Chance Encounter /Tigan

[SEBASTIAN JOHN KINSLEY]

His shoes crunched against the small rocks that paved the path throughout the garden. In his hand was his cell phone, clenched tightly as it continued to vibrate noiselessly. Words of encouragement and apologies were being sent to him and he found it irritating. His sister didn't understand what was happening to him, she thought he could be normal. But he couldn't be normal, not anymore. There was something new about him, something dark and evil, and he was never going to be rid of it.

Finally, his phone stopped. Sebastian stared down at it, pressing the home button so the screen would light up. Staring up at him were seventeen text messages he had no intention of reading tonight. Makyah's was on top and he felt his jaw clenched as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. No one understood him. And the frustrating part was he didn't even understand himself.

Seb continued walking through the gardens, pretending to be interested in the hedge work and the flowers that were still blooming in the August heat. Honestly he was lost in thought had wasn't paying attention to anything, let alone the color of the flower he just bent to smell. Not that he needed to, he could smell it from yards away as if it was under his nose, but he wanted to keep up appearances. Wanted to at least appear normal to those around him.

Granted it was late, way past curfew and he was wandering the gardens. The only place where people didn't really hang out to begin with. At this point he was just putting on a show for himself. With a sigh Sebastian continued his walk, once he was tired enough, he'd go back up to the school and try to sneak back into his dorm room. He probably wouldn't sleep, but at least he'd be too tired to think.

A soft breeze picked up and brushed against his cold skin. He turned the corner past a group of hedges and stopped in his tracks. There was a circle of benches here, low to the ground so anyone sitting on them couldn't be seen over the hedges. Across from him was a dark figure, he couldn't quite make out, but he wasn't sure if it was a teacher or a student. Not wanting to make himself known he edged around the outside of the circle, rocks crunching below his feet as he went, before stopping at a bench a few over from the figure and sitting down.

His plan to get around outside the school undetected was probably ruined by his chance encounter with the only other person up at this ungodly hour. He scowled, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring down at the offending rocks. He sat on the bench not saying a word. He was determined to keep quiet and hope that the other person there would forget he had happened upon their spot.

TAG TIGAN CORRY THORNBURG WORDS 495 NOTES Hopefully this is good!

[TIGAN CORRY THORNBURG]

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The first day at a new school. Sometimes fun, sometimes scary, sometimes stressful. For Tigan it was none of the above. She had been terrified the whole time. She was never good at meeting new people and today had been a record for her. Her old school was filled with only girls. This one was a mash up of both girls and boys. The other thing that she was terrified of. Talking to boys or even having to be seen by them. But the one thing that she is terrified of the most is having to talk in front of a group of people and she had to do it at the beginning of every class today. Not only did she not want to have to talk in front of a group of people, but she didn't even want to be at the school to begin with.

She was finally in her room at the end of her day sitting on her bed replaying her day in her head. All the people, all the new things to see and all the fear that she had had. The only thing that she liked, but that also terrified her, was that she could see that a lot of the other kids were different like her. But that just meant that what ever was wrong with her was never going to go away. Which is what she was hoping for when she found out that she was going to have to come to this school in the first place. The fear of never being normal, the fear of knowing she was going to have to talk in front of people again the next day, the fear of knowing that eventually she was going to have to talk to a boy, it was all getting to be to much. Her hands where starting to shake and go invisible. She glanced down and saw her bag of stuff on the floor next to the bed.

She picked up the bag and placed it on her legs, she threw it open and saw her favorite book on the top of the bag of stuff. She grabbed it and a light pink, well use to be light pink before it faded, sweater and headed out the door. She threw on the sweater over her white blouse and black shirt and finished turning invisible, which was perfect timing cause she had to sneak past a teacher just to get outside. Once outside and away from the school she could feel her power fading a little which meant she was calming down again. She didn't know where she was going to go, till she remembered a garden like area from the tour of the school earlier that day. She headed that way.

Once in the garden she felt like going farther than before into it, that way she was farther from people. She finally saw a group of benches in the distance. Her feet slightly crunched from the gravel path under her feet. Once she was about a few feet from the benches she thought she had heard a noise so she stopped and looked around. But she didn't see anyone so she continued to the bench. She sat down and started to read from a book about the most romantic story that had ever been told. She opened it up from the last place that she had stopped. But it wasn't long before her thoughts had invaded her reading and she slammed the book shut. 'Why do I have to be such a freak. I would never have had to come here if I was just normal.' She thought to herself, unaware that when she had slammed the book shut that her twilight saga book mark had fallen to the ground.

[SEBASTIAN JOHN KINSLEY]

Sebastian sat on the stone bench for awhile, his glare at the rocks slowly subsiding until he was just sitting peacefully and enjoying the quiet. He took in the night sky above him and the soft breeze that seemed to tickle at his nose every few minutes. His skin was probably cold, but it was and will forever be cold, and he didn't fear getting sick as his body was now something that couldn't be bothered with such inconsequential things. He sighed, waiting for his body to get up and move his lazy ass back to his dorm when he heard a book slam shut and the very soft whooshing of paper falling.

Glancing up he noticed that the figure he'd spotted before was a girl, more than likely a student from her frame and she seemed a bit frustrated. He moved his eyes to the ground and noticed the book mark lying there. Generally he wouldn't bother himself with it, but tonight he was feeling lonely and even though he didn't want to talk with his sister or his friends, he didn't see anything wrong with talking to a complete stranger. Strangers couldn't feel sorry for him nor would they try to understand what he was going through. They'd just see him as a normal, awkward teenager with insomnia and really pale skin. Which was also really cold skin, which might freak them out if they ever touched him, but Sebs was not one for touching.

He leaned forwards on the bench, his feet crunching into the rocks slightly as he tried to get her attention with his waving hand. "U-Um, you dropped your, uhm, thing..." He glanced down at the object on the ground, he wasn't entirely sure what it was, and he was also speaking at the level of a mouse. Which meant even if she saw his waving hand she wouldn't be able to hear a damn word that came out of his mouth. He groaned lightly, so much work. Rolling his eyes and forcing himself to get up off his butt, he leaned forwards and used the momentum to get things started. Stretching his arms up above his head he moved slowly over towards the girl, making sure to crunch the rocks so as not to completely catch her off guard. Bending down he picked up the piece of paper and stared at it. He wasn't sure what the heck it was for, but it looked interesting.

He cleared his throat, staring at the book mark and then up at the girl. "Excuse me, you dropped this." He was standing back a couple of inches from her, Sebastian didn't want to tower over her too much. He reached out his arm, holding the bookmark at the end of his fingers so she wouldn't have to stretch much to reach it. "Heh, looks interesting." He felt a wave of embarrassment crash over him. He had never been good with girls, and he was more than certain he'd be cursed to always be awkward around every girl ever for the rest of his life.

"W-What are you reading?" Sebastian had never been a book person himself. He was more video games and movies, things he didn't have to really use his brain for but could still enjoy. Now he was just trying to start a conversation with someone he met in a dark, empty garden. Oh yeah, this wasn't completely creepy at all. At least they had some lighting from a few lanterns, but still, it was like a scene out of a horribly bad thriller. Question was, who here was the victim?

TAG TIGAN CORRY THORNBURG WORDS 606

[TIGAN CORRY THORNBURG]

Tigan took a breath to calm herself, to calm her thoughts. She picked up her book to continue but heard someone move around her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw someone bend over and pick up her bookmark off the ground. With it being so dark she couldn't tell if it was a girl or guy, adult or kid. Until he moved into the dim glow of the lamps that surrounded the group of benches that she was sitting on. The moment that she saw that he was a young guy she became nervous and scared at the same time triggering her power. Only her hands disappeared for a second. In the dark of the night he probably couldn't have seen it. 'What is this guy doing out here in the dark?' She thought as she slowly reached out and took the bookmark from his out reached hand after her hands went back to normal. "T-thank you." She then looked down, opened her book and put the bookmark into it while realizing that he had said something else.

She felt her cheeks blossom with color and heat as she looked down at the book in her lap that he had just asked about. "O-oh. Um... Twilight." She said then looked back up at him. She couldn't figure out for the life of her why he would stick around and ask her about her book. No one else had ever stuck around to talk to her. Especially not a cute guy like him. At the orphanage the other girls only ever made fun of her except for one girl who looked like she was more scared of everyone than her. "Have you read it?" She asked him in a small voice, still being scared but knowing that he was trying to have a conversation with her. She was fighting against her instincts to run away and hide.

She was hoping in the back of her mind that he would roll his eyes at her and turn around and walk away. But she was certain that he wasn't. "I like it. It's a good book." She said in a voice that was almost normal but still sort of whispered. Tigan was so nervous, her hands started to shake so she moved the book off her lap and on the bench next to her then held her hands together so that he wouldn't notice. If it went well this would be her first official conversation with a boy. She wanted it to go well. Who knows maybe she could even make her first friend at a new school. She looked up again at his face, knowing from watching other people talk to boys that this was customary. But when she looked at him while he was in the light something was different about him. His skin looked paler than normal. She thought maybe it was just because it was dark out and didn't make a big deal out of it. She then sat patiently waiting for him to answer.

[SEBASTIAN JOHN KINSLEY]

Sebastian felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him. He had never been good with talking to girls when he was alive, and now being dead, he still wasn't that great. He was sure that if he could still blush there would be red painting his cheeks right now. However, seeing as he couldn't get his blood to rush anywhere he remained the same pale, awkward kid he always was. She took the book mark from his hand and for a few seconds he kept it hovered there, too nervous to know what else to do with it before it fell back to his side and he slipped it into his jacket pocket. He hovered there for a moment unsure of what to do or what to say, thankfully she spoke first and it helped to stop his mounting anxiety.

"Uh, n-no. Sorry, I haven't. I don't really read stuff... Except maybe comic books." He forced a laugh, trying to help break the ice and ended up coughing instead. He reached his hands up to cover his mouth with his sleeves, his body taking a step back as he tried to clear his throat. "Sorry." Sebastian offered her a wry smile, the kind he offered girls when he didn't know what else to do with himself. He wasn't even sure if she could see him clearly. It was dark here and the lamps weren't that great, then again she was reading under them so maybe she was used to dim lighting.

He on the other hand was starting to grow into his ability to see in the dark. Right now he was having issues really focusing on anything aside from shapes and movements in the dark, but he could tell that she was a girl and had darker hair. She was actually quite pretty when she moved into the light and he could see her more clearly. He had always been more of a blonde haired, big boobed kind of guy, but he was a teenager and what male teenager didn't like Pamela Anderson look a likes?

"S-So what's it about? Twilight you said, right?" Sebastian decided not to move any closer to her, he didn't feel like freaking her out any more than what she might already be. He kept still a foot or so away from where she sat and waited patiently for her to answer. He'd heard about Twilight before, from his sister who gushed over it for a few months before he tuned her out completely. Something about vampires and dogs and... Something else. He didn't care too much, he wasn't into romance or or supernatural books. He liked to play games and kill things, and sometimes read about superheros.

TAG TIGAN CORRY THORNBURG WORDS four five four

[TIGAN CORRY THORNBURG]

When he answered he sounded more nervous then even she was. This made her feel a little more comfortable. She had never meet a guy who was nervous to talk to a girl before. Then again she didn't have that much practice talking to guys at all. She sort of smirked when he said that he had never read it. She sort of knew that it was mostly a girl kind of book. "Oh well it's a good book. Mostly about love and friends and death and supernatural creatures. But mainly about love." She said looking down at the ground for a second in thought about him saying he reads comic books. She didn't really know much about superheroes other than from tv. But at the orphanage they didn't let them watch tv much. "Oh...I've never read comics before. But I've heard of Superman." She said realizing that she probably sounded lame. Superman was one of the most well known superhero characters. But she was a girl after all, a girl from an orphanage.

Her cheeks turned pink from embarrassment and she looked at the ground trying to not see the confusion from her answer that she thought he would show on his face. Tigan thought maybe changing the subject would keep him from replying about her lame answer. "So what brings you out here so late?" She asked him hoping that she wasn't prying to much. Then she realized that this might make him ask her the same thing. Would she really want to have to talk about her own issues. But it was to late to not ask. Her issues that brought her out there that night came flooding back into her mind and she got nervous and scared again and felt her power come back with revenge. With in five seconds she had gone invisible from her hands to her toes. After about thirty seconds she was back to normal.

She was so embarrassed that she got up quickly, leaving her book behind, and found a tree to hide behind and started crying. She was so embarrassed and ashamed. She was hoping desperately that he would just go back to the school and leave her to die from embarrassment. But she also hoped that he was romantic and would come over and make her feel better. Or at least be a friend and come over and give her her book back. she was so embarrassed that she couldn't walk back out there and get her book herself.

[SEBASTIAN JOHN KINSLEY]

He glanced down at the ground when she did. It was odd dealing with someone who had the same kind of nerves he did. Usually Sebastian felt like a black sheep because he couldn't just go up to people and talk to them like they were best friends. Makyah had that gift, she was warm and friendly and everyone loved her. Sebastian was just, well, awkward. He had always been the one to shy away from interacting with people, hiding in his room and playing video games while every one just made fun of him behind his back. He never minded though, he had his online friends, and he had Mak and Eve, his sisters were everything to him. When they weren't bugging the crap out of him.

He listened to her explanation of the book and felt himself smirk. "Oh, that's definitely not something I'd read." He thought for a moment before realizing how he sounded and flushed again. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like a jerk, I'm just not a romance kind of guy. R-Reading that is. Reading romance isn't my thing." Sebs was starting to feel more and more like an idiot and decided that shutting up was his best option at this point. He offered her a warm smile when she mentioned Superman and was going to comment on it when he realized he hadn't introduced himself to her and he had no idea what her name was. How rude. Is what he imagined Makyah would say to him if she ever found out about this.

But before he had a chance to say anything to her she seemed to seize up and for a moment he was pretty sure the bottom half of her body just disappeared from sight. "Whoa, what..." And just like that she was whole again and didn't seem too happy about what had just happened. She ran away from him so fast that Sebs didn't have time to think about what to say before she was gone. He reached a hand up to the back of his head and scratched at his scalp, noticing that she had left her book behind.

Sebastian hesitated for a moment, unsure of what he should do in this situation. A part of him told him to just leave the book and go back to his dorm and try to get some sleep. And another part of him, the part of him that used to be him before the transition told him to try and return the book to her. He bit at his lower lip, uncertainty flooding through him as he debated with what his heart and brain were telling him. Finally he decided that he should try and find her. The grounds this late at night weren't necessarily the safest. Look at him, a vampire just walking around in the dark, who knew what else was wandering around out here.

Leaning over he picked up the book and glanced off into the distance. He couldn't see her from where he was standing so he did what he assumed any vampire would do and sniffed the cover of the book. It had a strange smell aside from the paper and ink. Something like flowers and dirt, probably from the gardens, and then fresh soap, water and something sweet he couldn't really identify. It was weird, but he felt like after sniffing the cover he could see a trail of smells that lead to a tree not too far off. With the book in hand he walked slowly over to the tree, not wanting to scare her any more than what she already seemed to be.

"U-Uh. Are you okay?" He was still ashamed that he hadn't asked her name yet, and after a few moments he tried again. "My name's S-Sebastian. You can call me Seb or Sebbers, if you'd like. You, uh, you left your book over there, and, well, I guess..." He was mentally ready to beat himself up as he tried to talk to her... Well, the tree really, he didn't want to just come around to her side and cause her to freak out and run again. "That was kind of cool what you did back there... What's your name?

TAG TIGAN CORRY THORNBURG WORDS seven ten

[TIGAN CORRY THORNBURG]

Standing behind the tree quietly weeping, Tigan wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it felt like it took him forever to come over to her. By the time he was on the other side of the tree trying to comfort her she had decided to sit on the ground with her back leaning against the tree, her head against her knees and her arms around her legs. When he first spoke she lifted her head an inch and listened. He seemed like he wanted to comfort her but didn't know exactly how to do so. When he said what she did was cool, Tigan rolled her eyes and smirked. 'Cool. It's not cool.' She thought to herself as she continued listening. Then he asked her, her name. He was taking the effort to try and make her feel better so she figured she should at least try and talk to him some more. Who knows, maybe it will go better this time.

She stood up slowly, then walked to the side of the tree he was on, and gave him a small smile. She wiped the tears from her eyes and took a small breath. "M-my name is Tigan. It's nice to meet you Sebastian. Thank you for bringing me my book." She said to him slowly reaching for her book and then taking it back. She then wrapped her arms around it for comfort then looked at the ground for a second. "M-my powers not cool. I hate it. It's embarrassing. I wish I could get rid of it. I haven't been here but a day, but I've noticed that almost everyone here can do something. So what can you do?" She asked him wondering again why it was that he was out there that late at night. It happened almost immediately after she asked him this. A huge gust of wind kicked up and blew her hair in front of her face. It made her cold for a second, so she grabbed on to her arms out of instinct. It was also creepy that the wind would decide to pick up right after asking him this question. It was like the universe didn't want her to know anything about him.

Tigan slowly moved her hair from her face leaving one piece of hair on her face in an awkward position that she didn't know it was in. This brought the question into her head. 'How did he figure out where I was anyways. I thought that I wasn't making any noise. Do I cry loudly or something?' She thought to herself while looking around herself in curiousity about the odd weather, then realizing that it was really dark here. 'And how did he see in this darkness anyways?' She thought while waiting for his answer.

TAG SEBASTIAN JOHN KINGSLY WORDS four eighty three

[SEBASTIAN JOHN KINSLEY]

Sebastian didn't know how to handle tears. He didn't know how to handle a lot of situations, but a crying girl usually ends with himself in tears as well. He felt awkward and a little guilty that he couldn't help her not to cry, if he was a more emotional kind of guy he might have wiped her tears away. As it was he was just standing there awkwardly averting his eyes until she was more composed. He didn't even have a handkerchief or anything on him to offer her, but he smiled softly to show Tigan that it was okay. He wasn't one to judge anyone, especially with his own set of issues that nearly drove him to tears half the time.

"Heh, let's just say I wish I could get rid of my powers too." He felt nervous, not many people knew what happened to him. Makyah was the only one who knew he was a vampire, and his closest friends could only guess as to why he was so moody and unresponsive lately. He remember for the first time in awhile that he had misses calls and texts on his phone. But that didn't seem so important now, he glanced over at Tigan and offered her another small smile.

"I guess to the person who has the power, it doesn't seem that great. But to other people it's kind of cool." He could smell the salt from her tears and it held his attention for a moment. Even though he'd been cursed for a year he didn't know everything that he could do or what kind of powers he truly possessed. Inside he still felt like the geeky teen he'd always been, outside though, he knew he was different and didn't know how to handle it fully. He watched her move her hair behind her ears and focused on the strand that stayed behind.

His fingers twitched, he had the urge to fix it for her but knew it'd be awkward for him to just randomly touch her face. Instead he moved his hands back into his jacket pockets and took a step to the left, glancing around the dark trees and bushes. He could see much more than he was supposed to and he found it kind of awesome. "Do you normally come out here to read this late? It's kind of spooky out here." He chuckled softly, turning his attention back to Tigan and taking a step backs towards the benches.

TAG TIGAN CORRY THORNBURG WORDS four one six

[TIGAN CORRY THORNBURG]

Tigan noticed while she was cleaning the tears from her face he didn't even try and help her out. 'He definitely not romantic. I'll have to remember that.' She thought to herself as she finished moving her hair out of her face. 'Maybe there are no romantic guys. Maybe romantic guys only exist in romance books.' She thought while he answered her question about his power. She raised only one eyebrow up as she tried to figure out what he meant by that. Then what he said next helped her to understand better. This made her smile greatly.

"All day long I've been asking people if they liked their power or if they knew anyone that hated their power and everyone said that they loved their power. Your the first one to feel the same as me." She said smiling bigger now as she walked closer to him as he backed towards the benches. "How come you hate your power? It can't be as bad as mine." She asked him wondering what kind of power could be as bad as hers. Then she had to stop and think for a second about the question that he asked her. 'Does he mean this specific place or just out at night in the dark in general?' She asked herself thinking of the right thing to say.

"Well since this is my first day here I would have to say no I don't usually come out here and read. But yes I do usually try and find a secluded and dark place to read. It reminds me of the orphanage back home. Either I would crawl under my covers and read or find a closet or someplace outside to read. If I didn't I would never get left alone." She said to him feeling herself become more open and calm and herself with him. Maybe it had to do with him hating his powers like she did, maybe it was just that he was shy like her, or maybe she just liked him. She stepped closer to him, any closer and she would be almost on top of him. Again the wind blew some hair in her face and she got all but that one strand out of her face again.

TAG SEBASTIAN JOHN KINSLEY WORDS three nine two

[SEBASTIAN JOHN KINSLEY]

There had been times in Sebastian's life when he would have given anything to have some sort of super power. The ability to fly had crossed his mind once or twice, or to be able to run super fast to get to class on time when he over slept. He'd even thought of a few unique abilities, one where everything around him would go black save for the thing he was searching for. Which would have made finding thing in his messy room all that much easier. But earning powers because of a vampire's bite had never crossed his mind. And now that he could hear and smell and see incredibly well, and had the speed and the flight that he had dreamed of, he could honestly say he'd give it all up to be normal again.

He gave Tigan a sad smile as she spoke, his eyes glancing at her face before falling to the rocks below his feet. "I guess there are a few of us out there that hate our gifts. But honestly, going invisible seems like a way cooler talent than anything I can do. I mean, I can't really do much aside from, uh, smell really well." He felt himself blush a little at his words. Of all the things he could do, smelling things a hundred yards away was definitely not the coolest thing. But giving too much of himself away to her would make her another person who wanted to feel pity towards him, to baby him. And Seb liked being able to talk to someone who didn't know what he was and wasn't either scared or overly compassionate to him.

His mind wandered a bit as she spoke of her reading habits and the orphanage she grew up in. Seb had been lucky enough to have a home and a family, even if his parents were rarely around and didn't care for his sister and him as much as they should have. He noticed that she was stepping closer to him, he felt his skin start to tingle the closer she got. The smell of her shampoo and the pumping of her heart filled his senses and he felt himself become a bit dizzy. "I, uh... Never really had that problem. I pretty much locked myself up in my room for most of my life." His chuckle was nervous, he felt a cold sweat bead on his forehead and wondered if that was normal for a vampire or if he was just imagining it.

She was nearly on top of him now, but fear and confusion kept his feet locked in place. Another breeze washed over them and he watched the strands of hair fly across her face and that last strand stick to her skin. This time he didn't fight the urge to move it as adamantly as before. And without even realizing it he reached his hand up and brushed the strands away, his fingers lingering on her skin a moment longer than they should have. With a sudden realization he dropped his hand and froze, his eyes going wide. "S-Sorry. I shouldn't have..."

TAG TIGAN CORRY THORNBURG WORDS five two four