Dawn Richards (wings_of_fire) wrote in reality_dome, @ 2014-01-23 17:32:00 |
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April wasn’t completely sure she was actually ready for an audience. But she knew she and Jake had flashy powers, so of course people would want to see them. She had to admit to being a little nervous about the new girl seeing everything. Granted, everything she knew about her was third hand grapevine knowledge, but as much as she tried to play off that she was fine having wings, she knew she was a walking freakshow. Most people were usually polite about it when they did point or ask to touch, but she wasn’t completely sure she was up to handling derision or whatever else. She never minded people asking questions or even asking to touch, as long as they were polite and respectful of boundaries. It was easier now that they actually looked like wings, with feathers and everything, even if the feathers were still a sort of thin, scraggly mess. They were fuller though, and growing daily, and April hoped very much they never lost the color -- the lilac-sheened grey was pretty. Not quite the Peregrine blue she’d hoped for, but not bad. Making her way to the pool area at the appointed time, she wasn’t surprised to find Jake already there. “Hey,” she greeted him softly before she slipped out of her boots. She’d already put her hair up and pulled her lighter-glove on, so she guessed she was as ready as she’d ever be. When she’d crossed through the Keep, she thought she’d felt an awful lot of eyes on her, but maybe it was just paranoia. Or nerves. But she was sure some people would want to watch. And that was fine; she could look like an idiot for some of them. “Hey,” he replied as he flicked his fingers and sent a jet of ice into the pool. It never got old, and Jake grinned slightly. “So how do you do yours?” He asked. There was no sense beating around the bush; they both knew why they were here. “I don’t know, exactly. I mean,” April’s brow furrowed and she sparked a flame, letting the ball of it balance on the tips of her fingers. “I can pull them apart,” she said and demonstrated, stretching the flame between her hands. “And I can make them drop,” she said, stepping to the edge of the pool to shake a fireball off her hand into the water, where it promptly fizzled and died. “But … so far, that’s it.” “Have you tried pushing?” He licked his lips as he tried to think of how to explain it. “It was an accident, the first time I figured out I could do this,” he said as he gestured with one hand to send a spray of ice halfway across the pool. “But it’s just … pushing.” “Like labor?” April quipped, her brows lifting. “Yes. Make the fire baby come out of your hand.” He smirked and ducked his head to hide a grin before he lifted his hands as if in surrender. “Kind of. But it’s …” He tapped his temple. “It’s a more mental than a physical thing. You could try using your arms, pushing your hands out to kind of feel for it, but it’s with your mind.” April chuckled softly before she moved back a little. She sparked another flame with the lighter, holding it in her hand before she tried to push. She pushed her hands out in front of her, and while the fire moved with them, it didn’t go beyond them. Her brow furrowed and she bit lightly at her lower lip before she tried again. She envisioned the fire leaping from her hands toward the water, but nothing happened. “My mind’s broken,” she informed Jake as she turned her wrist, letting the fireball roll across her hand. “I doubt that,” he said. He wondered if he should feel bad about what he wanted to try, but he suspected there had to be a jump trigger. “You trust me?” “Not when you have to ask,” April replied as she eyed him. Jake grinned, nodding toward the pool. “Face the water, lift your hands up. And push.” When April had moved to do just that, when she was clearly busy focusing on the fire, Jake shifted slightly behind her and pressed his ice-cold hands to her bare sides. He wasn’t sure which startled him more -- the jet of fire that shot across the pool, or her wings flaring up and smacking his face. Laughing, he lifted his hands to his face, pulling a tiny downy feather out of his hair. “I don’t know if I should apologize for that or not,” April said as she glanced over to him. “Are you okay?” Still laughing, Jake nodded. “Fine, I’m fine. I didn’t expect a feather attack.” “Yeah. They do that. They do that when I --” she cut herself off and flushed slightly. “Anyway. It worked. So good job, I guess?” Jake arched his brows, having a pretty good idea of where she’d been going with that. Because it led him to wonder just how she went about that now. It wasn’t like she could lay on her back. There were other positions, he guessed, and he shook his head slightly. “Think you can do it now without me groping you?” “Let’s see,” she said as she shifted to put her attention back to the pool. She lifted her hands and sparked a flame. Holding it at her fingertips, she focused on how it had felt when the flame had moved. Once again, it jetted away from her, but since she was expecting it this time, she managed to hold it and sustain it, though only for a few seconds. Still, it was more than she’d been able to do before, and she could tell it was something that was going to take a lot of practice. She already felt a little wiped, just from the short session they’d had. “Apparently yes,” she reported before she offered him a little smile. Her eyes flicked then toward the area around the pool to see who had shown up to watch, and she rolled her shoulders. The motion caused her wings to twitch and she relaxed the joint to let them flare out a little. “It’ll probably look cooler when my wings are full. Or with a sword. A flaming sword.” “Request one. Because I want to see this,” Jake directed even as he wondered if he could get a sword he could freeze. It would only add to the epic that was their intended battle. He exhaled, and he generally felt pretty pleased with himself. Sure, he hadn’t shot fire from his hands, but he’d helped her do it, and that was something. While she continued to play around with her new-found skill, Jake moved a little farther down the pool to practice some of his own skill sets. Focusing on the water directly in front of and below him, he started to freeze a strip of it approximately six inches across and two inches thick. He moved his hands to extend the construction from one side of the pool to the other before eventually latching it onto the sides. “Anyone want to try an ice bridge?” He asked with a laugh. Thin as it was, with the warmer water working against it, Jake doubted it would hold … but he could build it bigger if someone really wanted to try. |