Sticky Situation

[Emma McDougall]

The one day she decided not to wear her gloves was of course the day she had to have an 'outbreak' of her power. Most days she can go the whole day not secreting anything especially now that the winter cold kept her from sweating. She still had issues with her power no matter the heat, but sweating tended to aggravate it more often. Plus since it was snowing so severely outside she didn't anticipate going outside, so a day spent inside should equal safe to not wear gloves. Instead an embarrassing accident this morning involving grape juice led her to look like she'd wet herself most of the morning. Which made her anxious, which led her to have a power outbreak. Once one started it just got worse till she managed to fall asleep that night.

So, that all lead to her stuck to her tray. Eating one handed all during lunch wasn't that big of a deal at least she got one hand loose. But carrying the tray over to dump it she felt the familiar itching in her free hand and before she was able to pull it away the tray stuck. Letting out a soft whimper she stood there roughly ten feet from the tray dumping area staring at her mostly eaten food.

"I can at least dump the food...but how to do that and keep the dishes?" Emma made her way to one of the less popular trash cans and started trying to dislodge the tray. It ended up looking a lot like Donald Duck or Goofy in one of those bits where once free it simply sticks to another part. Because, stupid her, had gotten hot during gym and pushed up her sleeves. She knew better. In no time at all a fork stuck to her right wrist, a plate to her left forearm, and though she'd again gotten a hand free it now stuck firmly to her glass. "I feel like a weird piece of expression art." Mumbling she shook her hand over the tub for dishes hoping the glass would just fall off.

[Kai Baxter]

Kai hadn't been at the school for all that long and had yet to make any close friends. For this reason they were still eating alone in the cafeteria. They didn't get embarrassed and go off to eat in the bathroom. Years of foster care and being the new kid at school had made them numb to that. They would sit alone, reading or listening to music or playing games on their phone, that was fine with them. That particularly day they were even content to stare out the window. They hadn't experienced snow many times and it was still fun to watch.

After finishing, Kai got up to toss their trash and put away their dishes. What they assumed would be a perfectly uneventful process was already turning out to be more difficult than usual. They made their way to a nearby trashcan. Someone was already there, which was fine, they would just wait. However, things were taking longer than was normal and the girl looked like she was actually struggling. Kai had been standing a few feet off and could hear her muttering to herself, but now approached the redhead.

"Um... what are you doing?" Straight to the point. Tact was not Kai's strong suit. Now that they were closer, it actually looked like the dishes were physically stuck to the girl. Sights like that were far less alarming at Bellefonte, but it was still pretty weird. "Is that... Are you stuck to your lunch?" Kai asked, looking at the girl with a mixture of amusement and sympathy.

[Emma McDougall]

Jumping slightly at the question she turned toward the person who'd spoke. Embarrassed by her current predicament she tried to adjust herself to make it not look as ridiculous. It didn't really work. "I'm dumping my lunch?" A question because she wasn't entirely sure if that was what she was even doing anymore.

Maybe if she used her teeth to yank off the fork? She'd used her teeth before though she didn't want to bite metal. "Am I in the way? I'm sorry...I so sorry. Please, here." Edging out of the way of the trash can she bumped an elbow into the container holding the dishes. And stuck. Blue eyes going wide she suppressed the urge to whimper or burst into tears.

"Yes...I'm stuck." Whispering Emma dropped her eyes not daring to move away from the dish container afraid she'd take it with her. She hated it when this happened. Why hadn't she put her gloves on? Pulled down her stupid sleeves? She felt like an idiot, and knew she looked like one. All she could do was hope the girl? Pausing she stared at the other not entirely sure of the gender but they were cute.

[Kai Baxter]

This was a pretty strange sight, but under other circumstances it would have been a lot stranger. Kai had gotten fairly used to the random outbursts of power displays by students. Even so, this was still pretty weird. Kai had yet to understand the full range of possible abilities and "sticking" was one they had never encountered before. It seemed more an inconvenience than a power.

"Um... " Kai wasn't quite sure how to proceed. The girl was in the way and they did want to just dump their stuff. Would it be wrong to just leave her to it? Things were complicated even more when she tried to move out of the way and managed to get stuck directly to the trash can. Now dumping their stuff in that trash can was going to be even more awkward. They could just leave her, they supposed, and go to one of the other, sticky girl-free trash cans, to clear off their tray. Honestly, they were tempted. 

"So, is there something you can do to get unstuck?" they asked, not quite going as far as to directly offer their help. If it wasn't too much of a hassle, they would. They still held their tray, not willing to commit to actually hanging around and helping her. "Or do you just not have much control over your power yet?" They weren't actively trying to be rude with that question. They were actually curious. Maybe she really was just stuck to the trash can for the foreseeable future. That might actually be kind of amusing.

[Emma McDougall]

Cheeks bright red from embarrassment she edged away from the opening of the trash can. It looked like the other could just dump their food and go. It wasn't like she wanted to get in the way. A part of her hoped the other would just walk away with a laugh like most students here. She was just another girl suffering from a side affect of her power. Nothing to see here move along people.

"Not really..."Emma mumbled at the question tugging at her arm trying to at least pull away from the trashcan. It pulled at her skin which hurt a little but sadly she was used to that. With the added anxiety of a person addressing her during an outbreak made her heart race. Which of course only made her adhesion worse. The second question made her flinch inside blue eyes focused on the floor.

"Not really, no..." Making the sticky stickier? She was awesome at that. Getting the sticky out of her clothes? She was awesome at that. Supposedly she'd be able to use the stickiness to her advantage someday. As of right now it was just a curse that stuck her at the worse moments. A hole to crawl into sounded amazing at that precise moment. "Sorry, really..."

[Kai Baxter]

Kai was feeling increasingly awkward and unsure of what to do. If the girl's demeanor hadn't already been enough of a hint that she was uncomfortable, Kai could now hear that her heart had started racing. Great, they hoped that they didn't follow suit. It was an incredibly irritating side-effect of their power to start mimicking other people’s physical states. Wouldn’t it just be great if they both had a power malfunction? Kai mentally rolled their eyes at the thought.

They were still at a loss. Completely abandoning the girl did seem like it was mean, but she was also embarrassed, so leaving her to it might be the better thing to do. But then what? She would still be stuck, with more and more people getting ready to leave the cafeteria. "Shit," they said, more to themselves than to the girl. "Do you need me to, like, get someone?" They gestured vaguely in no direction in particular, not sure who that someone might be. Maybe there was someone around with a power suppression ability or something.

[Emma McDougall]

Since the other didn't look like they were leaving any time soon she figured she might as well try to dislodge herself. Biting her bottom lip she braced herself then yanked her arm ripping free from the container. It felt like someone had just yanked off a roll of duck tape from her arm. Not at all pleasant.

Flinching at the curse word she dropped her gaze guiltily. "No, I'm sorry. I'll be fine. I...I'm sorry for upsetting you." Emma hated being such a nuisance to the people around her, but she couldn't avoid it no matter how she tried.

Not wanting to stand here stuck all day she turned slightly away from them trying to take deep even breaths to calm herself. She lifted her hand trying to ignore the person standing right there and just do what needed doing. Teeth clamping down on the fork she shut her eyes tight then yanked it off spitting it out onto the tray. "See. I'll be just-ooooow. Fine." She shook her hand before blowing on the reddened spot.