Geniturams P2

Everyone gathered around the dining room table. The room was a beige color with white tile floors. There weren’t any windows but there was a door towards the back, leading to the kitchen. A tall, thin, girl with long, bright red hair and dark skin brought out plates of food. She  said hi to me as she sat down. Suddenly Zee took a deep breath. “We must explain to Aria who she is and who we are.” She ate a spoonful of potatoes as everyone watched her uncomfortably. Suddenly a short kid came through the door, his eyes on the ground. He had big, sloppy silver curls of hair and he was wearing all black.

“Silver! My main man!” Matt said and the kid took his seat. It grew quiet again.

“Like I was saying,” Zee started.

“Excuse me,” I interrupted quietly. I could feel everyone staring at me. I stared down at the table, “I know some of the basics.” I said, even quieter.

“But-No, that’s not- what do you mean?” Zee responded, obviously confused.

“With the letter I got, telling me to come here, there was a note. It explained a lot actually.”

Logan looked uncomfortable, “That’s never happened, this shouldn’t-”

Silver interrupted, “I got a letter too. When I was first invited to join a house.”

“What house did you start in?” asked Diana.

“Aries” Silver shrugged. “They said it was common if you were considered ‘quiet’”

“Well, um, Aria,” Logan turned to me, “Tell us what you know.”

“I don’t know why I got the letter.” I said nervously, afraid it was a bad sign, “I rarely even get mail.”

“No mail?” Matt butted in, “Don’t you have friends?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond so I ignored him.

“There are houses.” I stared, “They’re named after zodiac symbols and this house is Capricorn.”

ZEE:

Just then, Silver nervously walked in and sits down. “Silver! My main man!” I knew that Matt loved to tease Silver since he was such an easy target. The poor kid rarely speaks, though when he does, we all tend to listen. I tried to take the attention away from him. I was about to explain everything, as I always did to new people, when Aria spoke. “I know some of the details already”. Everyone seemed to freeze.

“W-what?”

Aria explained about the letter she got, and Silver mentioned the same had happened with him. I wasn’t sure what to be surprised about, Silver speaking, the letters, or the potatoes that Matt had just thrown at Jake. I never knew much about Silver, Logan had done his orientation. I looked over at Logan, surprised, but he just shrugged. “I’ve never heard of these letters. Tell us what what you know.”

Aria seemed scared, like getting a letter was a bad thing. “I-I don’t know why I got a letter. I was just at my house one day when it came in the mail. I don’t usually get mail, so I was pretty surprised I-.”

Matt interrupted her. “Never get mail?” He asked. “Don’t you have any friends?” He laughed at this.

“Shut up, Matt. Let the girl speak,” I told him.

“There are houses, this one is Capricorn.” She continued timid. “Um...so anyways, I opened it and it said I was special, an um, ‘Genituram’. It said I had powers that could be used for good, or bad, if I’m not trained with the right people. I do sometimes…” She hesitated. “Sometimes strange things happen when I’m around. I need to be able to control it. O-or people can get hurt.”

I didn’t know what to say. She was scared, and so was I when I was new. But not for herself, she was scared for others. “Where is it?” I asked her.

“Where’s what?” She replied. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. She didn’t realize it. Nobody does.

“I bet you have an item, an item you are attached to, something you never take off. You may not realize it, but that item is a big part of your life. It controls your power before you do. You must learn how to use it. We all have one. What’s yours?” She looked confused at first, but slowly, realization comes across her face. She placed her hand on her neck and pulled something off over her head. She held it up for everyone to see. Dangling from her hand was a gold colored necklace, with a pale blue pearl in the middle.

ARIA:

I explained what I knew then Zee asked me something. She sounded very serious. “Where is it?”

“Where’s what?” I asked.

She started to explain that I had an item. Something that I wore all the time. Something that controlled my power whether I realized it or not. It took me a second but I realized she was talking about my necklace. I had had it as long as I could remember. I pulled it off to show her. She nodded. “What’s your power?” I wasn’t sure how to answer because I didn’t exactly know.

“Sometimes things move, o-or float. That might be it.” I whispered.

“Neat,” Matt said, rather loudly. Logan shot him a look, obviously annoyed.

“Why am I in Capricorn?” I asked. “I’m a Libra.”

“They don’t sort people by their actual signs.” Jake said, looking anywhere but at anyone else.

After that everyone just sat around. Those who had food weren’t eating it. Finally, Matt stood up and everyone gave him a surprised look. “This is awkward, I’m leaving,” he said, beginning to walk away.

“Not so fast” Mae said, she stood up too. “You’re doing dishes tonight”

Matt groaned and sat back down. “So close”, he hissed.

ZEE:

I tried to answer all of Aria’s questions, but it was awkward. Especially when Matt announced the tension. Diana, Silver, Jake, Logan and Matt left the room to work on different chores around the house. After a few minutes of painful silence Mae began a conversation. “I can control heat,” She said, trying to get a conversation going, “Not fire though.” She raised an eyebrow at Aria, “Everyone thinks I can control fire. I can catch things on fire by heating them up but I’ve got no further control than that.”

“So is that why you are so good at cooking?” Aria asked her.

Mae gave her a look. “I have talent too, you know.”

Aria looked ashamed. “I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant.”

Mae smirked and laughed. “I know. I’m just teasing. I think we can continue this conversation later though. We should clean up now.”

Diana later decided that we should play some board games after cleaning. We gathered in the social room. There were two low tables with bean bag chairs for all our sitting needs. There were many shelves full of books and games and a single TV hanging on the wall in the corner. It was fun to get to know Aria, she was almost as quiet as Silver, but was very competitive.

“BOOM! OUT!” Yelled Matt, after bumping me back to start during a game of Sorry. “Not so fast, Matt,” replied Aria, bumping his piece and sending her last pawn to her

section. “I win!” She said, grinning. I gave her a high five as Matt flipped the board, spraying its contents on a surprised looking Silver. We played a few more games, Aria seeming to come out of her shell as we played. After all of the excitement died down, we said our goodnights and went to our bedrooms. I turned on the lights in the room and Aria gasped. I had strung fairy lights above both of our beds and along the door, and they glinted against the darkness. While Aria organized her things, I tried to clean as best as I could, though she had to help me after a while. I looked up at her, trying to check out her character. I noticed she was wearing a gray blouse under a light cardigan and some blue skinny jeans. Plain, as if she wanted to blend in. After the room actually looked like a bedroom, we sat down and I could sense that I was about to be asked a world of questions.

“So...what’s your power?” Aria asked, looking down on the floor.

I figured she would ask this. I cleared my throat and blushed. I always felt embarrassed

when I had to answer this question. My power was dangerous. “I-I can control acid. Like corrode things and make them dissolve.”

Aria wore a blank expression. “So are you good with your power?”

I felt stupid. “Huh?”

“You seem like the leader, so you must have a lot of training.”

I sighed. “I’ve had my powers since birth, so I guess I have had a lot of training. But when you’re a kid, things are different. You’re a faster learner and you have a higher imagination. Imagination is the key to our powers; we can do all kinds of things if we know what we want to do.”

She nodded. “I can see that, I guess I came too late.” Aria laughed at this, then her expression grew serious and shy again. “So you are the leader of the house?”

It was my turn to laugh. “No no no, that’s Logan’s job. He’s a capricorn, that’s his zodiac. Leaders have the zodiac symbol of their house. He’s like the stereotypical capricorn. And he’s had his powers as long as I have. He’s the leader. I’m like his…” I hesitated. “Co leader.”

Aria grinned. “So is he your boyfriend?”

I jumped up from the bed. “No!” I exclaimed, “He’s just my friend.”

Aria looked up at me and tried to look innocent. “Okay! It was just a question.” She said with a playful smile. I figured I would grow to like her as a roommate.

A/N: Again, if you see any Jasmines, that's our character Diana, so don't get confused! They're the same person we just changed the name and might've missed some. And sorry for the formatting, it's still horrible.