Guitar 101 (Anthy)

[Anthy Blacksmith]

Well, if he rather would be doing other things, then it meant that he didn't really like what he did, didn't it? That his passions may lay elsewhere? She had looked at him while he spoke, but now was looking at the guitar. Yeah, that was possibly where his heart lay.

There was a silent moment, one where he seemed to be thinking over something. Anthy was curious, but she didn't ask. She just took in the silence and tried to help it to keep her from letting that shyness and timidness creep back in. She was making steps forward, she didn't want to take too many back. Actually, she didn't want to take any back but she knew that sometimes there would be slips along the way.

His eyes seemed to focus and he smiled at her, though with a bit less strength than usual. Then, he went to asking her about her employment status. Now, Anthy looked a bit shepish and one of her hands came up to rub at the back of her neck.

"Me? A job?... Could.. could you imagine it? Especially if it involved meeting a lot of people?" She said, trying to make light of the situation.

The truth was though, she came from money in a way. And though her father worked and tried to act like the money wasn't there, it was. She could understand what it was like for him, but at the same time, it was a part of her mother. Could she really shun it? Even if her mother.....

A soft frown touched her lips without her realizing it but as soon as she noticed, she got rid of it as soon as she could.

"I've sold baked goods before.... It's... it's not a job, but it did get me a little money when I... when I was saving up for a puppy." She told him.

[Matt Davis]

Matt laughed to himself a little. She was right, she wouldn’t do great as a waitress or hostess, or anything that involved dealing with people. Bosses might scare her. She seemed to be working on it though. Maybe they’d work on that after the guitar. Dealing with more than a few people at a time.

“Selling baked goods is more of a job than what I do.” He smiled at the thought of her on the corner with a little table, an apron, and one of those poofy hats. Flour everywhere selling cookies. It fit with her. She could be a cupcake and cookie maker. “Your peanut butter cookies? You said they were good! How much would it cost to get some for myself?”

He looked up to her with a different smile. This one fuller and more genuine. “...Wait, you bought yourself a puppy? That’s...pretty cool actually.”

[Anthy Blacksmith]

When he told her that selling baked good s was more of a job than fixing things, she shook her head. Oh she didn't think so. After all, if you were to line up some of the things involved baking was kind of like fixing in a way, wasn't it? Putting things together, getting them to be in harmony with each other, doing some patch up work if things tried to crumble apart. But then again, there were a lot of differences too, so it'd be like she was grasping for straws if she tried to mentally list of any more than she already had.

At his sudden enthusiasm when he brought up her peanut butter cookies had her eyes widen briefly before she chuckled a little. At this, she was confident enough to give a decent reply.

"Oh.. I.... You don't have to buy any. I mean, we're.. we're friends, right? It wouldn't be right to make a friend buy them. I can bring you some the next time we meet up if.. if you'd like." She told him.

Anthy looked a little sheepish when Matt asked about her buying a puppy and commented about how cool it was. Oh she wished she'd done it now.

"Actually, with the puppy.... I had the money, to buy one and for all the shots and food and stuff, but I never got the chance to actually go through with it, as I was moving here before I got to and Hammel doesn't allow dogs, I don't think."

[Matt Davis]

Mmm. Cookies. Matt could taste them now. He hadn’t had fresh made baked goods in a long time, and truly there was nothing better than them being freshed. Five minutes out of the overn was perfect. Gooey and crumbly and…

“Well now I’m friggin' hungry… Yeah, I’d love if you could make some for me. That’d just be fantastic!” He leaned further back into the bed and cocked his head slightly to the side. “But, if I can, I’d like them right after they were baked? Not like… the next day. Tall order, but even if I’d have to sneak over to your dorm I might try it. You probably don’t have a stove… I think the culinary room is pretty much always open.”

At the mention of not getting the puppy, the blonde boy frowned slightly. “That’s a sad story… You gonna hold off on the money till you get out, or did you already spend it on somethin’ else?”

[Anthy Blacksmith]

Anthy giggled when he went to telling her he was hungry now. The fact that he sounded so excited had brought that giggle on too. She smiled though when he gave the request for the cookies to be fresh, thinking about when she had last baked cookies for someone. It... it had been nice. Call her domestic, but she liked the feeling of being able to cook or bake for someone. Then again, she liked doing things for people too, so there was that.

"Well, you could always wait or them while I'm baking them. We could meet up at the culinary room. Or, if you want, we could dip by now if you're hungry."

People pelasing. She was doing it again, wasn't she? She hadn't meant to, but it was just how things had shifted while she had been talking and she couldn't catch herself in time. Hopefully it didn't put him off, seeing how they had already made plans on what they wanted to do. The music and all.

There came a slight frown from Matt when she told him about the lack of puppies and he went on to telling her it was a sad story. She hadn't really thought much on it. After-all, you couldn't always get what you wanted.

<Anyways, it'd be sadder to have a blind puppy than no puppy at all.>

Anthy bit her tongue quite literally to keep from telling her friend to shut up. It had almost slipped out and she was blushing furiously from how close she had come to it.

"Well, I still have the money, so I probably will do that... get a puppy once I've "graduated" from Hammel." She replied.

[Matt Davis]

Matt leaned back some into the bed and raised a brow. Cookies… right now. Hmm. That did sound tantalizing. At the same time though, he did promise her a guitar lesson. He scratched his chin as he thought.

“Well I don’t know. What do you want to do? I mean we should at least get a couple of chords out while we’re here and with the guitar, you know?” He motioned to her. “In fact, why don’t you work on strumming out the G chord while we’re at it… Just sort of get a feel for the instrument.”

He pushed off of the bed and grabbed a notebook and a pen. He scribbled down a few notes to remind him of going to the culinary room. He didn’t need a reminder to get cookies, but at the same time, it wouldn’t hurt.

“Do you have any other pets back at your house?” He asked after some time. “I’ve got this old fat hound.”

[Anthy Blacksmith]

She couldn't help but to notice that they both seemed to have passed the decision about the cookie grabbing to each other. It didn't bother her. If anything, she was a little amused. Then, he brought up that they should at least get some playing done. It was a good idea. That way, they wouldn't be standing each other up, even if it wasn't exactly a standing up.

"Sounds like a plan. We... we could get some playing done and then.... then pop by the culinary room for the cookies for an after practice snack." She agreed.

Culinary room. Now why hadn't she thought of that before? Here she was, just sneaking a turn in the kitchen when she was feeling lucky, when all this time she could have been using the culinary room instead. She really was silly sometimes.

"G chord.... g chord...... Like this, right?" She asked, having positioned her hands the way she thought was right.

"Pets?... Well, I...."

Anthy looked a little embarrassed but tried to hide it the best she could.

"The closest to a per I had was... was Melly, a cockatoo. And.... and she wasn't really my pet but more of my mother's. I... I used to enrolled in a private all-girls boarding school, you see. So, I lived at the school all semester. I... didn't live at home full on until a year before I ended up here."

She swallowed a little then strummed the guitar.

"Yeah, I think that's the right chord." Anthy said, trying to change the topic again.

[Matt Davis]

“You know, I can’t think of a better idea than that.” He said with a smile and then scratched out the note to call Anthy later. “Alright. We’ll do some practice, and then go splurge on cookies. Peanut butter… but perhaps we could make some chocolate chip ones too? My preferred cookie. Though Peanut butter is up at the top. Do we need to go buy some ingrediants?”

When she sat her fingers down to form the chord he leaned in and looked over her dainty hands. They’d need to callous up some. Though if she was tough maybe she’d be alright. He nodded his head in approval. It had been a week since he showed her, but she took to it like a natural.

After she had explained her pet situation he nodded slowly. A pet bird. He had never had a true pet bird. He had had chickens. If that counted, then he could empathize. When her finger lightly strummed across the strings he popped up and grabbed a hold of a pick.

“You could get a fish? I’ve actually been thinking about getting one myself. Like one of those fighting fish...You know, the pretty rainbow ones they have in walmart?”

[Anthy Blacksmith]

She smiled when he agreed with the idea she had spoken out, though the smile wasn't completely formed as she was distracted by thoughts she tried not to dwell on. Her eyes had even wandered to the floor for a bit before she caught herself and looked at him in time for him to request some chocolate chip cookies. Then, he was asking about the ingrediants.

"Well.... With the dry part, I get them in packages delivered here... But as far as the eggs and such.... I usually... well... kind of.... just... find them?" She told him a bit sheepishly.

"If we can find the chips, sure, I can make some... I don't just know how to bake peanut butter cookies after all. Maybe... Maybe I can mix and match some with a few of the cookies. Make some peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips, plaing peanut butter cookies... and some chocolate chip cookies." She said with more of an actual smile now.

Matt brought up her being able to get a fish and she thought it over while still listening to the rest of what he was saying.

"Oh! You mean a beta fish, I think." Anthy said while accepting the pick he had plucked out.

"Those are pretty... But, I don't know the first thing about taking care of a fish... and... I think I'd like something I could pet. Feels closer, you know?"

[Matt Davis]

Matt’s lips were practically wet with excitement as he thought about all of those different cookies. They should make like… fifty of them and eat them all in one week. Scarf them down like crazy. He sighed happily at the image, wondering if a chocolate chip peanut butter cookie would taste as delicious as a reeses peanut butter cup.

“Okay, yeah, we’re doing this… an’ if we need to get some more ingrediants or somethin’ we can just hop off and head to the local grubstop.”

When she said it was a Beta fish he sort of shrugged. “I dunno. Like I said, I thought it was called a fighting fish… but they are the ones in walmart in the little tuppa’ware… At Pets Smart too.”

He considered the petting thing. It wasn’t really fun to pet fish, that was true. Some might even jab you with a barb or something. “How about one of them little hamster things? We can have little hamsters here.”

[Anthy Blacksmith]

He seemed really excited about the cookies. Almost as excited as she usually was. Of course over the years she got better at now showing it as much even if she felt like jumping up and down like a little kid when she found out peanut butter cookies were in the near future for her. She was smiling brightly again, luckily not literally, up until she got hit by the train called shyness when he brought up them going to the local store.

Anthy was about to tell him about her hesitance when it came to leaving Hammel propertly but she waited as he went to speaking about the fish. He wasn't done quite yet though and she continued to listen as he brought up hamsters as being a possibility.

Well.... she supposed hamsters were pretty cute. Especially those dwarf ones... Those ones that looked like little balls of fur.... But it would involve going into town, wouldn't it? Hamsters weren't exactly something one could get in the mail...

"Um.... I......" She shifted a little uncomfortably before taking a breath.

"I.... kind of never leave here." She said softly while trying to stay calm so she wouldn't end up lighting the room up or something.

"This is really embarrassing.... when.... well.... that is.... In public and... I can't really control..."

"I don't know how to stop it... It... it just doesn't listen sometimes.... Actually, it doesn't listen most of the time. I wish it did, but...."

Her hair was lighting up by this point and shifting the guitar on her lap some, she tried to cover her hair with her hands.

[Matt Davis]

Matt’s face arched into a smirk when she started to shift and squirm a little. His eyes were moving around her face and taking note of all of the little subtleties that she did whens he grew nervous. There were a lot. The moving eyes, sucked in lip, shifting and such. 



When she mentioned that she -never- left his eyes opened a little wider. Never left? How could a person never leave the school? He wouldn’t have survived if he didnt get out of there at least twice a week, and she hd been here at least a year longer than he had been. He thought of a few reasons to make fun of her for it, and how to poke and prod and try and get her to go out with him. Until she continued to speak, and until she started to glow.



His eyes shifted even wider and he leaned back in his chair instinctively, as if trying to escape from beside of her though he stayed seated. Like a person watching a horror movie. The natural inclination of fear was to flee. Get the heck out of there, but....like in a movie he just sat there and watched.



She’s glowing. Why is she glowing? He thought to himself as he stared at her in confusion and loss. Anthy was his friend, and while he should have thought about it he had always hoped, internally, that she was normal. It was a large school. He had hoped that not all of the people here were mutants. He had hoped that some of them were just normal, taking classes in a risky neighborhood. Anthy was just...so... Sweet and normal and shy. Yet here she was...glowing like the frigging sun.



“I-” Matt tried to speak, but it escaped him. He had a strange look plastered on his face. The joy was gone and replaced with deep, deep confusion and a hint of sorrow. It was sorrow this time. Not fear or hate like it had been before when dealing with metas. Not even disgust, which was more common. He was simply sad that his friend had this ailment. The same ailment that he himself suffered from.



“I-...Umm....What-... What’s happening?” He asked. It was kind of clear. She was glowing like a christmas tree, but what did it mean beyond that? Anything? His eyes bounced over her hands and her hair, not meeting her eyes while he looked over her. His normal friend wasn’t normal anymore, and Matt had no idea what that’d mean.

[Anthy Blacksmith]

He was moving back, like he was afraid of her. And that just made her feel worse about what was happening, which in turn caused her to glow brighter. This was the first time anyone had ever reacted to her like this. He looked confused, and somehow hurt once he had finished leaning back in his chair. Why was he hurt? She didn't understand. Maybe because she had ended up showing him her ability rather than telling him first? Some people did get hurt feelings when something about a friend was exposed to them rather than the friend feeling comfortable enough to tell them themselves.

As he asked her what was happening, she bit her lip a bit hard as she looked down towards her knees. Maybe even in a place so full of metas, he hadn't seen anyone lose control before? She didn't know. But, that had to be it, right? Otherwise, why would he ask her what was happening?

"I.... That is..... I...."

She was so embarrassed that she was having trouble forming a proper sentence.

"This.... this happens when... when I get too nervous or... or when I'm upset.. or.... or just randomly when it wants to. I... I really don't have much control.. But you can see that... I don't mean to, really I don't..." She ended up saying.

She closed her eyes as she tried to focus on making the glowing stop, or at least keeping it from getting any worse. Her fingers curled into her hair as she tried to keep from getting more upset. It wasn't stopping. And in turn, she was feeling anxious, which in turn was keeping it from stopping. It was a vicious cycle.

[Matt Davis]

Matt sat there while she explained, and a moment longer when she had finished. He sighed out a shaky breath while he followed the glow as more strands took on the glow. Finally he moved. He didn’t even mean to, he just...did. He pushed off of the chair and moved around while siging out a low ‘Oooh’. His brain was firing off while he moved toward the opposite side of the room: To the mini fridge. He turned and sat against it, now watching her with a bit of distance.



“I-...So does it...Do anythin’ else, do ya just...glow?” His hands ran through his hair before crossing in front of him. Eyes moving around her body, still avoiding her eyes while more shaky sighs spilled out. 


[Anthy Blacksmith]

He seemed to get more bothered and got up from his seat with a sound before moving further away until he was sitting against the mini fridge on the other end of the room. Did.... did he think she was going to explode or something? Oh she hoped he didn't. But... But at the same time it kind of was like exploding in a way, wasn't it? When she flashed, that was... But she didn't think she was going to flash. Oh she hoped not. She wasn't right?

Okay, she had to calm down. Calm down, take a breath, take as many breaths as she needed actually. The less she focused on the possibility of blinding him or even worse, burning him somehow, the more danger she would be of doing just that. She gave a small swallow and closed her eyes again, having opened them earlier when she had heard the movement of him getting up from his seat.

As he asked her if anything else glowed, Anthy let her lids part once more and looked over to him with a great deal of embarrassment, and discomfort in her eyes. Embarrassment due to her lack of control and how obvious it was, and discomfort in seeing how uncomfortable he seemed right then.

"It.... it happens everywhere else..."

<Like her butt! Her butt does it a lot!>

No, she had to ignore that. Ignore it as much as she could.

"Sometimes, in... in random places... other times it's all over... and it's not just the glowing but sometimes, I flash too." She told him.

Anthy took a deep breath and sighed it out. It happened again before she finally just brought her hands down after uncurling her fingers.

"Now.... now you know why I.... why I don't feel like I can go... well, anywhere."