Some time indoors (open)

[Piper Regalston]

"Oh. Well, still, it's flashy." Piper shrugged. She was very much in no danger of feeling as if she were being silly. It was very nearly impossible to make her feel self-conscious, in fact. So, the idea that Anthy flashed more quickly than the suggested fireflies didn't faze her in the least. In fact, it just set her off on another thought-line. "So like lightning then!" she said. "Except, without the thunder. At least, I'm guessing you don't thunder when you flash. That'd be kinda weird." As if anything else in the school weren't at all weird. She grinned.

"How long you had your power, then?" Piper asked, curious now. Surely not that much if she couldn't control when she flashed. "Do you think it'll just be an involuntary thing all the time? Like if you're startled, a trigger from the adrenaline rush or something?" Honestly, this whole conversation was now making Piper want to startle Anthy somehow, so she could see the whole flash thing in action.

And the glowing faded away. Piper leaned back against the couch cushions as she studied Anthy, quiet as she waited expectantly for replies to her questions, and also wondering if Anthy would take advantage of the moment to ask questions of her own. It seemed like this girl needed to be coached in how to not be awkward in a conversation, and Piper was seriously considering stating this fact and taking on the coaching herself.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

Anthy smiled in a bit of amusement when Piper began speaking about her power by comparing it to lightning. She was getting closer, she supposed. She was most certainly glad she didn't have to worry about sound coming with her flashing or glowing. The fact that her imaginary friend sometimes made light saber noises made it bad enough already. Luckily, no one else could hear her friend. At least, if they had no one had pointed it out and Anthy had been spared the embarrassment.

Before she could say anything, Piper was speaking again, asking her about how long she had had her power for. She didn't get the chance to answer as the other girl spoke up again, asking her if the flashing would be an involuntary thing all of the time and mentioned the adrenaline chance. Anthy just sat there and smiled even if a little shy until Piper seemed like she was done for the moment. Then, she waited about a second or two longer before finally speaking up.

"It only seems to happen when I'm startled or when I sneeze so far. I'm.... I'm hoping to learn how to stop it from happening seeing... seeing how it's kind of dangerous." She told her.

"I've had this for about two years now, a little over, but I'm rounding it to two years." She added.

[Piper Regalston]

"When you sneeze?" Piper howled with laugher at that one. "That's awesome." She giggled and wiped her eyes. "Don't worry though-- when I first got my power I would wake up with six inches of extra hair of various and sundry colors." She rolled her eyes. Goodness, those first several days had been horrid. Shedding skin, randomly growing hair... She was pretty sure it was one of the worst manifestations possible.

She considered Anthy's last comment, quizzical. "How dangerous?" she questioned. "I mean, can you actually blind someone with it? Or something else?" Weird thought that a power could be dangerous... She supposed technically shape-shifting could be dangerous, since if she didn't eat enough or take her vitamins she could keel over and die from malnutrition, since shifting ate up nutrients like nothing else, but still. She'd lived with it long enough she didn't really consider it dangerous. She liked eating anyway.

Two years, huh? "I've been here four." Piper flopped backward and slightly over the back of the couch in true dramatic fashion as she let out a long and aggravated sigh. Four years being cooped up in a school. "Horrible, isn't it?" she asked. Sure, maybe she wasn't setting the best example with her complaining, but it was somewhat light-hearted, so she felt she could excuse herself.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

Anthy blushed at Piper's apparent amusement about her flash-sneezes and felt a little embarrassed even as the red haired girl went to saying that that was awesome. Awesome? Or awesomely funny? She felt her cheeks warming a bit more from the blood that rushed to them even as she offered a bit of a sheepish smile. Though, her brows did rise when Piper told her about what had happened when she had first gotten her power.

"Wow, that must.. that must have been pretty surprising." She commented.

She wasn't sure on how she herself would have reacted to a sudden rainbow Repunzle moment. Then, there was the fact that Piper hadn't specified if it had only been the scalp hair too, so that left too much room for Anthy to imagine it having happened on her arms and legs as well.

She was quickly brought back to reality though as Piper asked her about the dangers of her power and Anthy went to biting her lip a little. Of course the dangers weren't something that she liked to talk about, but it was better to be out than being a surprise, right? Before she could answer just yet, the other girl went to speaking about how long she had been, then commenting on how it might have been horrible.

"Ac-actually, it's not too bad here. But then again... I did used go to to a boarding school for most of my life... so... so maybe I was prepared for it?" She said, answering that part first.

"As far as the danger... well.... Not only can I accidentally blind someone, but if I go too bright, there's heat with it too and it's burned me more than once. I'd imagine if someone was too close to me when the light got too intense it might possibly burn them too? I've gotten third degrees before. Luckily, they were treated so there wasn't any scarring."

[Piper Regalston]

Piper noted the other girl's red cheeks, and quickly put it down to her having been mistaken that Piper was laughing at her. Oh well, that was how communication went, right? And it didn't seem like Anthy was scarred or made or anything about it. So there wasn't really much of a point in clarifying or apologizing then.

"Oh, it as," she stated in reaction to the comment. "Shape-shifting wasn't a very fun power to adjust to. Doesn't like like yours is a walk in the park either, though. Don't worry, it gets better."

"Boarding school?" Piper gawked. "How did you survive? I'd hate not being able to travel that long." She paused, a horrible thought hitting her. "You have traveled, right??" Someone who might not have ever really traveled? Horrors. Not that she hadn't meant people who didn't travel before, but every time, without fail, she found herself shocked. She guessed that was just how her own personal normality had been shaped...

Of course, her horror at Anthy's deprivation of travel meant she paid only half attention to the explanation of her power's dangers. Something about heat, which meant burns, right?" "My stars," she commented, falling back on her mother's typical verbiage in reply to surprising things. Actually, she tended to prefer more colorful interjections. Dang and damn and whatever else were just too unoriginal. And hang her if she was going to use something unoriginal.

Something about scars. She was glad she didn't have to worry about scars with her power... "How often have you gotten scars?" Some powers were just too inconvenient to believe... "I hope you get that under control soon," she stated. "For yourself as much as anyone else, you know?" She nodded serenely before shifting around to lay with her back on the seat of the couch, and her legs flopped over the back, so her head effectively dangled where her feet should have been. From this vantage, she watched Anthy, perfectly comfortable as she studied the girl.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

As Piper confirmed how interesting it had been, and went to telling her about how shape shifting had been something that hadn't been fun to adjust to, Anthy felt a bit bad for her having had to go through that. She offered a small smile and nod when the redhead added that it didn't seem like it had been very easy for her either. Well, it hadn't really. It had not only been the cause of yet another huge change in her life, but it had times when it had been very frightening or painful or both.

Anthy giggled slightly at Piper's reaction to hearing that she had gone to boarding school. Then, she looked a bit shy at the question about if she had traveled before.

"Well..... the school was a pretty good distance away from home, so I guess you could consider that traveling? And then... when I wasn't going to it anymore, we moved to another whole town and state." Anthy answered.

When Piper asked about scars, the blonde shook her head some.

"Oh, I.... I don't have any scars, just... had a few almosts. And, it's only gotten really bad a few times. It.. Well, it was before I figured out how to balance the amount of light I get and such... I've still had accidents, but... but they hadn't been nearly as bad. Mostly just the light sapping me and causing me to fall asleep all over the place." She explained.

"I.. I hope I get control soon too." Anthy told her, leaning over some and tipping her head to the side a bit so to still be able to make almost normal eye-contact after Piper had flipped herself upside down.

[Piper Regalston]

"No, that does not count as traveling," Anthy stated, matter of fact. "Traveling is seeing new places and experiencing different things. Moving to another town and state sorta counts, I guess..." She considered. "Yeah, half a point for that. Where'd you move from and where to?" she questioned, wondering if it had been any of the many places she'd traveled to with her family.

Piper listened intently to Anthy's explanation about scars, actually managing not to drift off into not paying attention this time. "Sounds complicated," she mused. "How does light sap someone though? What, are you like a reptile or something that needs to sun itself?" That would be odd. And a definite downside to a power. How many downsides did this girl's power have??

She couldn't help but smile a bit when Anthy leaned over and tipped her head. People had amusing reactions when other people did strange things. Sure, Anthy's leaning over and head tipping wasn't anything particularly surprising or amusing, but it was funny to see how she could influence other people into doing things just by doing something herself.

"Anyway," Piper mused after a stretch of quiet. Despite this, she said nothing else besides, only stretched and watched Anthy with something like expectation. Hang her if she would to all the talking and let the introvert get away with saying next to nothing. Not happening.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

When Piper told her it didn't count as traveling, Anthy resisted a smile at how serious the redhead seemed to be. She didn't want the other girl to think she was making fun of her after all. She did end up smiling though when she was given half a point for having moved to another town.

"Well... I.... I moved from West Virginia to Massachusetts, so it was a state too." Anthy replied when Piper asked where she had moved from and to.

As she was asked about how light sapped someone and was asked if she needed sun like a reptile, she shook her head briefly.

"Not exactly like a lizard.... More like a solar powered battery? Maybe?... But I don't only need sunlight for it.. I mean... it's the best for it but... but other light works too, just not my own. The more I glow, or the brighter I do, the more of the stored light it takes... And, when I run out of that, I get really tired." The blonde explained.

A soft "hm?" cane from Anthy when Piper spoke out an "Anyway" and trailed off to nothing after it.

[Piper Regalston]

"Oh, those are nice states." Piper nodded. "Which did you like better? And I guess you've been to the ocean quite a few times, then, too." The ocean was a great place, Piper was certain, but she was also certain it was one of those overrated things of life. The best part of the ocean was finding seashells, really, and stringing them along. She liked swimming too, but swimming in the ocean... not so much. Saltwater was weird.

Hm... She said it wasn't like a lizard, and was more like a solar-powered battery, but to Piper it didn't seem like there was a whole lot of difference. Lizards were like solar powered battery animals, weren't they? She wrinkled her nose. "That sounds like a lizard," she stated. "Isn't that what lizards do? Need sunlight so they can do stuff? I mean, they don't glow though..." Obviously. Maybe the girl just didn't like being compared to a lizard...

Piper held the silence for a few moments before yawning. "That was your queue to say something. I don't like doing all the talking, believe it or not." She blinked lazily at Anthy.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

"I... I guess you could say I liked... West Virginia more?" Anthy replied in almost a question form.

She wasn't really sure which she liked more now. Not after everything that had happened. Not after she had seen the true side of so many people who were supposed to be her friends and mentors. They had been more than friends and mentors to her. They had been her best friends, like sisters to her, family. But then...

Anthy pushed those thoughts out of her head. That was in the past, another life, another her.This was her home now ans she was making new friends. Actual friends. People who liked her without any status or family knowledge attached.

"To.. to be completely honest though... I'm finding that this is my favorite place so far... As far as the ocean.. well... there were a couple of field trips.. but I haven't been there a lot." She added.

Anthy bit her lip a bit when Piper went to bringing up the similarities between her and a lizard and she thought about it.

"Well... I guess?" She replied at the redhead's logic.

The blonde blushed some when it was pointed out that it had been her hint to say something, that Piper had been giving her a chance to speak. She hadn't meant to make the other girl do all of the work in this conversation...

"How.. how many... How many places have you been and which did you like the most?" Athy tried.

[Piper Regalston]

Piper shrugged at Anthy's almost question sort of reply. "Well I don't know what you liked more. You tell me!" However, a moment afterwards, she grinned, to make it clear she'd been joking around. The other girl seemed to finally be becoming somewhat more comfortable, so she figured it wouldn't do to make her think she was being purposefully insulting or what-have-you.

She tilted her head to the side as Anthy went on. "Why's this your favorite place?" she asked. Sure, it was pretty enough, but she didn't see why someone would name it as their favorite place ever. Unless all the other places had just stunk royally.

Piper shrugged again. "I'm not calling you a lizard. Just saying. If it makes you feel better, I'm pretty much a lizard too. A chameleon or something. Because of my shifting, you know?" She gave a half grin. "There's worse things to be like than lizards. At least I didn't call you a mosquito or something." Because mosquitos were, in fact, the worst creatures on the planet. They always managed to get in the camper-trailer and bite the daylights out of her.

"Oh, I've been a bunch of places." Piper sat up, stretched, and leaned back against the couch. "I have a journal in my room, but I didn't do a very good job keeping record of all the places. Some of my favorites though!" She half closed her eyes in thought and began counting off on her fingers. "Ireland-- that's where I was born and I still want to go back sometime because it was great. Not permanently though, of course. Oh, California was nice. Washington and North Carolina and Tennessee have some nice mountains. Not a fan of New York or those other freezing cold states. Not a huge fan of Florida either, though I did like the beaches there. Arizona was nice too..." she hm'ed. Really, most places she'd been had redeeming qualities. She couldn't really name any places she actually hate. However, she was pretty confident those had been her favorites, so she nodded and looked at Anthy. "I'd say those were the top hits."

[Anthy Blacksmith]

Her eyes widened slightly at Piper's somewhat outburst until she saw that the other girl was grinning and took a brief moment to realize that the redhead had been messing with her. Kidding, that was. Anthy gave a slight giggle then, she smiled some when she was asked on why this was her favorite place.

"Well... People... people are more honest here. They don't just pretend to like you due to a status thing. They become friends with you because... well.. because they want to be your friend. There's... there's a lot of acceptance here and less reason to... to feel worried about being yourself. And I like that everything I really need is here." She replied with a slight tip of her head to the side.

Anthy smiled some in an amused kind of way when Piper compared herself to a lizard then pointed out that there were worse things to be compared to or rather, called. The blonde completely agreed that lizard was much better than mosquito. Some lizards were actually cute while in Anthy's opinion mosquitoes all looked horrid and were nothing but annoying.

As Piper went to naming off all of her favorite places, Anthy's eyes widened some.

"Goodness, that's.... that's a lot of places." She commented with awe in her tone.

[Piper Regalston]

[OOC: So sorry for the long pause in reply! College kinda killed my RP time ]

Piper nodded slowly in agreement to Anthy's reply, mulling it over as she did. "You got a lot of experience with that sorta problem? If I did I'd probably like this place more too. People are pretty honest around here. At least so far as being your friend, usually. There's dishonest people everywhere." She rolled her eyes, though not at anyone in particular. Traveling, she'd met plenty of dishonest people. Of course, she'd met a lot of nice people, too, which was why she was a firm believer that everyone really was natrually good, deep down.

"Yeah...." Piper mused. Just about everyone had that reaction to the many places she'd been. "My family travels a lot. We were gypsies until we moved over here, then we just kept moving around. I guess you could still call us gypsies, technically... In Scotland we were part of a traveling group. Here we just travel around in an RV. It's fun." She stretched. "I don't see how someone can live in one place for so long. Have you ever thought of doing that? Just moving whenever you feel like it and living in a mobile home so it's plausible?"