Jewel sat at the dining table with a bottle of milk and a bowl of cereals for company. It was early in the morning, and she was already dressed - not like she was going anywhere, just because this being her second day at the Mansion, she was not yet comfortable with walking around in pj's.
She woke up at dawn and wandered around in the mansion for a good half an hour before finding the dining room, starving for some breakfast. And now she was sitting there all alone, resting her chin in her palms, thinking.
The whole experience was new to her. As a child, she was home schooled; as a teenager, she went to an elite private high school, because, according to her parents, she only deserved the best. And now here she was, a mutant, in a school for mutants, and she felt... peaceful. And curious.
She focused her thoughts, and her silver necklace sneaked down from her neck onto the table, the diamond pendant landing with a tiny noise. Jewel stared at it. Diamonds were stubborn; she could move and shape the silver around it - and she did - but couldn't even make the diamond flick.
But, after all, this is why she came to this school. So she focused. And concentrated. And stared. The silver started twirling around the diamond, taking on new shapes; the diamond stayed still. Jewel held her breath. She could sense every piece of precious metal and stone in the mansion, vaguely in the background, pulling on her senses. Focus. A silver spoon that somehow made its way into the kitchen drawer who knows how long ago, made a clicking sound. A long-lost half earring sneaked out from under the counter. The diamond did not move.
Jewel sighed and let out the breath she was holding. "Fine, you win." she frowned at the diamond.

Streak walked around the mansion. He was just about to grab some food before he went about his daily routine. Could he really call it a routine since it changed everyday depending on what he wanted to do that day. Either way he was heading towards the dining room. Was he going to eat an early breakfast or a late dinner? He guessed it all depended on how you looked at it. There weren't many people up this early in the morning and most of the students like to sleep in as long as they can. Therefore, didn't expect to find anyone eating in there. She was someone that he didn't know and she wasn't wearing pajamas. That was odd because no matter what the age people hardly ever came into the dining room for breakfast in normal clothes.

Streak wasn't exactly wearing usual clothes. He was wearing some baggy tan basketball shorts, and a regular t-shirt. Streak was bear foot so he didn't make much noise when he walked into the dining room. He walked in the room just in time to hear the new girl say something. He was fairly sure that it wasn't directed at him, but he wanted to know if it was. Either way her reaction could be funny. "I did? What'd I win?" Streak said smiling and sticking his head in the refrigerator. Streak pulled out an apple and washed it. He turned around and rumaged around for something to eat also.

Jewel looked up, surprised, and almost spilled the milk from her glass. "I wasn't... um." She stared at him until she realized it, and then she turned her attention to gathering up all the silver from the table and shaping her necklace back into its original form. With that done, she looked up at him again.
"You must be Shawn. Shin told me about you yesterday..."

Streak sat down at the table next to her. “Well I hope he said good things.” He said joking around a little. “Ya I’m Shawn. Shin hasn’t told me anything about you.” He started eating the food that he’d brought over “Ya must be new. What’s your name?” He asked. She seemed nice enough and there breakfast, or any other meal, always seemed like a good time to meet people. “So I saw you playin’ with yer necklace. Were ya just bored or what?” He wondered.

She smiled at him "Nice to meet you. My name is Lily, but my... most people call me Jewel. I just arrived yesterday..." she sipped her milk "I'm still getting used to this place. But I think I like it."
When he asked about the necklace, she blushed "I was practicing. My powers control precious metals and gemstones... I can sense them too, that's why I could tell you were the one Shin talked about." she looked down at her necklace with a frown "But I can't deal with diamonds yet. They are stubborn."

Lily huh? Cool. She just arrived yesterday. “Well that explains a lot. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Shin yet.” Streak said to her. It was apparent that she was nervous and shy about being here. She blushed when talking about her powers. “They’re nothing to be bashful about. Those sound pretty cool. I guess that means playing hide and seek is out of the question then.” Streak said to her joking around. He had no intention of playing hide and seek with her but he thought it was a witty comment.

“I think you’ll like it to. This place has got more jokers then you can shake a stick at. If ya like fun and excitement then you’re in the right place.” He paused thinking about what he’d just said. “Wow I sounded like an infomercial just then didn’t I?” he asked a little rhetorically and a little seriously. Thoughts of what she could really do, especially when he was using his powers, started to come to mind. It could be a really bad thing if she was mad at him or something. Streak stopped eating for a minute and covered one arm in the silver film. He then created a small line of silver on the table, which looked a little like silver string. Streak took his hand away from the thread and left it on the table. It was bright and shone like it was under some viewing lamps in a jewelry store. “There ya go. Something else you can practice with if ya want.” Streak said smiling. The silver slowly receded from his arm and back to where it rested. Streak was curious what, if anything, she was going to do with the strand. Streak would have liked a demonstration but he wasn’t going to push it.

She chuckled a bit at the hide-and-seek comment; now she looked more at ease. "I would find you from a mile away. Sorry, you wouldn't stand a chance."
The "infomercial" earned another smile "You did. But I'm so far out of my element here that I appreciate it... my parents always picked the best schools for me, you know. Except this one, this one kind of... got picked for me by someone else. And so far it looks good."
When he coated his arm in silver, and produced the string on the table, Jewel stared in awe. Her mutant senses were going crazy from this amount of precious metal so close. Her finger twitched around the glass of milk; she looked enchanted.
"That's... impressive." she muttered, blushing again "Um, sorry."
She kept staring at the string on the table. One of her hands left the glass and she moved her fingers carefully in the air. The sting sneaked closer to her and lifted on one end; now she looked like a magician charming a snake. Slowly, Jewel touched it with the tip of her finger; then she wove the silver around her fingers and her wrist.
"This is very... pure. Exquisite quality." she murmured to herself. The silver wove itself into a thin bracelet for a few second before she let it drop onto the table. She snapped out of her trance, and blushed deeper red.
"Sorry. Not really a combat skill, huh."

“Well that’s good to know. I’m glad I didn’t make myself look like a complete fool just then.” Streak said when he realized that she wasn’t so nervous anymore. He listened to her talk. So she was a rich girl then. That wasn’t always a bad thing. Lots of times they were some of the coolest to hang out with. Streak thought. Her little finger twitch didn’t go unnoticed. Although he didn’t bring it up he wondered what it was about. “Nah it’s cool.” Streak said. She obviously wasn’t used to being around other mutants. And there was no question that she’d never been around someone like him before.

Streak watched intently as the string that he’d placed on the table started to snake closer to Lily. It wasn’t anything spectacular…just…unusual. It was an interesting show and it looked like someone meeting a curious puppy and the puppy was sniffing her hand. Streak smiled. It was amusing and he was enjoying watching her. “Thanks.” Streak said feeling a little odd. He wasn’t uncomfortable but it just sounded like a weird comment. “Hey don’t be sorry. That was awesome. Not everyone here has a fighting power. Fighting’s not for everyone and not everyone can do something as cool as that.” He said. He didn’t want her to feel embarrassed about it. It was nothing to be ashamed of and he hoped he could convince her of that. As of right now she seemed to feel like she was doing something wrong, even if she wasn’t.

She smiled gratefully at him "Thank you. It means a lot, to hear that. And sorry if I'm being... awkward. Etiquette classes don't cover behavior in communities where everyone has some kind of special power."
She took a deep breath, and looked up at him with a playful smile "Let's try this again. Hi, Shawn, my name is Lily, I'm from New Orleans, and I have been here for a whole day. How about you?"

Streak smiled. She was taking things pretty nicely considering how weird the conversation had been so far. Oy. Etiquette classes. What could possibly be more boring than that. Streak thought. Lily then decided to try their little introduction again. He decided to play along. “Hi Lily nice to meet you. I’m from Texas and I’ve been living here about a year.” Streak said in reply to Lily. “So be straight with me. How boring is Etiquette class?” He wasn’t making fun of her but it sounded worse than watching grass grow.

"That is most definitely not a polite question, mister." she told him with a serious face, and arched her eyebrow.
After a few seconds, she finally smiled "Now that is how boring etiquette classes are."
She sipped her milk, and looked up at him curiously "So, we already saw what I can do with silver. But I'm wondering: what can you do with it?"

At first Streak thought she really was mad at him for asking, that is until she smiled. Streak smiled back. It was funny how believable she was. It was always hard to tell when rich girls were serious or not. Mainly because most were so good at being stuck up in the first place. “I’m sorry to hear that.” Streak answered.

“Well, remember what I did with my arm? I can do that with my entire body.” Streak felt that he owed her a demonstration because she’d voluntarily given him one. Streak continued in the same way as he did when he covered his arm. The silver slowly covered the arm closest to her. The silver continued down his side and covered his legs. Streak’s other arm started to become covered in silver. He left his head for last. Once the silver was completely covering his body the blades on his arms and back appeared. “Most people call me Streak. So if you hear them say Streak they mean me. It’s short for Silver Streak.” He explained to her. Streak retracted the blades and continued his demonstration. Streak placed his hands on the table, palms facing up.

Something silver started to grow from his hands. As this was happening he started to explain. “I can create basically anything out of the silver that’s in my body. That’s how I created the string.” Two knives, one in each hand, were fully formed in his hands. Streak laid one of the knives on the table and said, “They’re very strong and sharp. They can go through a lot of things. I can also make things that are bigger than this like staffs, shields, swords, and other things that ain’t used for fightin.” Streak took the remaining knife in his hand and set it between his hands. The blade receded so that it looked like it had gone back into his skin. Streak moved his hands around a little bit, trying to keep them together so that she couldn’t see what he was doing. When he was done he looked at her through his silver eyes and said, “And other stuff.” He repeated. With that Streak opened his hands and produced a silver rose. Streak smiled at her and held it out for her to take.

She watched the demonstration with curiosity, tilting her head like a bird. The smile was still playing on her lips "Silver Streak. Nice. So that's your... how do you say it... codename?"
She watched him cover himself with the silver skin, and raised her eyebrows at the blades and knives. "Impressive... I think I envy you right now. I can't produce the materials I work with" she touched the pendant on her necklace pensively as she blades disappeared "Have you ever had to use those? I mean, in... um, in a real fight?..."
The rose surprised her. She didn't expect that. She couldn't tell if it was because of the gesture itself, or the fact that is took great skill to create something like that. She admired it for long seconds, her cheeks taking on a deep crimson color, then reached out and took it from his hand.
"Wow. It takes a lot of talent to create something like this... um, I mean... thank you. It is really beautiful."

When Streak was done he retracted the silver. Once he looked like a human again he answered her question. "Ya I've used 'em more than once. I'm pretty good at it." he added. Streak wasn't sure if the last part was a little cocky or not but it was the truth. "Battles aren't fun though. lots of times they get ugly, and you wind up fighting for your life more than protecting whatever it was that you were fighting about in the first place." Streak's eyes glazed over as he remembered some of the past fights he'd been in. "It also really sucks to have to see someone, teammate, friend, enemy, whoever get injured or killed." No one he'd know had died in a fight; however, he'd killed enough and seen people killed plenty of times.

He shook his head gently coming out of his daze. Streak smiled as he watched her admire the rose. This time Streak even blushed a little. "Ya know for taking etiquette classes you sure seem to have trouble expressing yourself." he joked. "It's a lot to take in huh? Specially over breakfast." he hoped to change the subject from battles. Maybe he could turn it to something about her. If he said his lines right.

She listened to him as he talked about fighting. It was something she never experienced (and never wanted to, if she could help it). She let him stay silent for a while, deep in thoughts herself. Apparently she didn't like the idea of fighting in general. It has always frightened her.
She nodded at his question.
"You are right. Usually I don't have any problems with making conversation. It's not really about etiquette, though..." she turned the rose around between her fingers "I have known about my powers for years. I practiced a lot, and I used them. In secret, of course. I was a jeweler's apprentice for a while." she smiled a bit at the memory, then the smile disappeared when she remembered the rest of the story. She didn't tell that part though. Not now.
"My parents didn't expect any of that, but... this is how it turned out. But I never had company in... using my powers openly, you know? And now here I am with the best education you can get, I am a Southern lady" she smirked, and pressed her faint accent "The only problem is, that I... don't know, I expect some kind of code or etiquette to go with every... community, and I don't know this one yet. I don't know what I'm allowed to do, or... is it polite to ask someone about their powers, and I don't know when I'd offend someone with something I say. Plus I get lost in the mansion, and I am not comfortable having breakfast in pj's." she smirked again "And it is more annoying because in my old schools I was really good at this. And now I'm talking too much. And that is not polite..."