I swear I was looking at the guitar (Amber)

[Deleted]

The weather wasn't bad out, it had yet to fall below the 60s in Pilot Ridge, which for him still felt to be a fairly mild temperature. Devyn had the good fortune of not having to move too far when he came to Hammel, having been from Connecticut originally, that he didn't have much adjustment to make when it came to Vermont's weather.

So, as he noticed less and less people hanging out on the courtyard Devyn began to relish the less crowded days, taking the opportunity to work on homework somewhere other than the cluttered desk in the corner of his dorm room, well at least until the inevitability of winter drove him indoors as well.
There were very few people out today as well, the weather and the weekend playing a major factor in this, and Devyn was rather enjoying himself. Especially, since someone else was taking advantage of the vacant courtyard to play music. They were pretty good too, from what he could tell, but he wasn't the best judge of musical skill.

He'd been listening for a while, without looking to match face to sound, but eventually curiosity won out and he searched out the musician. He recognized the girl from around campus, but came up empty handed for much more that that simple sense of familiarity.

It wasn't hard to distract the young mimic, especially as he found himself focusing on the movement of her fingers over the strings of the guitar. When he finally pulled away from the extremely prolonged eye contact he was embarrassed to discover that he'd been caught by the girl.

His expression dropped a bit in surprise before he reschooled himself and offered a small wave and a smile, hoping she didn't think he was too much of a creep (especially since he wasn't sure if she could tell he'd been looking at the guitar and not..well something else).

"Sorry about that, got distracted listening to you."

[Amber Ignis]

Amber was still trying to hold onto the bits of fading summer. The young pyro hated the cold more than anything, and Vermont’s winters were much more brutal than New Jersey’s. Additionally, the school rarely closed due to intense snowfalls. On days when Amber would not be caught dead out of her home, she was still forced to go to class. But alas, she felt like she still had a few warm days left.

So on this day, she took her guitar and her songwriting notebook and brought it out to the courtyard after her classes. While she hated the cold weather, she had to admit that the changing fall leaves were exceptionally beautiful. The vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows reminded her of fire, which she obviously had a thing for. Soon the leaves would be brown and buried beneath snowfall, but for now Amber decided to take every chance to be out in the nature. It acted as a perfect muse for her songwriting. She found herself in a bit of a writer’s block this year so she thought that being outside might help alleviate that.

Upon entering the courtyard, she noticed how empty it was. She reckoned the cold scared off the people who were a bit more logical than her. But she was already here, so she committed to sitting in the middle of the courtyard, taking in the falling leaves, and writing a new song. Once sitting, she placed her guitar case next to her and took the piece out of its case. Immediately she began playing a soft tune that she had been working on. She didn’t have lyrics yet, but she loved how the melody sounded. She wasn’t sure how long she played around for, but soon enough she was lost in the music. She closed her eyes and moved her head along to the beat.

After a while, she opened her eyes, but she was still just as lost in the music…that is until she saw a boy across the way staring at her. She immediately jumped out of her trance with butterflies entering her stomach. She felt a flush come to her face, and then the boy smiled, waved, and apologized for staring. Not like Amber was surprised. She wasn’t cocky, but she knew she was good looking. This guy – who also happened to be very attractive – was clearly trying to flirt with her. And she would return the courtesy. “That’s okay,” she smiled. “Do you play too?

[Deleted]

The blush on his face faded rather quickly, which he was thankful for when the girl returned his greeting. He closed the book in his lab with a shake of his head, replacing it in his bookbag before he spoke, "No," he said with a shrug, "I'm not very...musically inclined."

He could copy a musician's movements but any attempt to actually learn lead to failure and a major headache.

"But I like listening, I think people who can play instruments are really cool," he admitted with a small smile, crossing his arms over his knees. "Did you teach yourself?" He couldn't really help his curiosity about these kinds of things. He'd asked Sunar about his art a lot when he first met his roommate, impressed by his talent (even if the other male denied being good).

Devyn was a nice enough guy that he could be friendly in conversation with just about anyone, not often but occasionally it had been confused for flirting. Which, always ended up being more than a little embarrassing for the male.
"I'm Devyn by the way."

[Amber Ignis]

Amber was proud of herself for making pleasant conversation with the boy she now knew as Devyn. Normally if she caught someone staring at her, she would come back with a quick and snarky remark. She probably kept her cool because of how cute Devyn was. If he was a girl or something, she might not have been so friendly. But Amber liked the idea of a new boy to flirt with.

She especially liked how he admired her music. She enjoyed being at the center of the intrigued boy's attention. Amber felt pretty good these days. When it came to boys, she was killing it. She had caught the attention of a few new suitors and the prospects excited her. Maybe she could soon add Devyn to the list. "I took lessons back home, but I did a lot of learning and practicing on my own."

She decided to try and lift Devyn's spirits about not being musically inclined himself. "I'm sure you could learn if you tried!" She considered offering to teach him, but they had only been speaking for a moment - she didn't want to scare him off. "And I'm Amber," she returned his pleasantries. "How long have you been a captive of Hammel?" Though it was probably in bad taste, she sometimes liked comparing Hammel to a prison.

[Deleted]

Devyn hadn't been sure at first how long this conversation might go on. He'd thought maybe she might accept his apology and move on, or write him off as a weirdo and do the same. He was surprised, yet happy, that it was turning into a conversation, and one he could say he was actually fairly interested in.

He locked the fingers of one hand around the wrist of the other, arms wrapped around his legs that were pulled up in front of him. "Oh wow, that's really cool. It's amazing how people can learn that kind of stuff on their own." He could teach himself math if he knew enough of the basic concepts, but that was completely different. People hated math, but they loved music.
There was a slight chuckle, that he just couldn't help, when Amber tried to cheer him up, "That's nice, but I don't think you've met a lost cause quite like myself yet," he smiled to show he was joking.

He was only slightly surprised at how she spoke of Hammel, it wasn't necessarily rare to hear, but it wasn't often. Personally, Devyn bore no ill will toward the institute, it gave him a good distance from his parents, he couldn't imagine how much worse off his stress levels would be if he was still under his thumb.

Sometimes he did wonder if his brother ever would have left if he hadn't gone to school here, but it wasn't something he liked to ponder on too much.

"It'd been about," he counted the years mentally, "Four years now, wow." He was honestly surprised at how long it had sounded. He'd been here since he was thirteen and it felt like it had been only a short while. It was amazing how fast time seemed to move now. "What about you?"

[Amber Ignis]

She smiled and giggled a little when Devyn called himself a lost cause. Well at least he seemed at peace with it, and it didn't mean it stopped him from enjoying her music. She made sure to keep playing while they talking. It was nice background music, and it was the tool that got Devyn interesting in talking to her.

And so far she liked talking to him. She definitely wasn't ready for him to leave yet. "This current year is the start of my fourth - hopefully last, but probably not - year." Her late manifestation and dangerous power will probably hold her back another year. She definitely felt contempt towards the institution for basically holding back her life. "Apparently it's really dangerous to have an untrained pyrokinetic running around the streets." She also chuckled to show that she was joking, but she had a feeling her distain was showing through.

Amber often thought back to her early teen years when her and her brother, Jonas, would play "meta-human." It was a game where they pretended to have powers. Growing up, they both longed for the idea that they could have special powers, but in the end it was only Amber who realized the dream. But the dream quickly became a nightmare. The already troubled teen was ripped from her home to this frozen wasteland (not exactly pyro friendly) and was alienated from her brother. She now she just longed for some sort of normality.

[Deleted]

Devyn nodded along as she continued to play, he was somewhat amazed by her ability to speak and play at the same time. Mostly because he was very distractable himself, and he found it hard to even walk and talk at times. "Did you write that?" He was referring to the music she was playing as they spoke.


"That does seem rather unsafe," he laughed along with her, the shock of meeting other metas had worn off within his first week here, it quickly became very casual to him to talk about their abilities. Something he'd never really imagined happening when he was younger.

"Well, it's not all bad to have another year," though he imagined she wouldn't really see anything as being a good reason to stick around longer, "after all that means you can hang out with me some more." He grinned in a way that showed he was just being cheeky at this point though he did like the girl so far and thought it would be nice to hang out with her after this chance encounter.

He decided that they'd been talking long enough now (which he quantified as a handful of cohesive sentences) that it would be okay to try and move closer, after all he felt odd having to speak across the distance between them. He stood up, bringing his backpack up with him, "Do you mind if I move closer, I feel like I'm shouting at you," they weren't nearly that far apart in reality, but it did certainly feel that way.

[Amber Ignis]

Amber kept admiring Devyn admire her. She found her ability to play was a real turn on for guys. "I did actually. Just need to write words now." As a writer that was the hard part. Delving into her deepest emotions to produce a piece of music was not easy for Amber.

Amber used to be ashamed of her ability. Though she still wasn't totally at peace with the idea of being a meta, she felt okay openly discussing it with other students. Thought the different types of abilities were astounding, they all went through similar journeys to get to Hammel.

Amber smiled when Devyn joked that her staying at Hammel would allow her the opportunity to see more of him. That didn't sound so bad. So far Amber rather enjoyed her attractive, sweet, and friendly admirer. She figured this could be a bright side to her longevity at the school. This year she actually had made a few new friends, but they were all college students. Devyn would be her first Hammel friend. She knew she might have been jumping the gun a little by calling him "friend," but when he got up to move closer to her she figured she wasn't very far off. Amber wasn't great at making friends, but when she did she took them very seriously - sometimes so seriously that the friend line got crossed. Amber's mind constantly strayed into the gutter, but she couldn't help it. She was a typical teenage girl victim to the charm of cute guys. She definitely wouldn't mind crossing the friend line with Devyn.

She suddenly realized how far her mind had strayed and she brought herself back to this reality. "So Devyn...you live on or off campus?"

[Deleted]

It had always been rather amazing to him how people could create something of their very own, he'd never been a creative kid and it only got worse as he got older. It was just mind blowing to him how it worked, how did people come up with unique ideas for things like art and music.

Did it just pop into their heads? It almost seemed like a meta-ability entirely on its own to him.

"Do you..." he paused, unsure of if it was entirely appropriate to ask this upon first meeting, "Can I hear it when you do write the words?" He asked rather shyly, which was a little uncharacteristic of him, but he was curious and he really did want to hear it.

He propped his elbow onto his knee, to rest his chin on his hand, lazily. "I live in the boy's dorm," cocking his head in the vague general direction of the building. "I don't mind it," he explained, knowing some people hated dorm life, "but I lucked out getting roommates that I get along with." Well, one was pretty much his best friend, and the other just existed comfortably among the other two more boisterous boys.

"What about you? Or does the idea of living with others not really appeal to you," he grinned at her before readjusting so he could lean back more comfortably, using his arms as support.

[Amber Ignis]

Amber smiled when Devyn asked to hear the music when she was finished. “Of course you can!” She loved sharing her music with interested listeners. And it would give her an excuse to see him again. She noticed how shy he was when he asked. It was very sweet and cute.

Amber figured he lived in the dorms. Most people hanging around campus out of class did. Amber was still wondering why she chose to be out here when she had the comfort of her apartment, but meeting Devyn made the choice worth it. “I used to live in the dorms. But I’m off-campus now! I do better living on my own rather than with people.” She wondered who his roommates were and if they would want to be her friend, too. “I don’t even really remember my roommates from when I lived on campus. I’m slightly…anti-social.”

She paused a little when she used that word, because it didn’t always seem that way to people who barely knew her. Here she was calling herself anti-social, but also talking openly and freely with Devyn, who was basically a stranger.

At this point Amber decided to put the guitar to her side and reposition herself to lay on her stomach so she could look up at Devyn. She felt like this was a very flattering angle for her.

[Deleted]

Devyn couldn't help the earnest smile that lit up his face when she said he could, "Awesome! I'm excited," which definitely showed through in both his voice and expression. "Do you play around town," he thought it would be cool if she did anything like that, and maybe he could go hear her play then as well.

Devyn nodded, she was being friendly enough with him now but he could imagine her as more of a loner just as easily. "I kind of enjoy the dorms. At first I hated it, because it was really distracting living there, but now I think it's kind of nice. Helps that I live with one of my best friends though," he chuckles.

"You don't seem that anti-social to me," he teased, "at least I think we've been having a pretty nice conversation. But I'm guessing you mean you prefer having time to yourself, huh?"

Devyn scooted as she repositioned herself, making it easier for himself to see her rather than having to peer straight down at her. "I didn't mean to distract you," he joked, glancing at the instrument that had been set aside.