[Calliope Gallo]

Calliope Rhea Gallo
FACE CLAIM: Heather Morris

♦ THE BASICS ♦

AGE: Twenty
GENDER: Female
ORIENTATION: Pansexual
POSITION: Dance Teacher @ Bellefonte

♦ THE ABILITY ♦

POWER: Disjointed Flexibility: Calliope is able to bend and twist her body in ways that normal people cannot do. Her physiology has manifested in a strange way, whereby her ligaments, tendons and muscles are able to stretch in abnormal ways and take unnatural amounts of strain. This means that when she 'activates' the ability, her movements can appear almost boneless, and the contortions are accomplished with an unnatural ease. Her flexibility works only from the joints, allowing them to dislocate and reattach at the bending proportions of the surrounding tissue.

LIMITATIONS: This power only works on herself; she cannot in any way manipulate the physical structure of another person. The ability only works on joints; as such, only viable connections can be disjointed. Bones remain stagnant and sturdy. Pain akin to hyper-extension can linger for up to an hour after the ability is settled.

SIDE-EFFECTS: Disjointed Flexibility is by no means painless. Every dislocation and relocation hurts. The pain and stiffness of her muscles and joints sets in after her as if coming down from a harsh workout. Without proper concentration, joints can fail to reconnect properly, causing her to be stuck with a limb out of place until she can make the reconnection.

♦ THE FREEFORM ♦

Put it before my eyes,

You know I'ma smash it; only if you want it.

There's always one thing I have to say first. And it's really, really important that you listen, because if you're not listening, I'm gonna feel really weird if I have to say it again. Seriously, this is like, the biggest thing for me. Are you listening? Okay.

I really, really, totally, completely hate my name.

Every time I meet anyone, I always tell them my name is Callie. Calliope can stay in the dark where it totally belongs. I know my mom things it's cute - because she's really into screaming about how Greek we are - but I just do not like it. So call me Callie, okay? Do that and we're definitely going to be friends.

Hold on tight,

This ride is a wild one, make no mistake.

Family is such a big thing for me, I can't even explain it. I have two older brothers, and believe me, they are the kind of brothers you read about. Niko's three years older than me, and he's the kind of guy that doesn't let a single person mess with his family. Not his mother. Not his sister. Not even his older brother. Okay, so he has a short temper, and he's kinda prone to getting physical before he can talk his way out of anything, but he's a real sweetheart. I promise! He's just not around much. He doesn't like to stay still, so he's travelling almost all the time.

Then there's Eric. He's six years older than me and he's the smartest person I've ever met. Seriously, he can talk his way out of anything. He's usually way too busy with school work to hang around much, but he's there when he needs to be. Eric's my half brother. We all share the same dad, but only Niko and I have the same mom.

Dad was running a property development business, a thing that later turned into a pretty winning chain of restaurants. Let's just say he does a lot, and earns a lot. He worked in the city as much as he could, and mom was always at home when we were growing up. It's funny when you look at them; you'd never expect my all-American dad to fall in love with my Greek Orthodox mom. They're total, polar opposites, but if anyone has love figured out, it's totally them. She's the total boss of the family.

Strike a match,

Play it loud, giving love to the world.

When I was really little, my parents were always going to these events. Like giant parties for a bunch of rich people, so they could connect or talk about business or whatever. It might sound totally boring or even really exhausting, but I used to love it.

Giant dance floors full of beautiful, amazing people. That was the thing I really remember. Being young and being taught how to dance properly with kids my age. I made my first real friend at one of those parties, and when I realised all I wanted to do was dance, he was nice enough to dance around with me for ages.

There was a pretty big thing about being... Poised. From when I was seven to when I was seventeen, I was going to these things. Dad liked people to know he was a family man; he wanted all his associates to know that nothing was as important to him as that, so he always asked us to come along. So I grew up in that kinda life, y'know? That rigid, money-driven style. And you could see how that sort of thing effected a lot of people. Personally? I don't even tell people about the fact that I've got a wealthy family. People are always so different when they know something like that.

Over dramatic,

Automatically assume I'll stay the same.

The first person in our household to get powers was Eric. He figured out he could teleport, and they sent him out from Orange County straight to Montana as soon as possible. It's like having a piece of you stolen; sure, I could talk to him all the time, but I could never really see him when I wanted to. We were always such a tightly knit group, and to lose him like that was probably the worst thing ever.

Until it happened again, with Niko, when he figured out he could phase through walls. Just like that, two of the best people in the world were in other states. Mom and I visited as much as we could, whenever we could, but it wasn't the same. Two empty spots at the dinner table.

Maybe I was just too young to understand how important it was. That's what dad always used to say. Of course, I totally get it now.

Because I was thirteen when I was sure I broke my arm. I mean, arms just aren't supposed to... Bend that way. I was screaming so loudly at my mom to take me to the hospital that I didn't even realise how much it didn't really hurt. I mean, yeah, duh, it totally did hurt, but a break like that? I'd probably have died, and my parents would have freaked out a lot harder than they did. Anyway, I got to go to Montana too; like clockwork, the recruiter showed up two days later. Pretty sure it broke my mom's heart, and that always killed me.

Rhythm is a dancer,

It's a soul's companion; you can feel it everywhere.

Apart from being around Niko, my favourite thing about Bellefonte was being able to dance. I'd always done it when I was a kid - ballet and jazz when I was little, contemporary and hip hop when I got older - and I'd been so worried that the move meant I'd struggle to find a time and a place to do that. Being able to fold that training into the powers training part of high school was like, the best thing ever. I'm not always the best with words. Like, I don't always really know what to say in the right moments and stuff like that, but when I'm moving it's so much easier. It's like... It's the only way I know how to get anything out properly.

If I'm frustrated, or I'm angry, or I just feel really broken, it's like I can't do beautiful things properly. I can't make the right move at the right moment, because everything feels way too rough. On the days where things got hard, or the distance from the family got really difficult, I liked to disappear into the auditorium when no one else was around. Just me, a stage and some blaring music. It was perfect. Like my own personal brand of perfect therapy.

Just like run-aways,

They will have to find some other hearts to break.

My first real serious boyfriend-relationship happened when I was sixteen. It was a total accident. I knew him already and we weren't really friends; honestly, it always seemed like I kinda annoyed him. But one day, we got to talking. And things just... Happened. And then it'd been... Over a year.

He was, like, the nicest person when we were alone. No body knew that about him. Not really, anyway. When it was just us, everything cold about him just seemed to melt away, and he was nothing but a total sweetheart. He was just, I don't know... Afraid to ever make real contact. A kiss to the forehead or the cheek when you'd be practically begging for one on your mouth, y'know? So I figured, he's so nice, it must be me. Maybe he's too nice to tell me he's just not that into me. He says all these things about how he loves me and he needs me and he wants to be with me, but when you don't feel it, how do you really believe it?

I'm not... I was going to say I'm not proud of what happened, but it's not even about proud. When I got all caught up with someone else, it wasn't about hurting anyone or breaking anyone's heart. This thing I can do isn't the most attractive thing in the world. And she - my best friend, I mean - she loved me. Really, truly, honestly loved me.

Cheating is a bad thing. But trust me, it didn't feel bad. I didn't regret it and I wouldn't change the way things happened.

Are we together? ...No, but-

Nothing. We graduated. She left. It's fine.

Your eyes have ferried,

My nightmares to sleep, so come on.

I'm not built for relationships. I don't know how to explain it any other way. I just can't have them. The moment I land in that commitment territory, I just... I can't.

Because suddenly everything goes from perfect to pressure, and I don't know what else to do.

And it's not like I don't try. I do. I really, really do look for the good in people. The thing that made me love them in the first place. Because I believe so much that I love them.

Then someone else is there. And they're beautiful. And they're perfect. And I love them. What if I love them more? What if they're the right one, and I've just been wasting my time with another person?

How do you know your soul mate is yours unless you take a chance, follow that feeling, and give it a shot?

What about us?

What about all the broken happy ever afters?

It was weird, maybe, when I decided that I wanted to stay and move with the school. I know I go on a lot about how much I miss my family, and how I really just feel a little lost without them, but after being here for years there's... Something about it that feels like home. Like I love it here, and that's weirder than anything else. I don't really know how to explain it.

I mean, everything was pretty sheltered when I was growing up. I was just that little blonde haired blue eyed girl that everyone kept an eye on. Even when I first moved here, everyone was like that. They got Eric to stay and go to college here so I'd have someone around me. Niko would always come back from overseas trips and stay in the area to make sure I was okay.

But I am okay. I've been okay since I got here.

Okay, I cried for like the first week, but whatever. That doesn't even count.

The point is that like, there's always this cloud of people watching out for me. They're always keeping track of what I'm doing. Everyone always says I'm too gullible. Like I fall for too much or I trust people too easily. Like I'm too naive to be able to make it in the world by myself. So when I graduated, I stayed. Started taking general college courses and looking for a job despite the fact that everyone says I don't need one.

I don't want to live off dad's money forever.

♦ THE PLAYER ♦

USERNAME: Eddie
AGE GROUP: Twenty-Six
EXPERIENCE: A long ass time
WHERE DID YOU FIND US? I was like; yo let's remake BA

[★ MEL]

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BY EDWARD OF GS