Feel the Heat (Ricio)

[Victoire Lavergne]

It was a nice day for the beach. Hot and sunny. The water was crowded with various boats, pleasure crafts galore. There were a bunch of teenagers taking turns on tubes which were pulled along by overly luxurious crafts, which in turn had picture-perfect men driving them around. The teenagers were taking quite impressive rides, however, with triple donuts, 'soup,' the works.

On the lake's beach, though, hung the majority of the families. They sat as close to prime territory, the edge of the water, as they dared. Fortunately there was no worry as to the tide, but unfortunately it was rather crowded. No matter how large the lake, a lake never seemed to be large enough for everybody. There was also, of course, a line-up at the rope swing, with the young boys and girls pushing and yelling. Some poor soul had to regulate that rope swing...

A few meters away from the shore were a few tables, obviously with benches. Victoire was rather lucky to be at one of these. How she had managed to score this seat? God only knows. For now she was alone yet she fully expected to be joined by someone soon. The demand for these tables was just too high to allow a single girl to have one all to herself.

Upon the table was a small backpack which contained a towel, a few dollars, an iPod, a bottle of water, and a book. She had worked six days straight and today was her only day off before tourists got crazy. This meant hard flirting so she could earn her tip while they expected a little somthin' which they in turn never get. But that type of flirting was hard work, so here she was, nerding out a bit with her book out, shades on, warming up in the sun. She had a bikini on underneath but was waiting until her book lost her interest before she went for a swim.

Only a few minutes later, her book did indeed lose her interest. Just not a reading mood today. Victoire began taking off her shirt, revealing her purple and black bikini top. She pushed her book back into her bag and began zipping it up. Today was simply a day to relax to herself, maybe talk to a few people on the beach and have some lazy, relaxed, fun. The day was akin to a day at home with video games, minus the home... And video games.

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SHIRT
BIKINI
BACKPACK

[Ricio Miller]

Ricio always stood out a little on hot days like this. Especially when he was wondering around the beach. With his multiple layers and long-sleeved jacket, he looked more like someone dressed for December rather than someone looking to catch a few rays or splash around in the water for a while. Sometime he would strip down just a little so that he didn’t stick out so badly, but it always made him slightly uncomfortable not to have the feeling of cloth on his skin. And although some might be watching him for signs of heat stroke, he knew that wouldn’t be a problem.

If someone approached him about his clothing, he supposed he could say that he was worried about getting sunburned. But being Colombian, he didn’t think that would be a problem either.

He smiled at someone of the families he recognized even if they didn’t feel the need to smile back. Some were less willing to acknowledge and relationship with the town hobo, but he didn’t really hold it against them.

He sat down a little apart from everyone else, a few feet away from a girl setting out her stuff on a picnic table, and pulled his guitar out of its case. Although the warm weather was never a concern for Ricio, he was glad it had arrived because it meant he could carry around his guitar with less worry that the elements would damage it.

Giving the girl a smile, he turned his attention to the stings on his guitar. His fingers started to pick out a melody. He didn’t sing along (he’d never felt his voice was that great) but he hummed along in harmony with his music.

[Victoire Lavergne]

Victoire stuffed away her shirt into her bag then tossed her sunglasses into her bag as well. Time to go for a swim! The only catch was how trusting she was going to have to be. She was going to have to leave her bag in the open which is obviously not the most intelligent thing to do. However, perhaps it was from her Canadian roots, she was a trusting sort of person. If somebody really did want to steal her things she could always just shout after them and hope some manly man would come save it.

Before she went for a dip up came a over-dressed man who sat a few feet away from her. He was not over-dressed in the typical sense, but more in the sense that he had way too much on. A jacket and more for the beach? Craziness. Even someone with the worst flu in the world wouldn't be wearing that much. How could he not be dying of dehydration right now?

A smile from this guy wasn't exactly what she was dreaming of but it was still friendly, none the less. Due to the fact that she had very little else to spend her time doing, Victoire decided to give this man some time of day. She smiled back politely and made her way over to plop down cross-legged across from him, setting her bag down beside her, still keeping a fairly generous distance between them since they were still strangers. She leaned back, propping herself up with her hands and arms behind her. "Afraid to sing?" Victoire asked when all the man did was hum to his guitar. Heck, if he wasn't going to sing she might just have to; what is music without a song? "Not that many people on this beach bite."

Backing up to the fact that this guy had too much clothing on. Victoire thought maybe she should be kind enough to cool him down, as he probably felt like he was burning up right now. With just a little concentration she could tell that she was projecting the heat she was feeling from the sun onto the man opposite her. Now he should be cooling down a bit! It is kind of strange, how she can tell that her 'power' is working. It was just one of those sixth senses, like her mind was now touching something else. Not another mind, else that would be telepathy, but it was as if her mind was touching his... Skin. And I suppose it isn't really a sixth sense, else Victoire would be able to project that...

"Must be rather hot in all that," Victoire commented, her focus barely wavering from her use of power after years of previous training. A small sly smirk formed, being the only party which had the true full knowledge of the situation. On another note, she had never really thought she needed training. It wasn't like she was dangerous, all she could do is make someone else experience what she was experiencing, thus, she couldn't really be that dangerous.

[Ricio Miller]

As always, Ricio was surprised when the girl approached him. Although he tried to be pleasant and polite to everyone he came across, most people tended to avoid him. He tended to stick out a little, with his layers and generally disheveled look. Especially young, nice looking girls.

He laughed a little at her question. “Afraid? No,” he said. “More like protecting everyone’s ears.” Although he actually wasn’t that horrible, he still felt it was better just to play. After the long winter of keeping his guitar at his brother’s place it was nice just to feel the stings and listen to the instrument.

“The heat never really bothers me –“ he said, starting to explain when everything changed.

It had been years since Ricio had felt any sort of hot or cold. Sometimes he found it hard to remember what it felt like to enjoy a cold ice cream or the warmth of another body. There were times, usually late at night, when he longed to experience those things again, even if only for a moment. Sure, he loved his power and wouldn’t change it even if he could. But sometimes he wondered what life would be like if he could switch it off for a short while.

Now that it was happening, Ricio forgot all of those moments of longing. The only thing he was feeling now was panic. With all of his layers, his body was heating up quickly. He could already feel sweat on his brow. “What…?” he said, setting down his guitar and searching around the beach for some sort of explanations. “What’s happening?” His breathing was starting to quicken and he felt the beginnings of a panic attack.

[Victoire Lavergne]

(( Oh, by the way, Ricio would only feel as much heat as Victoire feels, since she is sending the sensations the jackets etc wouldn't matter. No worries, though ))

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C'mon boy, get some confidence! Victoire rolled her eyes, not in a harsh way, but more in the sense that she was non-verbally saying that he couldn't be nearly as bad of a singer as he thought he was. Surely he couldn't be a future feature on the 'memorable auditions' segment of America's Got Talent. "I'm sure you're not that bad," Victoire voiced her opinion, although she did understand that, especially for guys, you sometimes either had a voice, or didn't. Perhaps he was one of the have-nots.

Victoire was about to ask for him to continue and explain what he meant by heat not bothering him. Even if he had some kind of medical condition that didn't allow him to feel the sensation it still could do a hell of a lot of damage to him via dehydration and such. What would it be like to never feel heat? Sure, it would be neat in the winter, it would save money on AC and heating bills, but where the interest stopped for Victoire is when she thought of people touching her. It would be odd to merely feel the touch, without the comforting warm of a hand on your shoulder or in your own. Yeah, not something she was interested in experiencing for herself.

When the man began to get rather agitated, Victoire's response was cruel. It was a look-at-that-monkey-dance sort of reaction. She giggled and kept the hold on her power for a few more seconds before she blatantly burst out laughing, tossing her head back in the experience of hilarity. Her head toss stretched her front, showing off the details of her ribs. Once she finally recovered and quit cruelly using her power she was still left with a few reminiscent giggles as she asked, "Feelin' the heat?" There was a mischievous sparkle in her eye which just might clue the man in.

Well, this was one of the more unexpected amusing uses of her power. Usually it was fun to use on her friends to make them think they were going crazy, but she was rarely so mean as to use it on strangers in such a fashion.

[Ricio Miller]

((Sorry for the power confusion.))

“Well I thank you for your unquestioning believe in random strangers,” he said laughing a little. Still he wasn’t about to belt out a song just because she believed in him. Besides that would take away the chance for conversation.

Ricio continued to worry and freak out a little, until he noticed the girl giggling. “You?” he asked, his eyes wide. He wasn’t upset with her messing around with him. After all, he might have done the same if he a power then enabled him to do that. And he also had a few friends from his days at Hammel who enjoyed using their abilities in similar ways. Mostly he was just glad for there to be a simple explanation to why he was feeling temperature all of the sudden.

Now that he knew he wasn’t dying or going crazy, Ricio found he actually enjoyed the sensation of the heat. It had been so long. He found himself wondering if he should thank her for the experience, but instead decided to start by introducing himself. “I’m Ricio,” he said, grinning. “You got a name, hot stuff?”

[Victoire Lavergne]

Victoire smirked and rolled her eyes, although hardly sharply. This guy had an interesting way in coming out with a tease, if that even was what he meant. She didn't have an undying belief in strangers, just that experiments are worth it, such as he might as well try his voice out, even if it was just for her amusement. What is the harm in kind humoring?

"Yeah, me," She admitted but did not give an apology. Hey, if she had been sorry, she wouldn't have done it in the first place, right? Wrong. I hate that saying. Victoire continued to smirk at his misfortune for her enjoyment.

"You know, you're kind of strange. Its almost like you had never felt heat before," She commented, in passing, she didn't exactly know how unnerving it may or may not be to feel something that was actually happening to someone else. Funny how close she was to the truth.

Now that she had cut off her power completely, Victoire could focus on talk. "My name is Victoire, Ricio," She said, loving his name already. It was one of those fancy ones you could roll off the tongue. If you had that ability. Which she didn't.

[Ricio Miller]

Ricio wasn’t really expecting an apology, he was just glad for there to be a simple explanation. Beside if he had a similar power he could use to mess with people’s heads, he would be inclined to try it out now and then. As it was, he had fun with people (usually at his brother) complaining about the heat or the cold.

“Well thanks,” Ricio said, laughing a little at her blatant honesty. It was a quality he liked to see in other people. Not only because it was usually amusing, but also because it was easier to deal with people when they just said what was on their mind. “And I have but it’s been…a while.” He sighed a little, almost as if he was nostalgic about a pet who had died when he was a child.

“Temperature adaptation,” he said, gesturing towards his layers of clothes. “At least I think that’s the technical term for it. Not too cold, not too hot. I’m always just right.”

“Nice to meet ya, Vick,” he said, automatically shortening her name. He put his guitar to the side, reached in his bag, and pulled out a rolled cigarette. “You smoke?” he asked, lighting up. He didn’t think she looked underage, but he wasn’t usually worried about things like that.

[Victoire Lavergne]

Victoire stuck her tongue out at his sarcastic thanks. It was a childish habit that never died hard. Besides, guys, and some gals, seemed to rather enjoy seeing her tongue out for them. Maybe it was just because it was a sign she was relaxed with them, enjoying the time, being rather comfortable or maybe it was something else. She couldn't really tell you.

"Y'know," Victoire feigned being thoughtful for a few moments. "Thats kind of disappointing. I usually like guys who are just burnin' up." She giggled and winked. She was acting rather dumb today, in her opinion. Yet dumb is fun. Hey, doesn't that kind of have a nice ring to it? Dumb fun. Huh.

Victoire laid back on the ground, hopefully dodging anything nasty that is always naturally on the natural ground. She stretched out her arms and commented, "It must be kind of cool though. You could like walk across Antarctica naked all boss like that or like dive in lava." Playin' a little make-belief.

So he chose Vic, eh? Last time she was called that was by an ex-boyfriend.

Victoire popped right back up to sitting position when he offered a cigarette. "Not tobacco..." Victoire said, rather annoyed he smoked at all. It was a pet peeve for her. Ah well, so long as smoke didn't get blown in her face she wouldn't complain too much.

[Ricio Miller]

Ricio grinned at her when she stuck out her tongue at him. Maturity was so overrated. Even though his brother tried to persuade him of the opposite at times, Ricio felt that Chuck himself was a great example of how too much maturity led to a very dull life.

“I can see how you might get a lot of that,” Ricio said, laughing at her pun. Although he hardly ever felt uncomfortable around people, he was really feeling at east with Victoire. After all, it wasn’t every day that he got to enjoy being in the company of a cute girl. She seemed a little younger than him, but Ricio wasn’t one to worry about things like age.

Setting his guitar aside, he stretched alongside her. Not too close that he would seem like much of creeper though. “All boss like?” he repeated, laughing again. He made a mental note to add that phrase into his vocabulary. “Well I still would get a little burnt up in the lava. But that Antarctica thing might be fun. Frostbite isn’t much of a problem for me, lucky for my…extremities.”

He raised an eyebrow at the unfinished sentence. He usually wasn’t much for drugs, having seen too much of the trouble they caused to people on the street. Alcohol was more his style. Of course with his smoking, it was hard for him to support a second habit on his pretty much nonexistent budget.

“So Vick,” he continued. “Come here often?” It was a line. And a bad line at that. Still, he couldn’t think of much else to offer. Grinning at her, he hoped she would just go along with him.