Xan didn't really talk to women. Or men. Or anyone at all, really. Growing up with Jasmine, she'd been been the chatterbox for the two and Xan had been content to let her prattle away. He had been perfectly satisfied to be her protective, quiet, older brother. It had helped to ward off her ungainly, would-be suitors and the potentially-dangerous ones.
Even his job after high school didn't lend much to his social skills. Working under the hoods of cars all the time, well, there weren't many people under there with him, that was for sure. Although he had gone out for a drink or two with the others from the car shop, it wasn't exactly easy to be heard in the noisy atmosphere of pubs. He reckoned the others had liked him all right though; he'd been invited every week for drinks.
A look of utter dismay crossed his face. “You mean I should have brought my map?”
After a long moment or two, Xan's lips quirked up again, an impish, mischievous light in his eyes. “Actually, I'm fairly certain I lost that thing in the first week of classes.”
Environmental Studies. For one quick instant, Xan wondered if that meant she was big on nature and recycling. Organically grown foods and the such. That path of thought led him to hippies, drugs and tree hugging. Somehow....she didn't really seem the type. You know, all tie-dye clothing and free love.
“I'm studying to be a vet. I've always been able to...talk to animals, I guess you could say. They just...calm down around me and then I make them better,” was the simplest way he could explain it. “I guess it's a knack.”
There was more to it than that, of course. Like how he could simply hold a dog's broken leg, and then his hands would glow, heat up and with a brilliant, white flash of light, the limb would be fixed. It had been something of a shock to discover, this ability of his. Xan could still remember the first time his healing ability had kicked in. He had been ten, and Jasmine's kitty, Raj, had a wrenched paw. She had come to him, all in tears. Telling her to go wash her face and get them cookies and milk, a young Xan had racked his brains for what to do while his sister was gone. He had picked up Raj, cradled him carefully in his arms when the kitten had suddenly stopped its trembling and seemed to settle into a stupor. He remembered a feeling of utter warmth had washed over him and then Raj has squirmed from his arms, a bundle of cute energy once more. Jasmine had been ecstatic, and suddenly, Xan hadn't cared how he had fixed the sprained paw.
He was getting better at it though. Slowly. The healing took less out of him, left him with more energy than it used to. He was hoping to be able to control the flash of light though; it was too unusual, unnatural. Something like that he wouldn't be able to explain to humans, which was why he focused mostly on animals.
“So what kind of a career are you looking into?” he asked curiously. He had no clue what she could do in that sort of field. His was simple, straightforward.