Lesson One [Lydia]

Damien smiled brightly over at Lydia as she walked up to him. He could sense that she was a little tense, but he didn’t say anything about it as she seated herself. He sat down as well, looking over at her as she greeted him, apologizing for being late. He shook his head at her, smiling still. “You’re fine,” He told her, wanting her to know that it was all fine and that it was no big deal. After all, it wasn’t like their lesson was in a rush. Still, she seemed a bit awkward so he would first start with small talk perhaps a little bit of dinner and then they would get in to Banshee speak. After all, it wasn’t like they needed to jump head first into it. Banshee training was more of an easing in process anyway. It was how his mother had taught him and how he would teach Lydia and, perhaps, one day his own offspring. For now, he would focus on the strawberry blonde before him.

There was a moment before Damien spoke once more. “So how have you been? I know it’s been a while. How is Prada?” He asked, still making small talk. Hopefully small talk would calm her down. If not, well, perhaps they would dive right in to Banshee training then. After all, despite how he wanted to do things, this was all about her so if she wanted to dive in, they would, even if he was unsure about it. It was whatever she wanted. He was her resource and he would do his best to answer her questions, or at least try to. Any questions he wouldn’t know the answers to he would call his mother for. Whether he called his mother that night or later on the next day or next week would depend on what exactly was asked. The severity of the question would let him know, as well as the insistence of Lydia. He would, of course, be able to tell by the look on her face and the look in her eyes. It wasn’t like Banshees were psychic or something.

Tag; Lydia Martin
Words; 359
Notes; N/A

The female Banshee stilled seemed stressed out after Damien spoke to her, asking her questions about how she had been and how her young dog, Prada had been. If he remembered correctly he was a small breed with a large appetite. When the two Banshees had met, young Lydia had been trying to buy a large bag of dog food, a 100lb bag of dog food if he remembered correctly and hadn’t the strength for it, so Damien did his best to help her. In the end, the two had sensed one another to the point where Lydia didn’t know what to do and Damien had screamed at her, scaring the poor pet store worker.

It wasn’t long before the girl finally spoke, saying that she had been good and that she had been mostly focusing on school work and hanging out with her sister. Damien nodded his head. “Your sister is Valentina, correct?” He asked, sure that that was her name. He taught all of the grades at the high school so he could only assume that they were related. After all, she was the only other Martin that he had in his classes. Well, other than one Timothy Martin, but he digressed and decided to just wait for her answer.

Lydia then told Damien that her dog was great and how she was loving the food that Lydia had gotten for her. The girl chuckled, which Damien took as a good sign before she asked him if he had ordered yet. Apparently she was “kind of” hungry and that she hadn’t eaten all day. “No, I haven’t yet,” he stated before she picked up the menu and gazed at it. He paused before he picked up his own menu and looked over the items, wondering what he should get. It all looked quite delicious, but the Swiss cheese and mushroom burger with curly fries sounded the best. He set down his menu and looked at the girl, briefly, before he turned his attention to his phone, seeing if anything had happened. Nothing.

Tag; Lydia Martin
Words; 346
Notes; N/A

Damien grinned over at Lydia as she smiled when he mentioned her sister. She nodded, saying that she was indeed her sister, even though they didn’t look too much alike, they were related. She said that she was amazing. Damien grinned and nodded his head. “I figured she would be your sister,” he stated with a nod. “Not that I have many Martins,” he stated with a small laugh before he gazed back down at his menu, waiting to see what the girl would order. He had, of course, figured out what he was doing shortly after gazing at the menu before he set it back down and checked his phone. Thankfully, he had no one else text him and no calls from anyone. No news was good news with his family.

There was a bit of silence between the two of them before the waitress arrived. Lydia was quick to saying what she wanted before she looked down at her hands, which were under the table in her lap. Damien looked at the waitress and ordered, asking for a soda instead of just water. The female nodded her head before walking off, leaving the two Banshees alone. There was silence for a bit longer before Lydia spoke again, asking him how he had been. Damien smiled. “Good, slowly getting used to the American school system,” he told her honestly, not knowing what else to say. “So…is there anything you’d like to know specifically?” He asked curiously.

Tag; Lydia Martin
Words; 251
Notes; N/A

The female seemed a little confused, but Damien didn’t comment on it, especially when she decided to ask him how he had been. He told her, not lying in the slightest and enjoying that he was able to get a chuckle out of her when he mentioned attempting to get used to the American school system. It was a bit confusing and worrisome but he did what he could, trying to keep things going and keep things focused on what was going on educationally and not so much with anything else, which in a school apparently filled with supernaturals was becoming increasingly difficult.

Lydia closed her eyes after Damien asked her what she wanted to know. She was quiet a moment before she looked at him, asking him how he drowned out the voices and how he knew the difference between gibberish and the real thing. Damien smiled over at her calmly. “To be honest, I still have issues with the voices. Typically people will see me with headphones in. Most of what I do comes from years of experience. When I was your age I had difficulties controlling my abilities.” He paused before he clicked his tongue. “But, if you can wait a day or so, I can contact my mother. The…typical ways of dealing the voices didn’t work for me because…well…I’m a male Banshee and we’re so rare, how we do things isn’t exactly normal,” he told her with a chuckle.

Damien paused again. “The way that I can tell between gibberish and the real thing is usually by digging my nails into my palms. It helps keep things in perspective. My mother, of course, used to tell me that one of the ways she did it, was to close her eyes and hum. Her humming would either drown out the gibberish, despite it being quiet, or the words would persist and she knew then that it would be real,” he told her, but he would get her more information on that in the end as well.

Tag; Lydia Martin
Words; 342
Notes; You're fine, work was crazy for me anyway XD

It made Damien happy to know that Lydia was trying to absorb all of the information that he was giving to her. After all, it wasn’t like she had met another Banshee before, let alone a male Banshee. It was nice to be able to tell someone something and to share his knowledge about what he was with someone who wanted and needed the experience. He was more than a little happy about it and as such, grinned when she started speaking again, telling him about her instances, her voices. She tried to drown them out by clicking her heels or listening to music. She said that she would try the humming that his mother did before she said that she would like to know other ways as well. “I think the humming works so well because it involves her voice and as I’m sure you noticed, when I screamed at you everything got quiet. I think our Banshee voices help to cancel out things that don’t matter,” he told her honestly.

Lydia told him how she appreciated it and he smiled at her before she asked if there was anything else that Banshees could do other than scream and hear voices and find dead bodies. Damien paused. “Well…my mother, she is a rare case. Born a Banshee and she hasn’t been driven insane by the madness around her because her mother taught her and so on. So, with my Mother being who she is, she has one ability that most Banshees do not. She can shapeshift. Her favorite form is a hooded crow. But, one thing that you will be able to do one day, is figure out the different types of screams that we Banshees have,” Damien paused. “We have the scream that we use to communicate between one another, a scream that can only be heard by supernaturals, a scream that can be heard by everyone, a scream that can defend, a scream that can kill, and a scream that knocks people unconscious,” he told her, stating the ones he could think of.

Tag; Lydia Martin
Words; 349
Notes; You're fine, dear. Damien went a little overboard XD

The young Banshee asked Damien about the banshees having different screams before he continued to explain what they were. She sipped at her lemonade before she asked him how he controlled it and how he knew the difference between all the different kinds, making him smile. He was glad that she had taken more of an interest in what he was saying now. Sure, she was before, but now she was less jittery, less nervous and far more relaxed when they were talking to one another, which was just what Damien wanted, especially since the two were in public. He didn’t want it to look like he was a pervy school teacher asking his student on a date and her accepting despite being clearly uncomfortable with it. That wasn’t what this was, but he digressed. Not everyone would see it that way.

There was pause. “To be honest, it comes with experience and time. I know it may sound foolish, but it seems our supernatural…species was intelligent in growing up. The older you get, the more scream types you get. Right now, you have the screams that everyone can hear, as you get older and more experienced, you’ll have other screams that you can do. I think the next scream you’ll be able to do is one for self-defense, pretty much only for protection purposes, but some can be used to fight back,” he told her, nodding his head.

Tag; Lydia Martin
Words; 240
Notes; N/A