To Characterize A Smoulder (Open)

[Gleam]

The tendons of the fingers, each lit from within by the warm oranges, reds, and yellows of fire, stretched across Jacob's canvas. The hand stretched upward, illuminated from within by a crackling flame. And from between the off-white bone and muscle, peeked a black belt of plastic and metal.

Jacob grimaced. It wasn't looking like a friendly painting, but the image was stuck in his head. He turned the easel a little more to the right to catch the evening rays, and dabbed his brush in the orange again. Then he stared at the painting and, slowly, added another curl of flame up around the thumb and over the thenar.

[Secernia]

Secernia appeared behind Jacob and looked over his shoulder, "Huh..." She said easily, "That's pretty. Who was it? " she asked bluntly with a small laugh as though she was joking, tilting her head to the side. She had seen the boy painting from the top of the hill, and had teleported here to get a closer look. Her red hair was let down today, and she pushed her black glasses up her nose a touch further. She didn't yet see any need to address the boy with a hello or a nice to meet you. Not yet anyway.

"You know," She began, "Painting while the sun is setting will only mean that your colours are going to turn out more washed out. They look vibrant here, but everything does..." She told him, giving advice, her finger resting below her lip in thought.

After a moment of looking at his work, Secernia shrugged and started to pace beside him, walking a few feet in either direction, "I'm sorry to bother you, I hope you don't mind the touch of criticism, It's not personal." She added with a smile.

[Gleam]

Jacob started when the girl just appeared behind her shoulder, mometarily set aback by the blatant usage of a Power. He hadn't yet seen one in action and this one was rather abrupt in nature. "No one. It is abstract." he said as he recovered, blinking. "If it was an actual person the focus on the construction of the hand would be lost in exchange for the consideration of what the person in the picture is thinking."

He shook his head to clear it, and regained his moderate smile. "And besides, this is not a masterpiece. If it turns out well enough I will begin again with a second canvas and take more care with the skin tone, though."

A pause. "And as I am a professional amateur," Jacob noted, "criticism is something I take rather little offense from - I'd have to know what I'm doing for that to occur."

[Secernia]

Secernia stop pacing for a moment as he spoke, listening to his wording very carefully. He seemed to come across as well educated by Secernia's initial assessment, although that didn't mean too much.

"I suppose it would, however the construction of the hand itself could easily be seen conveying the emotions of the person whom the hand belongs to... Ever consider that? I mean," She pointed to the outwardly stretching gripping motion that the hand was making, "Surely you can see that this is a desperate reach for assistance, the person who this hand belongs to wish to be rescued from this horrible burning fate. Perhaps as well, it could be deciphered as simply a gesture to question an unknown authority why the subject had to die or be at least brutally injured by the flames in so horrifying a fashion..."

Secernia stopped for a moment to laugh, "Oh I'm sorry! I get carried away," She looked him in the eyes as she spoke, her own a dark red colour that could be easily confused with brown, like a scab. "It's good to see that you don't take criticism too harshly. After all, it's important that you learn from critics, in any work one might do." She smiled in a sort of care-free way and began pacing as well, clasping her hands behind her back and straightening her arms as she walked back and forth.

"Do you aspire to be an artist then? Pardon me," She released her grip on her own hands, and offered one of her own to him, returning from her pacing journey, "My name is Secernia," She said politely with a nod, her eyes not leaving his, "May I ask for yours?" She said with a playful smirk.

[/justify]

[Gleam]

Jacob tilted his head. "Or, it's the choking veneer of humanity as it burns away and reveals . . . some kind of truth, that the hand wishes to reveal." He shrugged. "What that is, I can't say. I haven't finished yet. Definitely - desperation, though. Of some sort."

He adds a tiny blue lick of plasma into the webbing of the thumb, where it eats away at the skin like a starved dog. "I don't plan to be professional." he said absently. "I am a long-time amateur, and I think that dissecting what creates beauty too much would ruin my ability to partake in it. I prefer to . . . wonder."

Jacob smiled, a hint of wry irony curling the corner of his mouth up, and he turned to bow to the new girl. "Jacob Oslo Khorwa." he answered. "I presume you're another student of the isle."

[Secernia]

"I can definitely see the desperation." Secernia said in a matching tone, slyly making a snide remark while simultaneously referring to his art. The art speaks of the artist, she almost said.

"Wondering is very important, I agree... but surely, you'd want some sort of recognition?" She wondered, "I mean, if you perfected your partaking of beauty and represented what your eyes witnessed and your soul felt... Would you want others to see it?" She watched him with almost an air of caution, unsure how this man worked yet.

Whenever he went to bow to her, Secernia was left quite confused, her hand left hanging in the air. She soon placed it back at her side, "Lovely to meet you, Jacob. Yes, I am another student. I've been here for the past 3 years..." She smiled, "Have you learned your way around the campus yet? I'd be happy to show you the essential places, after all, I know this place like the back of my hand." She tempted, a welcoming laugh following her offer.

[/justify]

[Gleam]

Jacob glanced aside as he smoothed his face out - he'd almost laughed. "Touche." he replied, giving the point to his companion.

"As for recognition: no." He shook his head, unhesitant. "Applause is temporary. Acclaim is fickle. And it all remains just a secondary cause of the real goal: satisfaction." Jacob flicked his brush into the paint, collecting a dab of black. "Why should I let someone else decide the worth of my effort?"

A glance between Secernia and the painting left Jacon indecisive for a moment, but whim won out, and he nodded and set down his palette. "I admit the few directions I have recieved so far have been - insufficient. I'd be glad for your guidance in this matter and campus, Miss Secernia."

[Secernia]

Secernia noticed that he had withheld laughter, but decided not to question it for now. Surely there are oddities about everyone. Some things people simply weren't interested in discovering.

She watched him curiously as he spoke about not wanting any recognition. "I suppose it is entirely up to the person," She said fairly, "Whether or not they want to allow someone else to decide the worth of their effort... But I've always seen that well, if a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it..." She grinned, not needing to finish.

"Perfecto," She sounded, continuing to grin, "I do love a good escapade. You know, I wouldn't brag, but I'm quite a good tour guide. After all, I can take you anywhere." She said, watching him. "Shall we leave now? Surely you need to put your things away. Where is it that you're staying at the moment then? We can stop off there." She began, starting to walk ahead before realizing that she was being rude.

She appeared back where she was before and started to help him clear the art away careful not to let her hands touch anything vital to the art. She was wearing shorts appropriate for summer, and had on a blouse that was quite low cut. However, if a male gaze occurred, they might be surprised to find a large thick permanent scar down the center of her chest, right up to nearly her collar bone, that she had no intention of hiding.

[Gleam]

"Then no one knows it tripped." Jacob finished for her cheerfully, as he cleaned up the rest of his paint and set the easel down, and then drew off the wax paper he'd been using to keep the paint seperated. He crumpled it into a ball and tossed it into a nearby garbage can, and then carefully set a shutter over the painting, preserving it until a time when he could pick it up again.

"That will be fine for the moment - I imagine I will come back and retrieve it later tonight." Jacob said, as he turned and inclined his head to Secernia, as he planted a hand on his hip and cocked it. "I am, momentarily, in your care, miss. Where shall we go?"

[Secernia]

Secernia smiled, "Grand so, this works out marvelously ." She said, thinking of placed that needed to be known. "Well, surely you have a dorm room? You'll also need to probably learn where the infirmary is, because injuries are, well..." She paused for a moment, "In a school for those with superhuman abilities, injuries are frequent." She explained.

"Then, there is the Principles office, as well as the classrooms, and I'll show you how the rooms are devided into blocks..." She paused for yet another moment and looked over to him, "I mean really, it's totally up to you." She beamed to him, "I mean, if you'd like we could see the whole campus from somewhere high up and I could show you each building from an aerial view?"

She seemed to simply ramble off ideas from the top of her head, but she looked over to him as though she was waiting to hear not only his decision, but his own imput as to what he would like to see and know.

[/justify]

[Gleam]

Jacob nodded. "Dorm five, though I have not had time to do anything besides hang my clothing up and set the sheets out. And, ah . . . yes, show me the infirmary. I tend to be the one carrying people to it, and I don't care to spend a half-hour staggering around with a punch-drunk teenager on my back trying to find the bandage room."

"How open is Solstice about powers, by the by?" he asked, curious. "I've seen a lot of casual displays, but I don't know if that's just freshman novicery or a standard policy on the grounds."

[Secernia]

Secernia laughed lightly at what he said about carrying teens. "Well you can't be too careful you know..." She said truthfully. Really, one couldn't. Not with herself and Kikime and all the other horribles out there.

"Solstice about powers? Well, It's not just freshman novicery, although they tend to think they are the shit with having them when they get here. The policy is that you can use them whenever you like." She looked around at the tropical exterior, "There aren't any limitations on it. However," She said slowly, adding, "You aren't exactly meant to use them on other students to really harm them. Even for training in classes, there isn't real danger. Teachers come prepared for these things..."

A wry grin covered her face for a moment but she quickly replaced it before he would have noticed, Secernia hoped. "Although, there are some people," She said, putting a worried look on, "That don't really listen to the rules... I mean, I know some people who are horrible really, they don't know where to draw the line... But I'm sure," She continued, giving a sigh, "They won't cause you any hassle."

"So, Infirmary it is then." She said, back to her usual self as easy as anything, pretending really that she didn't want to worry him with details.

[Gleam]

"I have no doubt that they will get themselves into tangles, and that they will pay the consequences thereof." Jacob replied, unworried. "The point of such an isolated academy is to limit the number of people that get terminated in case of a total failure, I'd think. Though that's the far morbid conclusion."

He raises both hands in a spreading motion. "I am notoriously inoffensive." he admitted, or perhaps, jested. "People are rarely disagreeable once you agree with them. Or find what they want. It's a matter of finding the right . . . hm. I don't wish to give offense."

He tilts his head as he thinks.

"The right story for the right audience, I suppose." he said. "Sliding between the cracks and sutures of their lives, rather than stomping all over them."

[Secernia]

Secernia seemed to agree with him really. "The right story the right audience, I do understand what you mean..." She said simply, not going into any more detail than that. She noticed that he didn't say much about his own life, and realized that this easily could become a very annoying endeavor for her if he didn't open up a little.

She was surprised that he had such a negative view about the academy's purposes. "Well I am surprised you think that if things don't work out, they'll just gas the place." She let out a laugh perhaps at an inappropriate time, and realizing this she apologized, "I'm sorry, dark humour." She explained with a small grin.

"You can say it you know," She pressed, "I'm sure I won't be offended anyway." She said, seeming warm.

[Gleam]

"With helium, perhaps." Jacob replied, with raised eyebrows. "Lord only knows how many voices are cracking all over the campus right now. The admistration must want to spare the student body the trouble of hearing those warbles."

He turned to regard Secernia as they walk. "Say what now?" he questioned, his head tilted. "You are certainly amiable enough, but I've no reason to put your good nature to the test."

[Secernia]

Secernia laughed, "Yes, I suppose so. But surely you are being somewhat hypocritical? I mean, it was probably only a couple of years ago that that was you. I'm sure you remember it." She teased.

At the idea of testing Secernia's good nature she let out a playful laugh. "I'm curious at to what you were going to say..?" She wondered. It was the reason she pressed it in the first place after all, because, "It's a matter of finding the right.. what..."

Secernia considered pausing and offering to teleport over to the infirmary, but quickly dismissed it thinking he would deny. After all, she was meant to show him around by foot. "After you know the way by foot, I'll show you the whole school from a different perspective..." She promised.

[Gleam]

Half of Jacob's persistent smile just slid off his face, leaving it awkward. "Yes, yes it was a couple years ago. Please . . . don't remind me. I hit that wall headfirst."

He tilted his head and then nodded. "The right person to be." he answered finally. "A teacher wants a good student, a loner wants a friend who keeps their distance, a scholar wants a peer. Just a matter of softening the edges until you slide right in."

Jacob's smile finally recoveredafter its crash. "Would that aerial view include terminal veloocity or not?"

[Secernia]

Secernia laughed, "I'm sure." She said in reaction to his wall-hitting. It was the next part that was far more interesting to the girl. "How interesting..." She said with a hint of sincerity. This was a rare thing, no doubt, to experience speaking with Secernia. Few had the 'privilege', if one might call it that.

"I do agree that it is important not to push anyone's buttons unless it's necessary." She chimed in, seeming to be searching for something positive to say about the comments without making her own perspective on the subject in any way unusual.

It was what one did once they were 'in' with the person was, Secernia assumed, what made the difference. This boy didn't seem particularly to come across as the type that would, once 'in', proceed to twist and turn and form back into a shape that would prove delightfully detrimental to the holes he entered. Then again, how this boy came across, Secernia had learned, didn't have any correlation to how he actually was. Secernia would know.

The redhead laughed at his suggestion. "Terminal velocity? I don't think it would." She said with a grin, continuing to look him in the eyes as she spoke. "Trust me," She began, "Teleporting isn't going to kill you."

[/justify]

[Gleam]

Jacob hummed, then began to speak in rhythmic meter, the words familiar and memorized:

"I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us � don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.
How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!"

He smiled afterward. "Emily Dickenson. Charming lady."

Jacob inclined his head. "Very well then, captain." he said, wry. "What is required to get above the skyline, then?"

[Secernia]

Secernia listened with mild surprise as he read out a memorized poem. She smiled over to him, "Wow, that's quite impressive, you must really be into your poetry..." She said.

Laughing, she responded, "Is Charming Lady the name of the poem? Or were you directing that to me?" She teased, seeming light hearted. She held out her hand to him then, "Well, Myself and whatever it is that I'm touching teleports... I'll take us to a rooftop." She said, smirking.

[Gleam]

"Time on my hands." Jacob said with a shrug. "Dickenson is memorable enough that it wasn't a trial to remember. And, ah, Dickenson's poems don't have titles, actually, so anyone who refers them just says the first line instead."

He glanced at Secernia's hand, then cracked a grin and reached out to take Secernia's hand with his own pianist's grip, the long, deft fingers distinct, then raised an eyebrow at her. "Onward, then. I am in your care, I would suppose, Secernia."

[Secernia]

When Jacob's hand went to touch Secernia's, she heard the whispers in her ear, a thousand voices speaking a thousand languages, but one she recognized and one speaking his secret. H-h-he kills to l-l... LIVE. His lives belong t-t-to others. Don't... Tell. and she grew from this an understanding of his power, as though Daidamus' voice said more to her without words. She saw in her mind for a split second an old man on his death bed, and then the young man at his side doubling over and convulsing. Interesting... She thought to herself.

Anyone paying attention might notice while these thoughts crossed her mind a momentary pause, a flicker of the eye, but that would be all.

She then smiled at Jacob. "I suppose you are..." She said simply, before activating her power to teleport, bending her knees to brace herself for the impact, blinking and imagining another place. Exactly where it was that she wanted to go.

They were now standing on the edge of the main building, looking out at the distant sea. Secernia let out a sigh, letting go of his hand, the wind picking up and tugging her hair in whatever direction it pleased. "Lovely up here, isn't it." She grinned. "You can see for miles. You'd nearly want to spend an eternity looking at the sea... or at least, I've heard such things being said." She said lightly.

[/justify]

[Gleam]

Jacob blinked and jumped as they landed atop the school rooftop; he released a nervous chuckle as he glanced around. "I - ah. That is certainly abrupt. I didn't feel any sort of transition."

He gripped his wrist behind his back and glanced over at the sea, pacing over to the edge of the roof. "It is quite pretty isn't it?" he said. "Though, given the tendency of a coastline to change shape and depth, I'm not quite sure one could spend an eternity watching it."

[Secernia]

Secernia shrugged, "Yes, it is abrupt, but I personally prefer that. It's a lot more useful to simply appear where you want to be, as opposed to making a pop, or any sort of onomatopoetic transition. I haven't a clue the science behind it, but I do find the ability particularly useful..." She said in a conversationalist tone.

She nodded at his comment about the beauty of the place, "Well, if anything though, the constant change would mean that it wouldn't become boring. Though, I personally wouldn't be able for it. It's not a big enough change to interest me. I like things happening fast." She explained.

She stepped away from the edge of the building, and turned to look over at one of the other sides, "If you see over there, that's Soto's Forest. It was man-made, you can tell by the way the trees go in lines in places..." She said, pointing to the mass of trees in the distance. "They must have brought the saplings over from different countries as well, because as far as I can tell they aren't indigenous..." She was taking her roll of tour guide surprisingly seriously.

[Gleam]

Jacob frowned as he considered. "Sounds like asymptotic freedom." he said. "Some kind of . . . decentralized colour confinement reaction that transfers the gluons across an infinitely wide gulf, rather than the standard one to three femtometers. Power is based in . . . "

He closes his eyes and thinks for a moment.

"I'm pretty sure it's just a QCD flux tube." he said, glancing over at Secernia. "Only because the distance is in conventional units, the transfer is instantaneous. The components of you are catapulted via the strong force to a location marked by some . . . gluon tracer. That's the part I can't guess at."

His brow still furrowed in thought, he glances over at the trees. "So is the forest just ornamental or is it here to support that indigenous species? The native amphibians, I can't remember their name. I've seen them quite frequently already, and they're oddly fascinating."