Fickle Fortune [.open.]

It was an extreme sort of adjustment, one that Felix had mixed feelings about. Even though his enrollment at Foresta had been completely voluntary (self-imposed, even), he was not liking the severe cut to his personal freedom. Even as he wandered up to the roof, he was reconsidering his options.

"Pro. More companionship from people my own age. Con. Some of these new companions might not be fun playmates. Pro. Time to work on my ability without having to worry about room and board. I can do personal projects. Con. There is a limit to privacy. I will need to find a nice hidey-hole for my experimentation." He was pacing now, the wind catching on the loose coattails that hung down to his ankles.

The coat, while odd, was not overtly amazing. It was a rich russet color, a bit billowy at the ends. Obviously fabric, though. There were extra belty bits that slung over his upper arms and fastened to the front and back of the torso, but those looked like mere decoration. The collar was oversized and the buttonholes embellished with a pale ivory fabric. Overall, it was smart, but well-worn.

Underneath, he wore a simple olive green button-up with brown toggle-like buttons and a pair of deeper brown trousers. The same deep brown color continued in his boots and underbelt- he wore a second belt with pouches full of the things he kept in emergency reserve. Overall, he looked like he belonged in the woods. He had tied his hair back with a bit of leather. This leather had some runes stamped into it, which might have been just an interesting fashion statement.

He wore a single piece of jewelry: a ring set with a large garnet on the index finger of his right hand. He idly rubbed this with his thumb as he continued to pace. "Pro. I will get a degree. Con. I don't really need a degree to earn a living and all of these classes will seriously hinder my preferred schedule."

In the cold light of winter, his brown eyes took on an amber gleam. He stopped pacing to look out over the snow-covered grounds. The silence overtook him and he stood there for a few minutes before deciding. "Pro. Guess I'll stay. For now."

Blazing with intense heat was one way to describe Sandra’s dorm room. Since she had moved into her dorm room she hadn’t quite figured out a preferred temperature she wanted to keep it at. Considering it was quite the small room in comparison to her old room back at home she had a lot of adjustments she had to account for as of now. She tried her best to match the average temperature of the human body with a couple of heat lamps she brought from home. It proved unsuccessful as her body became overheated way too fast. She had to escape to somewhere cold before her blunder would cause her to expel a ring of flame.

Sandra dashed out of the ruby’s dorm area and rushed out onto the roof to absorb the cool air outside. It was not often that she went outside when the weather was so cold and it wasn’t exactly a smart idea under regular circumstances. This was not a regular circumstance and she had enough heat stored that it wasn’t too dangerous to walk outside. She sighed with relief as she thought she might have just prevented a large scale fire from burning down the school. She mentally made a note that she should probably decorate her room with some fire retardant wallpaper before she completely settled in.

She wore a big poufy sweater that looked incredibly comfortable and warm. It was laced with fuzzy fabric that could probably melt a snowman within seconds of wearing it. She also wore large mitts made grabbing anything a colossal hassle. She always wore outfits that would make someone think she was ready for a blizzard, but for her it was completely necessary.

Sandra noticed she was not the only one on the roof top. There was another boy, who seemed like he was talking to himself. Perhaps there was another person here he was talking to, but she didn’t see any. She checked a couple times to reassure herself. “Oh man, is it ever cold out” she stated as she approached the man. She wasn’t sure how else to introduce herself into this conversation, so she went with that. Hopefully the man doesn’t shoot her down before she even began to learn about him because so far he seemed a bit intriguing. Maybe she had watched too many action movies, but she sort of found interest in crazed people who babble amongst themselves.

Felix didn't even flinch when the girl approached and addressed him. Instead, he stilled just before turning to look at who had disrupted his alone time. Then he broke into an easy grin and replied, "It sure is." In a moment, he had measured the girl up.

His analysis had been cursory and almost dismissive, though his demeanor had not indicated anything of the sort. A lot of fabric protected her person from the same sort of inspection that he had given her face in a matter of seconds. She looked a bookish sort, with a long nose and big glasses. Definitely not the sort of person who dressed to impress or attract. The fact that she had put herself out there, breaking the ice by commenting first, seemed like the sort of thing that bespoke confidence.

"What brings you out into the chill?" She didn't strike him as a smoker. He also wondered how much she had heard, if she had actually overheard his monologue. "If you're seeking solitude, I'm afraid my presence makes that rather impossible, Miss-" He left the sentence hanging, indicating that he wanted to know her name.


|| Bleh, short. Sorry. Still getting used to this character at this age. ||

With the man’s approval of her introduction comment Sandra gave off a slight smirk. Her smile was mostly triggered by relief that he didn’t turn a blind eye to her or just returned her a snide comment on it being winter and always being cold. She had sort of expected that from him due to how he was situated on this roof to begin with, it added dramatic effect and she wasn’t sure if he was sort of that pretentious ‘I’m better than you’ kind of person. She has had many run-ins with those kinds, so that may be why she thought that immediately. Anyways, so far so good.

As she got closer to the man’s location, she grasped her thick glasses and removed them so that she could rub off the fog that built up on her lens. Her environment’s temperature had changed drastically so it was no wonder that such an occurrence happened so quickly. She placed them back onto her face with minor difficulty as her gloves restricted what she was able to do with her hands. She stopped at the ledge of the roof now almost next to the guy, but not too close as she still worried of a possible discharge that may come soon. She did not enjoy having such problems plague her mind, but it was sort of mandatory for the safety of the other person.

The man spoke once more asking a couple questions at once. One being what she was doing out here, a question even people who knew her would ask as it was not usually wise for her to be outdoors when snow was prominently on the ground. She was certainly not out here for solitude, in fact she had been itching to meet some people ever since she had arrived. Although setting her room up for her everyday life had gotten in the way of that. She decided her name should be the first to answer as it was the shorter of the two. The man asked it in a way that she had heard often enough through film. It was over used, but there were only so many ways you could ask for a person’s name without sounding ridiculous. “-Petric, Sandra if you’d prefer” she completed his sentence. She considered inserting a James Bond reference, but that seemed way too easy and really not that funny or original.

“I came out to cool off. My room’s temperature is a tab bit too high for my comfort. It sort of hard to explain without context of my ‘ability’, but trust me if I was in there for any longer than I was I could have set that entire wing a flame.”

(OOC: Don’t worry, I didn’t give you much to reply with anyway)

Felix leaned against the edge of the roof, careful lest the old stone should give. It seemed sound, though, so he eased into his casual position. He nodded when she introduced herself. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Sandra Petric. My name's Felix, but I've been stuck with so many nicknames that you could call me pretty much anything and I'd respond." Alas, a sometimes-unfortunate result of living as he had for most of his life. Between the tricks he played as a child and the odd lifestyle he had retained for the year or so before his arrival at Foresta, he had racked up quite a few names. Not all of them were complimentary.

He tilted his head in interest as Sandra explained why she was on the roof. He leaned forward into his response, asking, "What is your ability, if it's not rude of me to ask?" He shifted his weight back suddenly as the block he was leaning on twisted a little from the different angle of force. It wasn't enough to make him nervous or to make him reconsider his posture.

Felix knew it was better to let her explain than to assume. If she were worried about setting things on fire, the simplest explanation would be a mere fire-bending sort of power. However, he knew from experience that life was not about the simple explanations.

The scar on his back itched. It was a phantom itch that he knew well- no amount of scratching would ease. The only option was to ignore it. Still, he allowed a small measure of his discomfort to show in a periodic fidget that moved nothing but his shoulders. The cold itself didn't bother him too much. It lent a rosy color to his cheeks and nose and he was forced to bury his hands in his pockets in order to keep them warm. His breath came out with little puffs of water vapor, the very "smoke clouds" that he used to pretend were dragonsbreath in his childhood.

The man who labeled himself as Felix gave a strange response to her introduction. He apparently had so many nicknames that she could call him basically anything and he would respond. She wanted to try that out as quickly as possible. It was just something so peculiar that she couldn’t simply glance over. She had only one nickname before and that was Sandy, which she didn’t enjoy being called. It just seemed dumb as Sandra had the same amount of syllables as Sandy, so it wasn’t like it was a faster way of saying her name.

Sandra noticed how unstable the blocks that the other boy had been leaning on were, so she mentally questioned whether or not she should try the same thing. Instead she kept her somewhat good posture in a sort of straight up position. She folded her arms at the midway section of her torso between her chest and stomach to keep some heat on her. She wanted to cool off, but not to dangerous levels for her body, besides she might be outside for a little while. She snorted at bit at his statement of being rude “Rude of you? It would be rude of me to bring up my power and not explain it to you” She answered quickly.

Before she could continue on and give the man what he asked for, Sandra felt an uncomfortable churn in her stomach. It was definitely a pain she was familiar with, it was something that was usually paired with a flare discharge. It wasn’t something she always felt before she released a ring of flame, but every time she felt it she knew what to expect. She sort of went wide eyed and began to back away from the other person slowly. “Oh shit, you may want to back away Rudy. Your answer is about to come.” She continued a backward motion to avoid burning her new found acquaintance.

From her stomach region a small ring of fire that seemed to be originated from her skin began to form. It almost looked as though she was wearing a belt made of fire around her lower torso. The flames flickered around her stomach area and lower back and did not leave the surface of her body just yet. Once three seconds had past, flames erupted from the areas in which the fire had started and it shot out a couple of meters in length. When the fire had shot out it detached from her body and took flight into the air, the flames became thinner and thinner as it traveled through the cold air. Luckily for Sandra, the two were situated on the roof and it was mostly made of brick, but she wasn’t sure if Felix was far enough from the blast zone.

The boy listened to Sandra's response, appreciating the contrast of bluntness and polite intention. Sandra was a study in contrasts, particularly with difference between what her appearance would create in expectations and the reality. His eyebrows shot up when she started backing away from him.

"Wait, what are-" he started to ask, but she told him that he might want some distance. He smirked at the nickname, but his movements were a bit belated since he didn't want to push too hard on the brick when he shifted his weight to back up.

In hindsight, his reaction was a little bit dramatic. However, Felix found that flinging himself off the roof and out of the way of the fire was completely justified. The damned coat was a bitch to make and he would have been rather upset had it gotten singed. A bit of the brick came off with him and he was going to have a pretty spectacular bruise on his jaw where a piece hit him.

As he hurtled to the ground, he closed his eyes. Was he worried? No, he'd done this maneuver many times before, often to facilitate a deal. The long tails of his coat changed subtly at first, growing feathery and then gaining more structure. A couple yards off the ground, the wings fully manifested and caught him. He glided out a ways, then gained altitude. Once, flying had been a novelty and he had delighted in it, especially swooping low over crowds of normal people. Now, it had lost much of its appeal.

Felix flew back to the roof, thinking about Sandra's power. Interesting. So it was fire-related, but it didn't seem like she meant to blast him. So, what was that? He gained the roof and touched down softly on the raised wall area on the edge (not anywhere near the weak place where he'd been leaning), keeping his distance from Sandra just in case she wasn't quite through blasting fire yet. Grinning at her, he commented, "Rudy is a new one, I have to admit." The wings slowly transformed back into cloth. "So your power has something to do with fire, but I'm afraid that I haven't quite grasped the extent of what you can do."

The last of the brick dust came off his coat in a small, rusty cloud as Felix brushed it off. "Thank you for the warning, by the way."

The heat within the air quickly vanished as the cool wind took its place once more. Sandra sighed in a mildly angered manner as she tried to recuperate from her flame pulse. It didn’t matter how many times she had to go through it, it still felt unsettling every time it happened. The boy seemed to have disappeared suddenly because she wasn’t really able to see during her burst, so she was a bit uncertain whether or not he had been harmed.

She quickly investigated her own body first for any stray flames that might have caught on her clothing. She started with the area where the blast originated from and noticed that most of the bottom half was burnt off exposing her belly. She threw her head up into the sky in disapproval and moaned quietly “Aw man, I really liked this sweater too.” The idea that it probably wasn’t good for her to be outside crossed her mind, since she was now easily exposed to the cold temperature, but Felix’s current condition was still unknown.

Sandra turned her head leftward while scoping out the area in search for where her comrade had gone. It seemed to be he was nowhere on the roof. He gracefully came down from the sky and apparently he acquired a set of wings from somewhere sometime after the blast. It made a bit more sense when he landed and the wings dropped and suddenly became his coat tails again. It probably had something to do with his ability. It felt sort of strange for her to accept that sort of reasoning instead of criticizing it. “Oh don’t worry about that, my ability is sort of vague to me as well. All I know is that I shouldn’t be overly hot or that happens and I can’t hold onto people for over an hour or their core body temperature will become so low that they might die. My dad says that I’m basically a ‘heat sponge’. I don’t try to overly think about it because I’m still uncertain on what I should or shouldn’t do to prevent my body from exploding.” She noted the distance he kept from her and she saw that as a sort of smart idea on his part.

Sandra folded her arms once more, nearly the same as it was before except this time she slide her arms a little further down to hide the skin that was showing. She wasn’t embarrassed by it so much as it was making her feel kind of cold and warmth was something she really needed. “There is a bit more to what my powers entail, but it is a bit much to sum up in one sitting.”

Far be it for Felix to judge destructive powers. Sure, his had been mostly self-destructive after the first few incidents, but he knew what it was to not be able to trust oneself, and to not know the exact extent of one's powers. He noted that her sweater had been damaged by the blast. If Sandra had been anything but a student, he might have offered his services. However, he was pretty sure she would not have been able to afford his often exorbitant prices.

The boy tilted his head as he listened to her explanation of how her power might work. It was very vague indeed, as well as not really exploitable. Don't think that. Everybody is exploitable. He offered a small smile and asked, "And... how often do you... ah... explode?" If he had been in her place, he might have considered taking things scientifically, but perhaps there were too many variables to test. His own powers had been difficult and dangerous to test the limits of. The scar, his hair, and his eyes were all testaments to this fact.

A prudent question on his part. If it were a regular occurrence, he might have to take measures to protect his own garb if he wished any further acquaintance with Sandra. Furthermore, the answer would dictate whether he needed to retain his distance or if he could hop off his ledge and continue this conversation in a more comfortable speaking distance.

Felix frowned suddenly, realizing that, despite her wish to be outside to escape the heat of her room she now seemed cold. Or embarrassed... but Sandra was too blunt to be embarrassed. Her matter-of-fact attitude would certainly clash with that sort of shyness. "Is it safe for you to return inside? Perhaps you could expand upon your summary in a less chilly venue." If she were any other girl, or maybe any person whose powers were not so destructive, he might have offered his jacket.

On second thought, probably not.

Sandra began to subtly shiver due to the length of time she had been outside. It wasn’t too terribly long, but given that she discharged a little while earlier her core body temperature was lowering quickly. It wasn’t at dangerous levels at the moment, but no doubt it would be in a couple of minutes. There was a draft of chilling wind sneaking up her back since she had left her lower back area exposed. Her head twitched briefly due to her surprise and discomfort by it. She removed one of her arms that covered her front and relocated it to her back in an attempt to stop the wind from catching her off guard again.

Her attention went back to Felix as he began to speak again. It seemed slightly odd for him to continue to question Sandra on her powers, but given what she was able to do and the fact she wasn’t able to control it she thought it seemed reasonable. She looked up with her eyes and licked her top row of teeth as she began to think about how she should answer his question. Her eyes honed back onto him afterwards. “Well, usually it’s a bi-weekly sort of thing, but it usually depends on how much heat I’ve absorbed. There is no exact time for sure because it sometimes spans between two weeks to a whole month for my next… er discharge to arrive.” Her facts were more so gathered from what other people have told her about her ability, not so much stuff she had figured out on her own. Well besides the time it takes for her to explode again because she usually tries to keep on top of that and plan ahead.

The man offered the suggestion that they should return inside right about now, which was something she could easily agree with. However his overwhelming politeness just seemed odd for his shady appearance. Maybe she was just stereotyping, but it was something that briefly bothered her. “I believe it should be safe. And nah dude, I’ve already explained a good amount of my ability to you, you gotta elaborate on whatever it is you’re able to do” she retorted smoothly.

Sandra began a slow pace toward the entrance to the school waiting for her companion to flow. “By the way, Rudy is what I’m going to refer to you as for now on and no else is going to get that privilege” she stated jokingly even though she was completely sincere about her comment.

Felix absorbed the information about her discharges. It was reassuring enough that he nodded and hopped down lightly from his perch. Sandra was looking more and more uncomfortable with being outside, and he had no real reason to be on the roof if he wasn't going to be alone. He straightened his clothes and grinned slyly at Sandra.

"I never agreed to such an exchange." One of his eyebrows quirked upwards. "Do you consider yourself entitled to knowledge about me since you've said so much about yourself?" He never had real intentions to divulge any substantial or telling information about himself. Like being alone, it was a personal choice he made often. But, he was feeling charitable. He suavely softened what he'd said earlier, "Tell you what. You can guess all you like. Maybe I'll tell you if you guessed correctly."

He shook his head at her assertion that she would call him Rudy from now on. "It's not my favorite nickname, but if that's what you want to call me..." Here, he shrugged and finished, "By all means." Felix stepped past Sandra and opened the door for her. "After you, Lady Flame."

Sandra attempted to hide her smirk after Felix began to defend himself to avoid exchanging information on the subject of him. This was an indicator that he was more of an introvert and so was him talking to himself earlier. This new found information only made her even more intrigued. Sandra began to wonder how much it would take to break down his defensive layer, he seemed quite polite so it would at least be worth the effort. Though, he provided her with an easy access in the form of a game to guess his power. It made her wonder if he knew that she noticed him descending from the sky earlier.

She began to think as she walked through the door that the man had opened for her. Sandra acknowledged his deed with a soft smile and a nod directed toward him. Once she was within the walls of a warmly insulated building, she let her arms drop to her sides again and turned around to face the door awaiting for ‘Rudy’ to come through as well. “In my opinion, I think it’s one of your better nicknames” she announced to him as though she actually knew what else he would have been called. “It fits you so well.”

As she thought of her answer for Felix’s game, she analysed his outfit to see what she could pick up from it. The largest thing that stuck out for her was the man’s coat tails since she saw them transform from wings. That could either suggest some kind of shape shifting ability or that his coat was just enchanted. She had a hard time grasping the notion of magic (even in the strange world she lived in) so she thought it his power had something to do with the ability to shape shift objects or what was on his person. She grasped her chin and began to move her lips around slowly as she put the pieces together in her head. She let go quickly afterwards and reassumed her folded armed position. “Well, given the fact that you were able to change your coat into a flying mechanism… I would have to say you ability has something to do with shape shifting of some sort.” She was somewhat confident in her answer as it was the best of her knowledge about this guy. Although she had some reasoning to how she could be wrong. For example Felix might have been well aware that she saw his coat change into wing and let her play off of that, while he just so happened to own an enchanted jacket and his actual power was something else entirely.

Sandra was teasing him. If Felix had been the type of person to fly off the handle, this would have meant the end of the conversation. However, he prided himself on his ability to let many things slide like water off a duck's back. He merely answered, "Now I'll have to challenge myself to coming up with a similarly appropriate nickname for you." There was a couple that already came to mind, though they were less than complimentary. Felix appreciated more subtlety.

He followed her into the building and started down the stairs. He listened to her justification, and her guess. A smile played around his mouth and he inclined his head in acknowledgment of sound judgment. "A valid suggestion," he commented, "I have changed form quite a bit since acquiring my ability, yes." He wasn't sure how a shapeshifting abiliity would necessarily apply to garments, but anything was possible at this school. "Would you like a hint?"

Felix passed by a flyer for the masquerade dance and he paused to take a look at the details. "Interesting." He wondered if he would have enough time to throw something together before then. It would be an excellent opportunity to try out new designs he'd had in mind, but he would need ample time before then to make the necessary preparations and to cloister himself away from the general student body. "What is your opinion of such an event?" he asked Sandra. "Do you fancy the opportunity to hide your identity and get swept up in the elaborate fantasies of your peers for an evening? Or do you prefer to see the faces of those whose company you hold?"

He tried to imagine her in costume and failed. Sandra was so unequivocally herself. Then again, she might have it in her to surprise him.

Sandra followed Felix down the staircase closely so that they could still speak with one another easily. Sandra usually had a problem with not being too loud of a speaker, but this trait was not exactly noticeable within this interaction. It was strange, but she figured that her mumbling voice was probably only present when she was speaking with herself. The man she dubbed as ‘Rudy’ was already trying to think up a significant nickname for her, at least that meant she was getting somewhere with him. “I don’t know about nicknames, I usually don’t take a liking to them that well…” she stated lightly “then again, I haven’t had too many. You might be able to come up with a good one.”

Apparently her answer was incorrect, meaning she had to think back to square one. The man actually gave her another chance to guess, which was surprising to her as she thought it was a one off sort of deal. He offered a hint, but she refused to take it. “Nah man, I think I can figure this out. There’s nothing better than a good brain teaser.” Instantly her mind went to her film knowledge searching through the many titles she knew to try and figure this one out. Unfortunately none provided an answer or at least a plausible clue, but she didn’t really expect any to help her out much. Her eyes went back onto his jacket with the thought that something might come to her if she checked again. “It has something to do with that jacket of yours. You must have put some kind of spell on it or something; rather that or you have some sort of elaborate mechanism in it.”

What Sandra found most interesting in that flyer that Felix had found was that he was interested in it. A man who prefers the solitary lonesome of the roof and has barriers set up to avoid the spilling of his personal information found a ball interesting? It seemed a bit absurd, yet it spoke more about him than his outward appearance did.

Sandra took a quick peek at the item within Felix’s hands and read as much of it as she could before she could form an opinion on it. It seemed like a large social event, she might enjoy that, if only to meet the other students of the school. However, this meant large crowds of people and expensive fancy clothing, both of which her ability could ruin in a matter of seconds. The crowds got her more worried than the fancy clothing, but whatever money she would put towards some sort of suit or dress would come out of her movie money and she wasn’t sure how much of that she was willing to spend. “Hmm, good question. I could get away with a lot with a concealed identity, but then again what’s the point of doing something if no one knows it’s you? I think that I’d prefer to know the identity of the people whom I’ve spent an evening with. Mystery is fun, but to a certain extent it can get quite tedious quickly.” Her experience with mystery type films is where she basically pulled her opinion from, but she felt it could easily be applied into this situation. “It does seem like an interesting experience however.”

Felix warmed to the topic of nicknames, especially since it bothered Sandra so much. It seemed like a ridiculous double-standard and he commented, "Nicknames are never about whether the recipient likes them. I could always use your method of choosing a tangential statement in this conversation and choosing the name that most closely mirrors a word in it." He shrugged. "I'd have to know you better to choose a good one. You might get saddled with something like Spongy or Brainy otherwise."

He shrugged vaguely when she suggested that his jacket was the key to his power. His reaction was the same for this guess (though it was closer to the mark than the last). "Another valid suggestion. But perhaps this jacket is a gift." He smirked. "Wouldn't it be something if I had no powers?" The jacket would be the fastest way to convince others of his right to be there among them. Of course, he'd be in serious trouble if he didn't wear the jacket and was called upon to demonstrate.

Of course, that was neither here nor there.

As for the dance, he listened to her response with some interest. Of course she wouldn't see the point of incognito meddling. He, however, had all sorts of ideas that could be conducted... as long as he could figure out who the other maskers were. Since he was so new, he would have a bit of a problem recognizing everybody unless he put in some serious social overtime. He rubbed his chin, studying Sandra. "Interesting," he repeated. "So your enjoyment of brain teasers and guessing games doesn't extend to masquerades, hm?"