Rhiannon Novak (girlsgotspark) wrote in supernextdoor, @ 2012-05-01 02:46:00 |
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Entry tags: | 10.05.11, james, james and katee, katee |
Who: Katee and James
What: Elemental “bonding” ;)
When: Wednesday evening
Where: Georgetown campus
Warnings: None.
Katee wasn’t usually one for staying at college any longer than she had to. For this, though, she’d had to make an exception. She’d gotten out of work a little early, thanks to a quiet day (and some begging and pleading), grabbed a sandwich, and was heading back to campus.
It wasn’t every day you got to sit in front of a vampire giving a lecture, after all. She was intrigued, and the rumors about his other abilities had her interest piqued even more. If he was, as rumor had it, a fire elemental, maybe he’d be willing to talk to her. It had been hard for her, growing up. Her mother’s side of the family were the elementals, and she had no living relatives left. Or at least, none that were in the same timezone, and willing to talk to her. Her grandmother tried, but as a human she found it difficult to relate.
She’d arrived early, and managed to bag herself a seat in the second row. She tried to look like she belonged - but with her pink-streaked hair and purple unicorn-patterned hooded sweatshirt, it was difficult to blend in. If she was honest, a lot of what he’d said didn’t apply to her degree, but at least it was interesting. The lecture itself flew by, and she was trying to get up the courage to approach him, taking her time to gather up her belongings in the hope that there wouldn’t be too many other people waiting.
James Shepard bowed slightly when the lecture concluded, nodding and murmuring ‘thank you’ once or twice as the students that filled the small auditorium clapped politely, and moved to pack up their things. James had given a decent number of lectures around the D.C. area, this one had gone better than most. The students of Georgetown had been, for the most part, engaged and respectful, and during the ten minutes of Q&A towards the end, had even asked pretty good questions. Only two were about the fact that he was a vampire, which was half of what he normally got. He didn’t resent them, but did try to get through them as quickly as possible to address those who had questions about his craft.
He straightened his thin tie as the majority of students shouldered their backpacks and shuffled up the stairs. He stepped over to the podium to gather his notes, tapping the pile of cards against the desk to straighten them into an even stack. By this point a queue of five or so students had formed, and after James tucked his notes away into the bag he had brought, he looked towards the students. While his eyes intended to go straight to the first young man in line, they were instead drawn to a young woman in the back, with hair as pink as pink could get. He recognized her as one of the students who had been near the front, which was much better than recognizing her for being one of the few on their phones during his talk. As far as he knew she hadn’t checked the time or her texts messages, though most of the students that did preferred to sit near the back. James brought his eyes back to the first student, who asked about what they should look for in an Editor.
The next student asked him to sign something, and was gone after he handed the book back to her. The young man with a shaved head behind her asked James what he thought of a few different publishers and who he preferred in that area, and seemed satisfied when James recommended a small firm in New York. The second to last person in line asked James what he did to combat writer’s block, and that was the question he had the hardest time answering. James eventually told him that a writer didn’t always have to write things that could be sometimes reading was just as important to the creative process. The young man with the headphones hanging from the collar of his hoodie chewed over that answer, and thanked James before heading up the stairs. That left James face to face with the striking young woman at the tail end of the line, and he greeted her with a smile.
“Hi, thanks for coming out tonight. What’s on your mind?”
“Um,” Katee twisted the strap of her messenger bag nervously. She’d been fine with approaching him at first, but most of the questions seemed to be about writing, and publishing - a world away from what she wanted to ask about. Suddenly her question seemed stupid. But then, she had nothing to lose, right?
“I was just wondering if it was true that you’re not just a vampire.” She knew that much was true - he’d been quite open about answering questions on the topic, even if it had been obvious that he’d rather have been talking about his writing.
“I know that’s totally personal, but I read online that you’re a fire elemental. And,” she continued, not actually waiting for him to reply, “so am I, but I don’t really have anyone to talk to about it, so I was curious. If it’s true. Totally ok if it’s not, I’ll shut up and go away.” She grinned, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet.
The young woman was nervous at first, and he didn’t blame her for it. Not because he had an inflated opinion of himself, but because the world at large still had a long way to go before they were used to the idea of vampires and weres living amongst them. In truth she was probably braver than the five or six dozen students who hadn’t raised their hands or come on down to ask him one on one.
It took a moment, but once she got started, she kept going. Her first question was an insightful one, and he smiled slyly when she correctly guessed the other aspect of his abnormality. She cited the internet as the source of her information, and for once the internet was right. James wouldn’t deny it, though he didn’t publicize it as much as the whole ‘being dead’ thing. The immortality was a lot harder to keep under wraps, in the long term.
James sensed one of the real reasons she was asking about this when she mentioned not having anyone to talk to, and he sympathized. Her grin at the end was infectious, and he answered her cheerily. “That’s the one rumor about me on the internet that’s true. I was just an elemental untiI I became a vampire, back when I was in college. Got it from my dad,” he said, happy to continue conversation with her. There was no one else in line, and no other lecture scheduled for this room for the rest of the evening.
“Awesome!” Score one for internet research. She relaxed a little, glad that he wasn’t going to tell her to get out, or deny it. That had been her worst-case scenario (or at least, the most realistic one...Katee planned for every eventuality, including zombie apocalypses), but it looked like he was willing to chat to her about it.
“I got it from my mom, but she died when I was 12, so...” Katee shrugged. It was 8 years since her mom and dad had died in a car crash, and while it still hurt, she no longer burst into tears at the mere thought of her parents. Mostly, now, she tried to remember the good stuff.
“I’ve not really had anyone to ask. Like puberty’s hard enough without worrying I’m gonna set my bedsheets on fire when I’ve had a bad day.” She grinned, again. She didn’t have many bad days, but she definitely had the temperament of a fire elemental.
Considering they were talking about fire elementals rather than vampires, the conversation started off a little heavy. James had told her that the origin of his gifts had been his father, but in her case, her mom had passed it down. The temporary teacher nodded at this, but his face soon turned into one of sympathy. Her mother had passed away years ago, and probably hadn’t had the chance to teach the girl in front of him everything about her skills. It had been the same for James, when his father left. His other had mostly pretended that his power didn’t exist.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, genuinely meaning it. He barely had time to get that out there, though, because after a short break, the pink-haired girl was grinning again and continuing her story.
His eyes shifted briefly as another student ran in and trotted down a few stairs, apparently recovering a jacket she had left here, before rushing off again into the night. Looking back at Katee, he smiled very slightly, her grin once again contagious. “Fire away. Treat me like an open book,” he said, immediately regretting the lame, unintentional pun. Oh, wait. Both of them.
Katee snorted. Lame, lame puns. She was glad she wasn’t the only one guilty of that.
“Ok, so right now, pretty much all I can do is sparks.” Really hoping there wasn’t a particularly sensitive fire alarm in here, she held up her hand, small sparks appearing round her hand, like miniature fireworks. “Which is pretty, but it’s kind of useless. Like, I’m not expecting Human Torch-style abilities, but...I’m lamer than Pyro right now.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, shrugging apologetically.
“Sorry, I work in a comic book store, the geeks rubbed off on me.” Also, it wasn’t like there was much information on elementals in normal books - Katee had spent a lot of time rifling through the graphic novels at work, trying to figure out if her abilities were anything like the characters in the comics.
James held his hand out so it was parallel with hers, with the palm facing upwards. He closed his fist and when he opened it, a small ball of flame the size of a baseball came to life in his hand, but he quickly extinguished it, also worried about any possible alarms in the lecture hall. He hadn’t done it to show her up, but instead to add some credibility to the advice he was about to give her.
“It gets easier as you get older,” he started with a fact, while the rest of his advice was more conjecture. “I don’t try to control it, as much as guide it. Fire doesn’t like to be ‘tamed’. It wants to be fed.” He had dropped his hands by this point. “In your mind, try thinking about it like you are guiding the fire to food. Convince it how much oxygen is right there for the taking.”
Maybe it sounded dumb, talking to the flames, but it was what worked for him.
Eyes wide, Katee stared at his hand.
“Wow. That was incredible.” She was amazed - she knew that fire elementals could control fire, but she’d resigned herself to the fact that she never would. What he said made sense, about trying to guide rather than control it. It wasn’t something she’d ever thought about before.
“Pretty sure I shouldn’t try that in here, though,” she grinned, looking up at the ceiling. “Since I can see a sprinkler system, and I’m so not up for impromptu wet tshirt competitions.” Not that she’d mind seeing him in a wet tshirt - for a lecturer, he was cute.
James didn’t often make use of his fiery gifts, and never for much more than convenience’s sake. But was never not awe-inspiring to hold it in his hands. Even at such a small size it felt powerful, and the desire to try and control it was tempting. His father had been around briefly to help him with it, but James had lost that resource early on in life. He knew what it felt like to try and figure all of this out on his own, and didn’t envy Katee.
His eyes followed hers up to the high ceiling, seeing the thin pipes prepared to rain water down on them if they got too burn-happy. He chuckled at Katee’s reasoning for not wanting to set off the sprinklers. College today was much different than when he had been taking classes. “Hopefully won’t have to worry about that if we go outside?” he offered, willing to help her out for a little bit. His evening was open ended, and he was ahead of schedule on his personal writing projects, so he could spare some time.
“Are you sure? That’d be awesome,” she bounced slightly on the balls of her feet, hitching her bag higher on her shoulder. This was more than she’d expected - but definitely a bonus. “Only if you haven’t got plans, because I totally understand you not wanting to hang out with a random stranger and watch her try and set things on fire.” She beamed at him. She honestly wouldn’t take it personally at all - Katee knew she could be a bit full-on, and while she didn’t care enough to tone it down, she knew that some people found her a little hard to deal with.
James shrugged, wondering if he was being a little too casual for someone representing Georgetown as a temporary faculty member. He reasoned in his mind that it probably fit under his responsibilities to “assist students in their learning and personal growth” to help Katee learn how to start a small wildfire. “Maybe I’m just tagging along to keep an eye on a student with dangerous abilities. That’s what I’ll tell the campus security if they catch us,at least,” he said with a grin, eyes twinkling with mirth. Though his life was theoretically endless, if he spent it all with boring people, what was the point?
The young woman in front of him was interesting and enthusiastic, and would stand out from a crowd even if she weren’t a fire elemental. A writer needed to fill their life with interesting experiences to keep his or her own work fresh.
Katee’s smile turned just a little wicked. A lecturer willing to help her set things on fire? Definitely cool.
“Well, it’s good that you’ve got your alibi all worked out,” she commented, giggling, “though I don’t know how I feel about being sacrificed to campus security.” There was a hint of a pout now, though her eyes were still twinkling with good humour. “What’s my excuse gonna be? ‘I’m sorry, the bush looked like it was cold so I thought I’d warm it up?”
James slung his bag over his shoulder, in preparation for heading up the stairs and out into the cool night air. He rounded the table that separated them, stopping just before the stairs that created a path through the stadium seating. “If you don’t think up one a bit better than that, we might have to start eliminating witnesses. That’s a pretty slippery slope, let me tell you,” he said, teasingly nefarious.
He began to ascend the steps, and it didn’t take long at all to reach the doors at the top of the lecture hall. He held one open for Katee, remaining behind so that he could turn off the lights before they closed the door and went outside.
“I don’t know, I have an accomplice.” She grinned, bouncing up the stairs after him. “I figure if I get arrested, he can talk his way through to getting me sprung.” She stepped through the door, bobbing a little curtsey. It wasn’t often - or, y’know, ever - that a guy held the door for her. She was used to being the annoying friend that bounced around in the background while cute guys drooled over the leggy blonde on the other side of the room.
“So there’s a basketball court round the corner that’s usually pretty empty this time of night,” she suggested. “Lots of nice non-flammable bricks for me to practice on?”
James gave a chivalrous nod as she dipped in thanks, and once they were out in the open night air, he breathed it in happily. Katee, knowing the lay of the land a lot better than he did, suggested that they make their way to the basketball court, where the only thing flammable would probably be their clothes. Maybe the net, that would probably just melt, though. James hadn’t gone to school to learn about nylon, so he didn’t dwell too long on if a net could burn or not.
“Lead the way,” he said, gesturing forward. A few moments later, he spoke up suddenly. “You know, you never did tell me your name," he realized, as they walked.
“Oh! I...totally didn’t.” Katee grinned, literally facepalming. “I’m Katee, Katee Lee.” She felt weird shaking hands with him now, so she settled for a slightly dorky wave, leading the way to the basketball court. She dumped her bag at the edge of the court, stripping off her fingerless gloves. She’d set way too many pairs of gloves on fire over the years, and had the scars to prove it.
Though is situations like this it would be appropriate to introduce himself, he’d already done so in front of the entire class, giving him nothing to reciprocate here. James just accepted that the moment as slightly awkward and moved on. “Nice to meet you, Katee,” he said while she waved. When they reached the court she had promised, James set his own bag next to hers and began to roll up his sleeves, stopping just past his elbows.
He rubbed his hands together a little bit, a ritual that meant nothing, but warmed them up some. “Another thing that helps. Take a deep breath just as you start, and imagine that oxygen being used to fuel the initial fire.” Maybe it was a placebo, but it was a technique that worked for him.
Katee nodded, curling and uncurling her fingers into loose fists, straightening them again. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Trying to remember everything he’d said, she focused on her hands, on the sparks that were all she could create. She imagined them growing bigger, no longer sparks but flame, balancing above her palm. Trembling with effort, she cracked one eye open. And grinned.
“I did it!” She squeaked, grinning from ear to ear. The expression wavered as the flame began to sputter and die, going out in a shower of sparks.
“Aww...” Feeling a little disappointed, Katee lowered her hand.
James crossed his arms and watched quietly as his new disciple prepared for her first attempt. He inferred that this was a big moment for her, and why wouldn’t it be? People like Katee or James weren’t fully accepted in the world even today, so if they were going to be ostracized for having powers, they should at least be able to be proud of them. James may have held his breath a bit as he sensed the heat begin to gather.
A broad smile emerged on his face, and even as the flame split into sparks and died out, that smile remained. He put his hand on Katee’s shoulder reassuringly, encouraged by what he saw. “Don’t sweat it, just like music, sports, dance, or even writing, practice is everything. Try putting both hands together, instead of just one.” James held out both hands then, palms still facing up, fingers together as if he was trying to hold water in them. When people wanted to make sure they didn’t drop something, they used two hands. It was just a mental trick that made the flame feel more stable.
Katee nodded, blushing a little as he put his hand on her shoulder. Taking another deep breath, she cupped her hands together the way that he had, closing her eyes again. It was easier to think about her power with her eyes closed, easier to control it if she could block everything else out. She concentrated hard, frowning fiercely as she slowly opened her eyes. She could feel the heat from her flame, see the orange glow flickering against her hands.
She grinned, trying not to bounce, trying not to lose her focus on the small flame dancing above her cupped hands.
“This is so cool,” she breathed, gaze flicking to James for an instant, then back to the flame.
James’ eyes widened a bit, as the double-hand tip paid off. Seeing the small pinpoint of light expand into something much larger never failed to inspire awe, and James hadn’t expected Katee to get a stable one on her first try. His curiosity piqued, James moved so that he was in front of her, and she could look him in the eyes without turning her head and possibly losing the flame that she had. “Think about something that you feel really strongly about. Either something that makes you as mad as you can get, or something you really really like. Deep breaths and being calm is a good way to get started, but we wouldn’t be fire elementals if we didn’t have intense feelings. Use those to feed the fire.”
The flame wavered a little as James spoke, Katee’s focus slipping away for a moment. She forced her attention back to the flame, trying to do what he’d said. Maths. Maths was definitely something she hated. She had a reason for it, at least, but it didn’t make it any easier to explain to teachers that she had dyscalculia. Frowning at the flame, she pushed her anger into it, yelping with surprise as it flared up, almost singing her eyebrows.
She flung her hands apart, the flame disappearing as she fell on her ass.
James was ready for the flame to grow, but not for the speed or size of the burst that followed his instructions. Whatever Katee had thought of, it had probably been something she loathed with every fiber of her being. Anger seemed to be easier to channel into fire than passion, but also more volatile. James had flinched in surprise, and by the time his vision focused, Katee was on her backside. James stepped forward and offered a hand to help her up, since it was pretty much his fault the fire had burst like that.
“I’m sorry about that! Are you okay?” he asked.
“Fine!” Katee took his hand, getting easily to her feet. She brushed specks of grit off her ass and her hands, looking a little rueful. “I guess I should probably pick something a little less volatile next time.” Something that didn’t involve maths, or teachers. Which narrowed it down a little.
“But I’ve got actual flames going, which is more than I’ve ever managed, so awesome, thank you for that.” She grinned at him, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
James glanced at his hand after she released it, noting how warm it was before letting it fall back to his sides. Katee didn’t seem too rattled by the sudden burst of flames, and that drenched any worries that he had about her well-being. “That was a hell of a fireball you had going there,” he said, remembering back to the size of it just before he’d told her to think about something she hated.
“What were you thinking about that made it blow up?” Maybe it was an ex, James thought, knowing that few things could inspire love or hate more than the people closest to you.
Katee made a face, nose scrunched up in distaste.
“Math tests.” Yes, really. They angered her that much. Everything else about school she’d liked, but not maths. And especially not maths tests. Stupid things.
“And great, now I can’t stop thinking about them,” she groaned. “Maybe we should just call it a night?” She suggested, pulling the sleeves of her hoodie down over her hands.
James didn’t blame her for hating math. It had never been his strongest subject and he didn’t outright hate it, but knew plenty that did. It was easy to get frustrated during exams, and being a volatile fire elemental never helped when that was the case. James laughed slightly as Katee complained of the idea of math tests stuck in her head, and knew that was beyond the scope of advice he could give confidently.
“We haven’t killed ourselves or burnt down the school, so quitting while we’re ahead is probably a good idea.” James began to walk back to where they had left their things, at the edge of the court. “You’re a fast learner,” he added, picking up his bag.
Katee bounced along beside him, pleased at how well she’d done. She tugged on her fingerless gloves, pulling down the sleeves of her hooded sweatshirt.
“Thanks!” She said, grinning up at him. “I had a good teacher,” she added loyally, smiling at him. “Would you, um, would you mind if we did this again? It’s...you’ve been really helpful.”
James was sure that if put in a lineup with a hundred real teachers, he’d rank pretty low. Didn’t mean he didn’t appreciate Katee’s compliment, but his only advantage was that he was good at getting his ideas across. If she wanted to reconvene in a week, he’d need to come up with some more of those ideas.
“Wouldn’t mind at all. I’m not scheduled to give any other lectures here this semester, but that’s no big deal. James thought for a moment, before reaching into his back pocket and withdrawing a wallet, made of simple brown leather. It wasn’t very thick. “This could be the most pretentious thing ever, but..” he reached into one of the pockets with a finger and slid out a small, simple white card with his name and contact information.
He offered it to her. “Same place, same time is fine with me, but call me if anything changes.”
“Awesome!” Katee grinned down at the card, then tucked it into her pocket. It crinkled against something, and she frowned, pulling out a balled-up reciept with writing on the back. Smoothing it out, she grinned, and blushed. Ace’s phone number. She folded it up again, placing them both carefully into her pocket.
“Okay, cool. So...same bat-time, same bat-place, but if there’s any problems, I’ll call you.” She nodded firmly. “Thanks, James.”
James smiled, proud of the progress they had made. And the tragedies they had avoided. Playing with fire was a cliche for a reason, because it was dangerous. Hell, someone trying to burn down a building was the reason James was a vampire, the reason he’d been shot. The fact that it had happened at a college was not lost on him, either. “You’re welcome. For homework...don’t think about math tests. I don’t want to see you on the news.”
With that, lesson one was done. James waved to Katee and went on his way, his mind alternating between plans for the next session, and ideas for the book that was waiting for him at home.