Shiro & Angel, Monday evening

[x-sanfuaiyaa.livejournal.com]

After a mild plasma-related incident, Shiro gets to meet his powers double. It's his second new friend in two weeks. Aww.


Shiro had always been very proud over the control he held over his mutation. He understood how dangerous it could be if not held in check, and though he often let little things slip, like objects suddenly melting or boiling when he got frustrated, he had only once completely lost it. And that was many years before learning more than he thought possible at Xavier's.

Now he sat underneath a willow tree in the front of the mansion. Or what had once been a willow tree. It was, as well as the grass around him, now black and charred, the result of a brief loss of his currently tenuous hold on his powers. He'd discarded the remnants of his shirt, and his pants resembles Tidus', with one leg much longer than the other.

He sighed and shut his eyes, trying to drift back into a the meditative state he'd held briefly before the mini blow up. He looked almost like Buddha there, unhealthily skinny and covered in ash while trying to commune with whatever lies beyond nature. Except for the part where he was obviously incredibly angry about something. Not so Buddha-esque there.

"Um, are you alright?"

Angel stopped just a few feet away and stared at him curiously. She knew who he was though she really hadn't been able to talk to him lately. Not surprising considering how stressed out he had to be. She'd been chasing butterflies—if someone asked, she was trying to take pictures but, really, she'd done it because it had been fun—when she'd noticed the flames going up.

She'd expected Amara but found Shiro instead. Before she reached the scorched earth, she'd gotten rid of her socks and shoes since the ground might not have cooled off yet. So now she was standing, toes digging into ashy remains of grass, and looking quite concerned.

The crunch of the footsteps on the dead grass announced Angel's arrival before her voice, so Shiro wasn't jarred out of his peace. Which was a good thing, because he doubted the tree could take another blast. "A little off," he admitted. "You are another new pyrokinetic, correct? Sorry if this startles you." They really didn't need another fire manipulator freaking out.

"I'm not startled," Angel replied honestly. "Accidents happen and all that jazz. But, yeah, add me to the list of the fire starters. I'm Angel." She poked the ground with her toe and grimaced at the ashy feeling. Ew. That was gross. "Kyle says I'm nearly as laid back as he is which takes effort so no freaking out on my end."

Oh gods. A girl pyrokinetic Kyle? That was a frightening concept. "Shiro," he introduced himself, shivering, suddenly quite aware that he was half-naked outside in the middle of a New York October and that his powers weren't doing their job in keeping him warm. "And I do not usually dress like this, either. That was another fluke."

Her mouth twitched, just a little bit, and she sat down just a few feet away from him. A thin blue line shimmered into existence around her and Angel concentrated, bringing up the warmth that she usually trapped inside her. She was gaining control but she still needed to be careful. "Consider me your personal camp fire," she said cheerfully. It was odd pushing her power outward instead of drawing it back in.

Shiro pulled up his knees to his chest, part to keep himself warm and part for the sake of modesty. "How do your powers work?" he asked, trying to think of conversation so he wasn't just sitting outside partly undressed with an underage girl he'd just met. "Did Doctor MacTaggart highlight the appropriate paragraphs in her Big Textbook o' Mutations?"

Giggling, she nodded. "I got enough reading material to last me until my funeral. But I generate microwaves, that's the source of my heat and fire. And my fire's blue which makes me special." But she was laughing at herself when she said that. "What about you?"

"Sunlight into plasma," he explained simply. "I don't think I have ever made blue fire before. Except when I go boom, but I try to avoid that." He eyed his surroundings suspiciously. "Some days it finds me, however."

Angel patted her stomach. "Sometimes it's like I have a small dragon in my stomach," she described. "Most of the time I can sit on it and make it behave but every once in a while..." She glanced around. Never to that extent, thankfully.

"Energy projection is simply the most fun-filled family of mutations," Shiro explained, though she probably knew that already. He flicked his wrist, igniting the air around his right hand and gazing into the red-gold flames licking his fingers. "Do you fly?"

Shaking her head, Angel lifted her hands and soon a small blue flame was dancing in her palms. "No, not yet. And I dunno, I don't think I ever will. Doc MacTaggart mentioned it as a possibility but not so much as one inch off the ground yet."

"Would you like to?" Shiro asked. "We seem to have some pretty similar manifestations. Maybe you could, and it is simply a matter of properly pushing yourself. I could help . . ." Never mind the fact that he could barely levitate now. He at least knew how, and maybe helping someone else learn control would help him relearn his.

If it was possible, her face seemed to brighten. "I'd really like that," she said shyly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Actually, any help would be wonderful because I can learn a lot from you. Similar powers and all."

Shiro couldn't help but smile. He'd assist another mutant further develop her powers, which would be good for both her and those around her, as well as compensation to Xavier for abusing his trust so many times. And at the same time, he would help himself. What is it with these young, hyper kids being catalysts to becoming better people? "I am not at my personal best now, but as soon as these explosions stop, I would be more than happy to help you as best I know how."

"Any time that's good for you is good for me," Angel assured him, lightly juggling the ball of fire between her hands. "Unless 'good for you time' is like 3 in the morning and then, sorry bucko, but you're on your own." She giggled.

Shiro let out a brief laugh. "I promise you won't have to worry about that. Abusing you is no way to teach you. I am not Pai Mei and this is not some Kurosawa film."

"I...have no idea who Pai Mei is or what Kurosawa films are." Angel glanced at him. "You're not going to chuck me into a lake, are you?"

Shiro sighed, biting back a comment about lack of civility. "First, Kurosawa was one of the most brilliant directors of the twentieth century. And second, I will reserve that particular training technique for the sadists."

Under no circumstance would she tell Shiro that Pai Mei sounded like something she'd ordered last week when she'd gotten take out. "I like films," Angel said. "They don't interest me quite as much as photography but it's interesting. Maybe you could show me one of those films? And yeah, no sadist teaching for me, thank you. I don't want fluffy happy bunny teachers, that'd be kinda creepy, but no other extreme either."

"Are you kidding? I have his entire collection." Extinguishing the flames, Shiro pulled himself to his feet. "I hope you like foreign films."

Angel grinned up at him as she scrambled to her feet, dusting her pants off. "Love them," she responded, telling the truth. "You go get the movie ready...and, uh, some pants on....and I'll go get the popcorn!"