatures…they're out of stories and Disney movies. And if I can become one, even though it's a mythological form, maybe one day I can become an elf or a unicorn or a dragon or something too!"

"I hear there's a fairy here, with real wings too." Annaliesa grins, she had briefly met the girl, "Brenna something or other, from Ireland." She remains seated in the exact position Oliver is in. "I bet there are dragons too, maybe ask the fairy. Who knew fae were even real?" She quickly sobers, "Who knew mermaids were real.. and aliens were real." Back to herself though, she gives a hesitant smile. "I have to think about it, because someone looking like me sort of represents me, you know?"

"What?" Oliver straightens, his eyes wide, "Really? Oh, my god, I have to meet her too! I want to become a fairy!" How many 16 year old boys are willing to say that? He relaxes some, "Well, I sort of always figured aliens were real. It was just a matter of time. I saw 'First Contact'." Ahem. When she mentions having to think about he, he adds, "I can probably shift to look like someone else pretty quickly once I first get the form. I mean, I can turn into different kinds of dogs and cats…and people, of course." He then thinks for a moment, "Maybe…even just seeing a real mermaid would let me turn into a -different- mermaid?" Like Ariel.

Annaliesa smiles at his excitement with the fairy thing, "I didn't know about aliens, I mean I wondered.." Letting her legs down, she hangs them off the edge of the bed, offering a partial explanation. "I guess.. just who I am, what I am, I always felt I was the only me, you know? But for someone to so easily duplicate me, it makes me not special anymore. If you could be a mermaid.. wait, how come you can't be like Ariel from seeing the movie? I think it would be good if you did look like someone else. Maybe even my mom or grandma since they are mermaids too. Or me, if you're willing to wait for it to be a little warmer."

"Ariel's a cartoon. Not a real person. It's like…I can become Elijah Wood as Frodo from 'Lord of the Rings', but I'm not -Frodo-, you know?" Oliver answers that first before he slides off of the chair and moves to sit next to Annaliesa on the bed if she lets him. "You don't have to necessarily believe me, but as I've shifted a lot, I guess I sort of feel like I know something about this. What you look like isn't who you -are-. Like you mentioned to me earlier, when were talking about the whole…alien…look. It's still -me-. Even if I'm all weird looking on the outside. Or if I look like this. Or look like a girl."

In fact, he shifts, right there, into a girl… Oliver looks like a girl, sounds like a girl, and for all intents and purposes, -is- a girl. "I'm still me…"

Annaliesa tries to wrap her mind around it, honestly, she does, she even gets the whole difference in person versus character a person plays. Somehow, she does believe him though and when he comes to sit beside her, she doesn't protest. She just lifts her eyes to look at him. So when he changes, when he becomes a girl, she jumps just a little, not expecting it. "You won't ever pretend to be me will you? I mean in either form?" She already knows the answer, but she has to ask it, and she bites her lip before reaching for his now more feminine hand. "Oliver," somehow it was simple to keep calling him that no matter how he looked or sounded. "I wonder.. in your quest to be so many things, do you ever lose track of yourself? Of who you were originally?"

Oliver winces a little as Anna jumps, "I'm sorry…" although maybe she meant to startle the other just a little. When her hand is taken, Oliver gives it a squeeze, "I won't shift into you unless you ever ask me to do so." She may enjoy playing pranks, but when she's asked so intently, it's not something to be taken lightly. A smile does start but it doesn't make it very far before she shifts some on the bed, "If I'm in a form for a long time, different thought-patterns start. Being a girl for a year when I was ten was the longest I was something different, but after only a few days, it didn't feel different. It felt pretty normal. I haven't been an animal for longer than…8 hours or so. I slept as a bobcat on the camping trip." And she seemed to be all right after that.

There's another sigh then, "As far as I knew, this -was- me. Originally. Until the other night. That might be the original."

"So you have forgotten who you were originally, if you were the.. you from the other night." Annaliesa gives an encouraging smile. "Sometimes I wonder who I am, the person or the mermaid, but I love being both, I love being around other people on the land and then I love being under the sea. It's just so.. peaceful down there. I guess you already know that though, since you can be a dolphin." Finally releasing Oliver's hand, she nods just a little. "When it's warmer, I will show you me as a mermaid. I'll trust you."

Oliver shrugs, "Well, I mean, I was a baby…and I grew up. I didn't just…appear here," like some of the students who just seemed to manifest as teenagers. Weird. "So in a way, I've always been me." When her hand is let go, she clasps her two hands together before her and offers quietly, "There was really no one I could count on besides myself. I know I learned that early. Maybe that's why I don't think I'll ever lose who I am. Maybe it comes with the whole…shapeshifter schtick."

"When Max does his thing that he's going to do.. do you want me there with you? I figure the more friends you have around the better. I promise to try and not freak out next time." Annaliesa gives a tentative smile, but it fades with that new bit of information. "I don't know what it's like to not have my family to depend on. I mean, they even moved to town here because they knew I would be sad without them around. So until I am finished with school, and Vinny is too, they live in Shady Cove. I'm sorry you had to do it on your own."

"Sure, if you'd like. I mean, first we have to see if I can turn back and his nullification isn't permanent, but having friends there would be nice." Oliver gives another smile as she looks to Anna, still a girl. Maybe she's trying to prove a point? That it's still Ollie no matter what the face? The smile then turns a little wistful, "That must be nice. Having your family so close. I'm glad you have them so near." As for doing it on her own, she shrugs, "I didn't really know any different. I still don't. But…if it means that I know who I am, then I'm all right with it."

"Yeah, I mean after all that. I will be here if you need me to be." Annaliesa looks at her, at Oliver, the new face, the new voice still throwing her off, so she looks back towards the door, or Felicia's bed, or anywhere. "Maybe it is how you know so well who you are. You had to do it all by yourself. Well I'm glad you're here with all of us, that you don't have to be alone anymore."

Oliver breaks into a big smile and leans forward to give Annaliesa a hug if she'll let her. "Thank you…for being there and for being here…and for being awesome." Really, only in the last week or so has she really begun to feel that people may actually not up and leave her.

Annaliesa smiles and hugs her back, it's tentative at first, until she again convinces herself it's Oliver. "You're a great person Oliver, and you'll see, you've got a lot of friends here who would have your back in anything. Including like all of Ares."

"Thanks," and she might be tearing up a little at that. This is the second time this week that someone's said something like that to her…completely unprovoked! Pulling back, Oliver tries to smile back, "Well, I would hope at least most of Ares…even though I got three of you in Detention. And I'm dating one." She looks down at herself and gives a chuckle, "Although I don't think he'd like to see me like this." But she doesn't shift back. Not yet. It seems to be useful.

"You didn't get us into detention," Annaliesa doesn't mention the tearing up, leaving her that private moment, so she doesn't embarrass her or anything. "We had already skipped out to the mainland so we were already breaking the rules. It's not your fault." She laughs softly, "I remember when Grayson threw that snowball at you that I made. I'm glad you and him are happy." Hey, word got around.

Oliver had something in her eye. That's all. It's gone now. "Well, when you put it like that…" she won't feel so bad. Maybe. When Grayson is mentioned, she gives another smile, "He's…he's like a puppy that's been kicked and doesn't understand people being nice. So he barks. But…I don't think he bites. I think he's so convinced that he's going to hurt someone that he just stays away from people. Honestly, I'm surprised he let me in so easily, but he's really sweet."

"Either way, I am glad you're happy and that he is too." Annaliesa gives another look to her homework, a hateful look, before looking back at Oliver. "I guess I should finish this. The assignment is due tomorrow."

Oliver also glances at Anna's homework, "I did most of mine in detention, but I guess I should finish too." She gives another smile before she slides off of the bed. "Thanks. I'm glad you're not mad at me…or scared of me…or anything." She still hasn't switched back yet. Maybe she's forgotten? Maybe she wants to walk by Grayson's room and see if he notices? "See you tomorrow then. Good luck!"

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