Players:
Summary: Fire, horses, and faux pas.
Date: January 25, 2012
Log Title: Pyro-Techniques
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Left Path
A brick path off the courtyard cuts through the grass to lead to the other areas on the outside grounds of Xavier's. There are a few benches that line the path so students can sit and enjoy outside. Either side of the path the grass is well manicured and has enough room for students to have a picnic, play Frisbee, or relax and study. At night there are small lamps that raise three feet off the ground to provide light.
Playing with fire, even in a school occasionally riddled by pyrokinetics, is still a game best played outdoors. The idyllic stillness of the afternoon is broken by brief flashes of yellow-white light and the smell of smoke. A single soap bubble bobs lazily in the air until a blue hand with a lighter flicks. The tiny lick of flame touches the bubble in a split-second eruption of flame, leaving nothing behind. Jill fishes in her magic bag (as in a bag for holding items of magic, not a bag which is in itself magical) and produces a slip of rough pressed paper. This too goes up in an instant flash, not even leaving ash behind.
The sound of something clomping on the grass can be heard as Nicholas comes into view riding his horse, Orion. He's walking with him at a leisurely pace, not going to fast as he doesn't want to wreck the grass, to much. Coming upon Jill and her fire, the teen on horse back pulls back on the reigns for Orion to stop and looks down at her. "Hey there Jill." He says trying not to focus on the fire too much.
The goo girl's lost in her own world for just a moment longer before she realizes someone's talking to her. "Huh? Oh. Hey Nick," she replies, sounding distracted and a little subdued. "What's up?" Moving to sit on a bench next to her open bag, she rifles around inside it until she finds a small plastic bottle of bubble solution, a different and non-flammable variety.
Nicholas slides off his horse and leaves Orion there to graze for a bit, in which the chestnut horse seems to more than happy to just chew on grass. He walks over and sits down on the bench next to Jill and just shrugs. "Nothing really, same crap. Just taking Orion out for a ride just annoying that there's really nowhere to just let him run."
Jill uncaps the bottle and blows a few bubbles from the little plastic wand, letting them drift away on the random eddies and air currents. "If it isn't here, there's got to be somewhere you could take him. But you'd need a trailer. And a car, I guess." Blowing more gently, she creates a single larger bubble that doesn't drift as far. Reaching out gently, she catches it in her hand. It doesn't burst, which is weird.
"Yup and both my truck and my trailer are back in Martin." Nick replies dryly. "I guess I could borrow a truck here and they might have a trailer but I have no clue where I'd go. Honestly, I haven't really left the school except to hit the mall with you once or twice. I have no clue where, or what, anything is around here.'
It takes a squeeze of her hand to finally pop the resilient bubble. Jill motions for Nick to hold out his hands as she dips the wand back into the bottle. "Look it up on the internet. I know everybody hears 'New York' and thinks it's wall to wall city, but there's got to be a ranch, or a race track, or a park, or *something*," she says dispassionately.
Nicholas gives Jill a confused look before holding out his hands as indicated. "I guess, and it wouldn’t be a race track more a stable or a ranch. I don't really race, I mean I did barrel races when younger but now that I'm getting older it's more of a girl thing. Ya know I used to compete a lot in dressage and other competitions."
Jill slowly exhales to create another large, single bubble. A flick of her wrist detaches it from the wand to let it bob down into Nick's hands where it settles without popping. She smiles faintly at that. "Well, whatever you're looking for, I'm sure there is one. Just need to find where it is." Her eyes flick to Orion. "Pretty sure I know what barrel racing is, but dressage just means 'training' or 'schooling'. I'm sure there's more to it than just that."
"It's kind of competing on how well you trained your horse. How well you sit on your horse, how well he responds to you, various gaits and such. I also did jumping which was my favorite." Nicholas half-assed explains to Jill. He looks down at the bubble and doesn't move, it's like he's waiting for it to pop on his own. "Yeah, I had the silly outfit too for it as well."
The bubble just sits there, mocking Nicholas with its refusal to burst. "So… kind of like training a dog, but much bigger. Do you teach them tricks?" Jill screws the cap back on the bottle and rummages around for something else. It's another container of bubble stuff, but this one smells strongly of rubbing alcohol and, for some reason, lemons. "What funny outfit? The tall boots and red jacket, or am I thinking of something else?"
Nicholas eventually blows the bubble off of his hand and then goes to see if he can catch it again and if it will pop. "A few, he can shake hands but he's moody about who he'll do it for. We had this giant ball for him back home that he loved to play with and would kinda fetch. He loves to play, most horses do." He says smiling a bit. "I need to teach Orion a few more. So…what is that stuff?" He says as the smell hits his nose.
Catch and release proves too much strain and the resilient bubble finally gives up and pops. "Huh. So they are kinda like big dogs." Still, the girl looks at Orion warily. A VERY big dog. And as for explaining what the odorous new bottle is, she blows one and flicks it off the end of the wand. Bringing up the lighter, with a click and a spark the new bubble vanishes in a brief blue alcohol flame. "Fire bubbles. You have to use a special kind of soap or it screws up the surface tension. If I had a can of butane, I could make them really pop. Or if the teachers would let me have cigarettes, I could show you smoke bubble tricks." She shrugs her shoulders abjectly, a 'what can you do' expression on her face.
"I guess, I mean they can have just as much personality as a dog. I never had a dog growing up, just tons of horses because of the stable." Nick says as he watches the fire bubble, his face is pretty neutral and he nods as it goes up in flames. "That's, neat." He says an odd strain to his voice. "Is this all part of your magic tricks?"
"I never had a dog either. I had a goldfish once but it was boring. They don't *do* anything," says Jill sourly. She screws the cap back onto the plastic bottle with a little jerk. "Sort of," she answers with a vague 'so-so' wobble of her free hand. "They aren't really tricks, just sort of… toys, I guess. You can use flash paper in a couple of tricks. It's pretty neat. You wanna try one?" She holds up a small square of paper, something like a cross between tissue and wax paper.
Nicholas seems to be half listening to what Jill says as his eyes seem to be trying to focus on anything but the bubbles, even after they're put away. "Not really, thanks though." He says in that off tone still. "Nothing with fire." He says quietly.
It's taken far too long to notice but something slowly dawns on Jill. She leans forward and slightly to the side to put herself in Nick's line of sight, looking up into his face. "Are you okay? Something wrong?" she asks, brow furrowed.
Nicholas looks at Jill and gives her a forced smile. "Just, fire, made me think about…that night. Seeing it all again is all. Never realized that it would freak me out but, just….don't like seeing it anymore I guess." He says blinking quite a bit as his focuses his attention on Orion. "It's how they killed 'em ya know, tied us in the basement and lit the house on fire."
Horror dawns on the blue girl's face. "Oh my God. Nick, I… I'm so sorry," she gushes. "I was just playing with them, and I wasn't thinking… Oh God, I'm sorry. I'm such an idiot." She curls the plastic lighter in her hand like she's suddenly ashamed to even have it. Disgusted with herself, she turns her head and won't look at him.
Nicholas's attention looks back to Jill and he shakes his head. "No, don't be sorry just, remembering is all. I'm not mad or anything, not at you." He says reaching a hand to put it on her shoulder lightly. "I don't think I ever told you that part, I haven't really told anyone…just more that they killed them. First time really seeing fire since…." His voice trails off and he gestures with his hand to indicate the rest.
Twice in as many days, Jill has done something incredibly insensitive without even realizing it. She feels about as bad as she looks, which is to say utterly miserable. "Sorry," she says again even after Nick's urging that she not be. "I… I won't do it again."
Nicholas gives Jill a frown and shakes his head. "Hey, no, seriously you didn't know. I…I didn't mean to make you feel upset by it. It's really not your fault, it's theirs." Meaning the Purifiers. "Really, don't be upset by it, you didn't know." He says leaning forward to give her a reassuring hug.
"I know. I know." With an effort, Jill forces most of the misery from her features. She huffs a slow breath out through her nose and passively allows the hug rather than returning it. "I just keep saying stupid shit lately. Tried to lie to Mr. Summers and got called on it. Tried to talk to Quenton and he got pissed and threw a table." She flicks a hand dismissively like 'to hell with it'. Realizing she has far less valid reasons than Nick to be upset, the blue girl calms noticeably once she's vented.
Nicholas breaks the hug and nods to her. "Well it's not hard to get Quenton pissed off, I mean he's a bigger jerk than I am, and I'm a pretty big jerk at times." He says nodding. "You're pretty much my only friend around here, you and maybe Shane, so I don't want to upset you." He says standing up. "And Orion's getting impatient so I should go back to taking care of him. I'll catch ya later Jill." He says giving a wave as he goes over to get back onto his horse.
Jill lifts a hand to wave, visibly biting back the urge to apologize once again. "Yeah," she says a little awkwardly. "See you later, okay?" As soon as Nick is too far away to see her anymore, her shoulders sag once more. Gathering up her magic supplies, she chastises herself. "Stupid…"
