Who: Landon and Samirah Where: The park When: Recently What: a run in while flying through the sky Rating: G
Samirah was grateful for the flight simulator that Anakin had made her, but she still missed the feeling of actually being up in the sky. So despite usually keeping her abilities hidden from people, Sam had taken to the sky. She didn't have a particular destination as she was mostly doing this for the thrill of being in the air. From someone on the ground, it looked like she was riding a horse made of wind, though it didn't look like a corporeal horse at all. Samirah couldn't stop smiling, though.
She landed on the ground, the wind horse dissipating as her feet stood on the pavement. Samirah let out a small sigh of contentment. She reached up to straighten her hijab and make sure it was on her head securely before turning around.
--
...where Landon was standing with his mouth wide open. He’d come out here to practice his fire stuff like Liu Yi had taught him. Even if she wasn’t here anymore, it didn’t mean that he had to stop trying. That was when he’d seen the girl in the sky with the wind horse. Which was...wild. Seriously. And he was more than a little jealous. After all, he was a phoenix, which was a bird, so why couldn’t he fly? Totally not fair.
“Hey,” he said, because he had to say something. “That….that was pretty awesome.”
He held out his hand.
“I’m Landon.”
***
She blushed, head dipping down at the praise. She was only really starting to get used to the idea that she could be more open to what she was capable of. The flying was much safer feeling than changing shapes. She decided to take it one thing at a time and build up her comfort for there.
“I’m Samirah.” She glanced to the boy’s hand and gave a little head bow instead of reaching out to touch his hand. There were only a few boys here she felt comfortable to touch, Jason being one of them and Leo the other. They were starting to feel a little more like family. It was still hard for her to let go of her traditions and touch other boys.
“Thank you… I’m still getting used to being able to do it where everyone can see. It feel strange.”
***
Landon balled up his hand and dropped it to his side. He wasn’t offended, he was too interested in the things she could do, which were seriously really cool.
“How do you do that? I mean, I’m a phoenix but I can’t fly, which sucks, really. If there’s a way I can learn…” He’d tried just about everything, including jumping around on a trampoline and it had all come to nothing.
“Sorry if I’m talking too much. I do that when I get excited.”
***
He reminded her of someone who would probably fit into Floor 19 pretty well. Though her brow knit a little at his words. “You’re… a phoenix? Do you mean… like the mythical bird that dies and is reborn?” By her tone was probably evident that she believed him, she was just trying to figure out how that worked. She had never met a phoenix before and she had always pictured a bird when she thought about the creature. “And, it’s fine. I don’t mind people who talk a lot.” Most of the time, anyway. Samirah smiled.
***
“Yeah,” he said. “Just like the bird. Except I haven’t figured out if I can fly yet, although it would be totally awesome if I could.” He wished he could do something other than just come back from the dead, anyway. Not that he was upset about coming back from the dead. It was a nice thing to be able to do when you had a destructible human body and lived around vampires and werewolves and witches.
He crossed his arms when he realized that she hadn’t answered his question, and smiled.
“So. How did you do that? Where did that horse come from and where did it go?”
***
“Oh, um…” She blushed just a little. Unlike how confident Landon seemed to be about talking about who and what he was, Samirah was still getting used to it. Plus she was so caught up in what he had to say about what he was - she thought he was far more interesting. “It’s something I can do because I’m a valkyrie. All valkyrie’s can do it. I can technically make wings appear, but I got used to using wind in the shape of a horse because sometimes I’d bring friends along... “ She offered him a small shrug. “It’s just wind, really, so it went back into the air. Back home you probably wouldn’t have even noticed it.” Or maybe he would have considering he was supernatural. “Have you tried to fly before?” Flying was the best feeling in the world.
***
“A Valkyrie? Like...Norse mythology stuff?” He didn’t know any Valkyries, or even know if they actually existed in his world, but he’d seen movies and knew what they are. “Aren’t they the badass ladies who take souls to Valhalla?” He remembered them being badass, anyway.
“I haven’t,” he said sadly. “I’ve tried. But I’ve never been able to make it work. Maybe I just can’t fly. I mean, it’s not like I have wings or anything.”
***
“Yeah.. that’s what I do. It’s a little different than people imagine. Valhalla’s in the form of a hotel. Usually in movies they make it look like some wide field or a viking settlement, but… it’s not. And you don’t always have to be a viking to end up there. You can just have Norse blood in you.”
She paused. She wasn’t really sure how to help Landon learn how to fly. Samirah decided she’d have to think about that part in particular. But she did offer a small smile. “Would you… like to go up right now? I can give you a lift somewhere.”
***
“Yeah!” he said, automatically. Maybe some people would have been afraid of flying around on a horse that wasn’t even there, but if he fell and died, it wasn’t like it was the end of the world or something. And who knew, maybe if he fell off the horse he’d suddenly sprout wings and be able to fly himself. Unlikely, but possible, right?
“Or you can just fly me around a little. I don’t really have anywhere to go. Unless you want to get Hinkleburgers or something. On me.”
***
“Oh, um.” Samirah felt herself blush. She knew that this boy probably wasn’t actually asking her out on a date, but it had just been awhile since anyone she didn’t really know had asked to go eat with her. She still remembered how weird it had been when Magnus had asked her. As she thought of her friend, though, Samirah couldn’t help but compare the two. In a few ways, Landon reminded her of Magnus.
“Alright, sure.” She nodded. She and Magnus had become friends with her giving him chances, after all. Samirah called forth the wind to her and with a small jump managed to be on a mostly see-through horse which ‘lowered’ itself for Landon to climb on.
***
Landon hadn’t meant on a date at all. He didn’t know her well enough for that, for one thing, and for another thing, Hope was here and any romantic feelings he had were for her. He’d just meant a friendly lunch between friends.
He was only a little nervous as he climbed onto her horse, finding it more solid than he expected. He tried not to touch her, although it was hard, holding on tightly with his legs, instead.
“Alright...let’s go.”
He was nervous about this, but excited, too. After all, it was his first trip on a flying air-horse.