Here Comes the Sun (Willow)

[River Tseung]

What a beautiful day! River beamed as he stepped into the sunlight, tilting his face up to the sun as he stretched in the warm afternoon. He had been cooped up inside for a while practicing violin, and though he loved to play, he wanted to get outside and just enjoy the day.

A scurry of movement caught the young man's attention, and he focused on what it was - a squirrel scampering amidst a copse of trees near the courtyard. Always up for practicing his abilities, he made his way towards the creature, a song popping into his head as he got close.

The animal saw him, and paused warily. Before it could run away, River crouched down and began to sing,

"Here comes the sun,
Here comes the sun,
And I say,
It's all right.

Little darling,
It's been a long, cold lonely winter.
Little darling,
It feels like years since it's been here..."

As he sang, he felt a slight pressure in his head. The squirrel was frozen for a moment, and then went into action. It scurried to the base of a nearby tree, grabbed a hazelnut, and then skittered over to River, dropping the nut into the boy's open palm.

"Thanks, little buddy!" River exclaimed, and, the spell broken, the animal darted away, up into a tree and out of sight. Chuckling, River stood, rolling the hazelnut in his hand. It wasn't too often he could manage to make an animal do something so out of character, and he had only been able to perform it on small creatures such as rodents so far. Still, at least he was progressing!

[Willow Birdsong]

Willow was happy not to be bed ridden. That last bought of testing her strength by lifting more than double her own weight had left her unable to move for two weeks. When he body wasn’t being tested though, her mind was.

But the weather was too beautiful to ignore, and as soon as she felt well again, she was outside. Despite the warm weather, Willow was still wearing pants that were too baggy for her, shirts that were too big, her arms wrapped tightly around her torso, her eyes darting around just in case someone threw a Frisbee at her head. Summer was great, but not until she was with nature and away from people.

She just wanted to pass through the Courtyard, but heard singing. Willow’s ears perked up, and the tune made her smile. It suited the mood of the day, and she watched with curious eyes as a boy with autumn hair received a hazelnut from a squirrel. She’d never seen something so sweet before, it was rather curious.

Catching the boy’s gaze, Willow felt her cheeks burn red and averted her eyes. She couldn’t even speak to people properly, especially males. Taking a deep breath, Willow looked back up, a soft smile on her face. “Can you talk to animals?”

[River Tseung]

River was still caught up in his ability when he heard the crunch of footsteps behind him, and he turned to see a sweet-looking girl watching him. "Oh, hi there!" he greeted cheerfully, offering a friendly wave. She seemed shy, he thought; she also looked a little familiar, but he didn't think he had met her before. Still, every new person he met was a potential new friend in River's eyes!

He returned her smile as she looked up at him again, hoping to put her more at ease. "Mm, it's not exactly talking," he replied, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "They call it melodic animal manipulation, but really all it means is that I can make animals do certain things sometimes, as long as I can keep a melody going." That was the easiest way to explain it; he didn't need to get into details about how the complexity of the melody changed depending on the complexity of the animals, etc.

"Oh, I'm River, by the way!" he added, offering a hand. "I don't believe we've met before, sweetheart." He was still smiling; it was too gorgeous a day and too good of a moment not to be.

[Willow Birdsong]

Willow didn't light up when River did - was she supposed to? Everyone was so different around here, it was often difficult to understand what was socially acceptable. Willow continued to blush and played with a strand of her long brown hair. She didn't have many friends and making them didn't really cross her mind.

"That's interesting, I've never done any research on a power like that one." Her eyes flicked back to him, studying him almost. "Melodic Animal Manipulation?" She repeated in order to commit it to memory and study it later. She enjoyed researching other people's powers in her spare time when she wasn't bedridden.

Startled, Willow wasn't able to speak right away as she quickly shook his hand. "Oh. Um, no, we haven't, I'm Willow." She smiled softly. They both had nature names, it was very interesting. "I liked the song you were singing..." she added so quietly, she doubted he would even hear it.

[River Tseung]

River was used to interacting with all sorts of people, considering how social he was, and so he wasn't put off by the young girl's lack of enthusiasm. Not everyone was as bubbly as he, and that was totally cool!

"Ooh, you research powers?" he asked, genuinely curious. "That's really neat! I bet you find all sorts of interesting information..." he mused. "Yep, that's it!" As far as he knew, he was the only person with the ability at the school, but there were certainly others in the world and in the past that had had it as well. Maybe he could do his own research, find out more about it himself.... It might help with training!

"Willow! What a pretty name. Do nature names run in your family, like mine?" he asked with a bit of amusement. "My sister's name is Rain." He gently pulled back his hand after a brief shake, tilting his head slightly to try to catch what Willow had said; he barely heard it. "Oh, Here Comes the Sun? Yeah, it's a great song!" he agreed. "It makes me really happy, and I thought it was a perfect song for such a lovely day like today."

Oh man, he was totally forgetting. He held up a finger for Willow to wait, then stuck a hand in his shorts pocket to pull out a couple Jolly Ranchers; one for himself, and one to offer to the young girl. "Care for one?" he chirped. It wouldn't be a proper River introduction if candy wasn't involved.

[Willow Birdsong]

Willow nodded. "Sometimes. I like to submit them to journals about meta humans." And people tended to like what she wrote, even though it was very cut and dry. She liked to keep to the point of her experiences. But she liked chronicling all of the different powers she came across. It kept her mind busy.

She nodded again. "I guess you could say that. My parents are hippies," she smiled as she spoke of them. Juney. She hadn't seen her in so long. "I have a sister too," she said, a little brighter than before, "her name's Juniper." She looked around. It really was a nice day.

Curiosity crossed her face as she glanced at River - what was he doing? Some of the teens around here liked doing magic tricks, maybe that was it. But no, he was only offering candy. She smirked, picking one out of his hand. "Do you always have candy?" She asked, glancing at it briefly before popping it into her mouth. The sweet taste eventually dissipated even though the candy hadn't thanks to her powers.

[River Tseung]

River cocked his head, still curious and a little amazed. "I didn't even know we had journals about meta-humans..." he admitted sheepishly. "That is really, really neat. I admire you!" He would never have the patience to write to journals, or even just write in general. He got distracted much too easily. "Next time you have something published, I'd love to read it!"

"Oh, yeah?" River chuckled, eyes creasing with mirth. "Mine weren't, not really. They just liked how our names sounded, what with the connection to their abilities..." He trailed off. "Oh?" he asked, waiting for her to mention her sister's name. "I think... I think I might've met her a couple times. I mean, Juniper isn't a super common name. She seemed like a sweetie!" From what he remembered, at least. But then again, he did tend to see the best in anyone.

River grinned happily as Willow took one of the offered sweets, putting the rest in his pocket. "Yep, I do!" he nodded, talking around the green candy in his own mouth. "I've found it tends to make everyone's day just a little bit better. And I like to make people happy." He plopped down on the ground, leaning back against the trunk of a nearby tree. "So, Willow, what could I do to make you happy?" he chirped, giving her a dimpled smile from where he sat.

[Willow Birdsong]

Willow nodded, feeling embarrassed and shy all over again. “Thank you,” she said, unable to stop smiling, for no one had ever said they admired her before. It was a new feeling she was experiencing now and she hoped it wouldn’t fade any time soon. “I’ll be sure to let you know if that happens in the near future,” she agreed with a nod.

“Connection to their abilities?” Willow asked, wondering if River’s powers were similar to his parent’s powers. Willow smiled to herself when thinking of her sister, not surprised that River knew her. “She’s very outgoing,” she said, drawing the first opposite between siblings.

Willow smiled softly. “I don’t know a lot of people who like doing that.” She said, mostly because her life here wasn’t happy on most days. “Show me your power again,” she requested, the summer brightness reflecting in her eyes. “Does it work on people?” Why couldn’t it? Humans were part of the animal kingdom – she was always full of questions, intrigued especially by others’ abilities.

[River Tseung]

"Awesome, that sounds great," River beamed. He would really look forward to hearing more about these journals - already, he felt a little smarter just talking to Willow.

"Mhmm," he replied, nodding several times. "Mom's a hydrokinetic, hence my name - River. Dad's a weather manipulator, so they named my sister Rain." He chuckled. "Rain goes to school here too, maybe you can meet her sometime. She's a little younger than me, and she's really nice too." If his instincts were correct, which they usually were (seriously, sometimes he wondered why empathy or something similar wasn't his ability), he had the feeling that Willow was the type to stay quiet rather than be social, so maybe she could use more friends!

He shrugged, still smiling. "There's enough bad stuff that goes on in the world, I figure if I can make it a little brighter, I will have done my part." After all, in the end, all they became were memories, right? He wanted his to be as happy as possible. "I can do that!" He looked around for something to sing to, but was distracted momentarily by her question. "I had someone ask me that recently," he told her, movement catching his eye up a nearby tree. "With my ability, the more complex the animal, the more complex the melody has to be for me to be able to manipulate it. Simple creatures like rodents and reptiles are pretty easy, whereas larger mammals are much more difficult. I think humans might be too complex for my musical ability, if it would be possible at all." A blackbird appeared out of the brush where he was looking, and he immediately though of the perfect song.

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night,
Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
All your life,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise."

The bird cocked its head, then fluttered closer. River held out his hand, and the bird landed on it as he continued singing. He smiled and offered it to Willow.

[Willow Birdsong]

Willow smiled politely as Rain explained the history of his name, though she was pretty sure her name was given to her just because her parents liked nature, and trees were in nature. “Sure,” she said, agreeing to meet River’s sister. It wasn’t every day that people wanted to be with her, so she would do her best to make more of those opportunities happen.

“You have a nice view on life River.” A nice... soul. River seemed to be the kind of person who wouldn’t have any enemies. It drew her towards him, as though sunshine could be bottled and captured.

“Interesting...” Willow chirped after the explanation. “But if you did reach that potential, maybe you could.” It was certainly worth trying to attain. At least, she thought it was. River began singing and the dark bird cooed, landing on River’s hand. Willow wasn’t taken aback, she only watched in fascination, and when she lifted her hand to comply, it was almost as if she could react in no other way.

“Wow,” she whispered very softly, the bird perching on her wrist and then forearm, making Willow smile broadly. Now why couldn’t she have a power like this? She gulped, wishing she didn’t always become jealous of the friends she made.

"What about you River?" She asked, not having the courage to look at him. "What would make you happy?"

[River Tseung]

River shrugged, smiling gently. "I like to think that I do. I just figure, what's the point in being sad when we're not here for very long?" He didn't mean to get all philosophical, but sometimes he had his moments. And Willow's comment made him feel all warm and fuzzy.

"It's possible," he agreed. "I just... I don't know if I would ever want to use it on someone, you know?" Animals were one thing, and he never did anything to hurt them on purpose with his abilities. Making a person do something they didn't want... No, he would never do that. He was still smiling and singing as he transferred the little bird onto Willow's hand, feeling very very happy in that moment. The smile that lit up her face was one of the best things he'd ever seen, and he was overjoyed that he had caused it.

Slowly, he trailed off from singing, and after a few moments of silence, the blackbird gave the duo a last chirp before fluttering back into the brush. "Anyway, that's what I do," he murmured, his eyes trained on the spot the bird had disappeared before turning his attention back to Willow. He smiled again, considering her question. "At the risk of sounding cliche, making other people happy lifts my spirits like nothing else," he told her. "So, I'm very happy right now."

He touched her shoulder gently, wishing she would look at him, but hoping he hadn't made her uncomfortable. "I'm glad I got to meet you, Willow. You're very sweet. I hope we can be friends."