Take That, You Fiend!! (Amber)

[Deleted]

Oriel was standing outside the Book Knook, trying to not look like he was spying in through the large front window. After all, why would he need to be spying? It wasn't like he was worried about his best friend and how he might be doing after his recent breakup with his partner of...fuck, how long has they been together? About a year and a half, by Oriel's calendar.

Of course he wasn't just worried about Kodi. While he didn't really have the capacity to spare as much sympathy that he'd like to have at the time, Oriel was concerned about his ex as well, Gryphon. Those two idiots....what in the world were they thinking? No, this was Kodi's fault. Again. Him and his stupid...stupid....Oriel didn't even know what he was thinking this time!!

Which was why he totally wasn't standing outside of the bookstore stalking his best friend out of sheer worry. Because Oriel usually didn't have a problem figuring out Kodi's train of thought...

He stood on his toes, hopefully to peer inside further...but the displays in the window weren't making his spy game any easier. And no doubt Oriel was attracting attention from people passing by....fuck them, Oriel thought. He didn't give any damn about what they thought of him. However, after about 40 minutes of standing there, one of the other workers came out to "politely" ask him to leave. Apparently Kodi hadn't come in today anyway. Well, fuck...!

To show his appreciation for the information, Oriel turned the bottom of his shoe to the convenient trash can behind him. Whoops. He might've scared the bookstore girl. Whatever. Oriel growled and kicked it again. Hey, at least it wasn't someone's head, right?

[Amber Ignis]

Amber had been in the Book Knook for about 20 minutes before she decided on what she needed. She had this dream of filling an entire room from floor to ceiling with books, just like the library from Beauty and the Beast. Though right now she only lived in a tiny studio apartment, she figured she should start her collection now. She had settled on The Shining, her favorite Stephen King novel.

This year Amber wanted to reintroduce herself to some old positive habits in order to keep her on track with her studies, training, and treatment. It's been a long haul, but she was finally coming to terms with the fact that there was a lot about her that she couldn't change. As much as she fought it, her powers and her bipoler disorder were huge parts of her life. So instead of being angry about what she couldn't control, she decided to embrace what she could control. She had been playing her music a lot more and today she decided to start reading again. Though some of her old habits were dying hard - concerning boys and booze - she knew there were other ways to make positive change.

While she was doing her browsing, she noticed a couple of the sales clerks talking about a guy who appeared to be lerking outside. She noticed the guy from when she walked in. He was basically blocking the entrance, and she needed to ask him to move twice before he listened. What a creep, she thought. She tried to put the weird lurker out of her mind as she went to pay for her book. As she walked towards the exit, she say that the guy was getting temperamental and violent in front of one of the sales clerks.

Well that was that, Amber was walking out the door and about to physically be in the middle of this so she couldn't just walk by. She opened the door just as this jerk kicked over a trash can and trash went flying everything. The salesgirl muttered some profanity and went back inside while Amber said, "Hey asshole, I hope you're planning on cleaning that up." When Amber's temper flares up, there's just no stopping her.

[Deleted]

Oriel growled as he turned to a sudden female voice that came from behind him, and he sent a glare of daggers in her direction. Wasn’t this the bitch who insisted that he move at her command just a short while ago? (no, she asked, Oriel you’re delusional when you’re angry~) He gave her a regarding look…the decided he hated her confrontational attitude. Granted, he respected a chick(especially a hot one) who could stand her ground against him…but he was to pissed to enjoy it right now. Too much bullshit going on at once, he didn’t need another person to chastise him for having fucking emotions.

“Quite frankly, my dear,” he started, straightening himself up and strutting out his chest like a noble sycophant. “I don’t give a flying fuck.” Oriel snorted and kicked the trash can again, though not with as much force this time. “The city got workers, right? I’s just giving them something to do, alright? Help the economy and whatnot.” Right, a great excuse, but he was amused by it at least. Oriel gave the can a final kick before turning on his heels to grump away, leaving the mess right where he left it.

[Amber Ignis]

This guy had some nerve. It really made Amber's blood boil. She burned with rage. Or...wait....was she actually burning?! She looked down to see the plastic bag that was holding her book had caught a little flame.

Shit! She quickly patted out the small flame and regained control over herself. It wasn't very often that Amber lost control over her powers, but she couldn't say it didn't happen every so often. As long as her instructors didn't know, she told herself she was fine. If anyone knew about the stunt that just happened, she would have to move back on campus for sure.

After kicking the trash can again, the guy began to storm off. She hoped he didn't see her lose control. But, regardless of how unstable she felt at the moment, she was determined to make him stop and listen. She ran to get ahead of him and stopped in front of him.

She stared him dead in the eyes, but had to cock her head all the way up since he stood much taller than she was. It was sort of cute in a pathetic way how Amber thought she could stand up to this guy. "Sorry, sweetheart, but I don't think all this anger is going to help you compensate for other areas you may be...lacking." Her eyes quickly flickered downward and she was sure he'd understand the jab she just took at him.

[Deleted]

Oriel’s back was turned when the lesbian(because she looked like one) started to spontaneously combust from her uncontrolled rage. Honestly, it was a great party trick, and Oriel would have loved to see the finale(in addition to the prelude), but his concentration was on relieving his own feverous feelings that didn’t result in someone getting killed(or at least a black eye). Now the trash can? That was an inanimate object that could take some damage and a then just a little bit of money and TLC to bring back to its purpose. Oriel wasn’t interested in curbing himself any more than he already was.

Though it was usually the bitches who wouldn’t let things go that threatened to push him over the edge. Why couldn’t she just be like your standard princess and cower when a big gruff villainous Overlord like Oriel started making noise? Then he’d go off his own way, she’d be a little scared, but guaranteed unharmed, and they can all make merry and sing tra-la-las with whoever actually made them happy?

Unfortunately, it was usually the ones who lacked brains that also lacked fear and sported what they liked to claim as ‘courage’ (or balls) or whatever the fuck they called it these days. Oriel gloomed down on the much shorter person as she opened her mouth….and only proved his point. He stared at her for a good five seconds….and snorted. A half-smile formed. Another laugh came. Then back went his head as uncontrollable chortles continued to erupt from his lungs.

Oriel might thank her later. He wasn’t expecting to laugh today.

[Amber Ignis]

Amber felt a little fear as this brunette, Thor look-a-like stared down at her. This was the sort of behavior that Amber was trying to avoid. She had no idea what picking a street fight could lead to. This guy could have a knife for all she knew. But, she had her fire... Not that she'd ever want to use it to hurt someone. Unfortunately, she wasn't thinking terribly clearly.

And though she felt fear, she sensed that in a way he was surprised that she didn't back down. She may be small, but she was tough. She was internally patting herself on the back for being strong, when this guy had the nerve to start to laugh. It started slow at first and took Amber off guard, but once his chuckle turned to full belly laughter, she heated up again.

This guy thought he was a big tough guy throwing things around, but tough guys had soft spots too. She thought of punching him square in the crotch, but caught her hand before it moved. Physically attacking him wasn't going to solve any problems.

But as she tried to cool off and decide how to respond, he just keep laughing and, laughing, and laughing with his head thrown back in joy. She found herself fuming, but not burning anymore. It took everything in her not to burn.

But she was concentrating so hard on her power that she forgot to control her hand. The hand that wasn't holding the nearly scorched bag came up with force and hit him upside his head. His long hair flew upwards with the blow.

As she brought her hand back down, she thought about what she had just done. Shit.

[Deleted]

Oriel was used to people picking fights with him. And he was more than happy to oblige on most occasions. After all, 9 out of 10 times, he more than deserved the beating he was about to get. Also, 9 times out of 10, he would fight back with just as much fury. It was a good stress reliever. He wasn’t supposed to be getting into fights anymore, though. He’d promised Phoenix he’d find himself another ‘hobby’.

Fortunately, he had no intention of bringing this exchange to blows. If there was one thing Oriel didn’t do, it was hit girls. Guys could take a beating. Girls, not so much. No matter how rough and tough they are, even if they were the heavyweight champion of the world, Oriel didn’t think he could bring himself to hit or harm a girl.

Unless it was consensual, of course.

This fiery sprite was no different. Oriel would stand there and either take the beating or walk away. Or in this case, laugh away. What could he say? He found it hilarious that this tiny person was threatening him, and not very well either! What was it and people’s habit of going for dick size as the first deadly blow? A guy could have a huge dick and still be a huge dick, the two were not actually correlated. Sorry, Oriel was very secure in that area of his anatomy, hence why he found her attack on it…well, hilarious!

And so he laughed. Right up until he received a right hook from a girl half his size. His head cocked to the side from the blow and he winced slightly at the sudden pain that dulled slowly, then throbbed again. Oriel slowly raised a hand and rubbed the area of impact. “Heh….” he grunted, a tiny smirk on his lips. “That’s going to leave a lump.” Too bad, that meant he was going to have to tell Phoenix about this exchange. Eventually. He loomed down over her, cocking his head with his usual condescending arrogance. “You done?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

[Amber Ignis]

Amber had no idea what came over her. She had been progressing so well up until now. She met a couple new friends, started a new relationship…well…that was still yet to be determined, but she had good feelings about it. And now here she was hitting a random guy on the street who she had no business talking to. He was picking a fight with the store clerk not her, but she craved the drama. If she had just walked on by, the thoughts would be itching at her. She would obsess over it all night, but somehow she figured that was probably better than assaulting someone in the street.

Regardless of how she tried to talk her self down, he rage kept building. She tried to keep her exterior calm, but she doubted she was doing a very good job. She just didn’t want him to win. She thought that by the way he rubbed his head that she must have hurt him a little, but he just kept smiling. She just wanted that stupid smile off his face.

He cocked his head down at her to probably show his dominance. She couldn’t let it show, but she knew he was winning. Even if the blow hurt him, he recovered quickly. She doubted he was the kind of guy to let his emotions get the best of him. Not like Amber. Emotions fueled her and right now all she saw was red and all she felt was rage.

She returned his coy smile. “No way, honey. I’m just getting started.” She lifted her hand up slightly by her side and concentrated hard. She created a tiny little flame that she began dancing around on her fingers. She looked at in for a moment and then back up into his eyes. “You see that?” Her eyes squinted slightly. “You better be careful picking on the little guy. I may have a small bark, but I’ve got a big bite.” She spoke soft and steady still looking in his eyes. She quickly may the flame grow a bit larger before finally letting it go out.

[Deleted]

Oriel could relate to making progress, and then seeing said progress swirl straight down into a cesspool of shit in the blink of an eye, all because of a single, random utter lack of impulse control. Therapy and medication clearly didn’t absolve him of making the necessary efforts to maintain that progress himself, though he sometimes wished it did. That would make life easier.

The best Oriel could say for himself was that he was ‘getting there’ and that he was ‘working on it’, though those too often seemed like cop-outs to excuse himself for failing. That was another thing he needed to work on: how to accept stumbles in the road as minor obstacles rather than crippling failures.

This was, unfortunately, one of those moments for him. He knew better than to pick a fight. He knew better than to antagonize random people. Even if all he was doing was standing there, staring at his ‘victim’, who seemed less like a victim and more like the attacker at the moment, he knew better. But this was his game. Poke and prod to see how long it took the other person to explode. The quicker they did, the more Oriel considered himself ‘winning’. Even if they bashed his face in like that one twiddler from this past summer…at least he wasn’t the one who threw the first punch. Somehow, Oriel thought that this was an accurate description of the word ‘self-control’.

She was half his size, weighed probably nothing, and somehow she thought she could take on a brawler like Oriel. Her advantage was that she was a girl. Her disadvantage was that Oriel could take a lot of fucking damage before crying ‘uncle’.

He had to give her credit, though. She had spirit. She was feisty. Her (innefective)insults had bite to them. She was Oriel’s kind of gal, honestly. If he wasn’t exclusive(and engaged!) he’d probably be hitting on her by now(and still risking a punch to the face). It was when she had the whisping balls of flame bouncing from her fingers that he, as she’d hoped, wiped the cute smile off his face. Though it wasn’t for the reason she intended. “You’re a pyro?” he asked, a hint of surprise and disbelief in his voice. “That’s….why’s everyone else get all the cool powers?” he complained like a five year old. “That’s not fair!” How’d he get to know so many pyro-based metas anyway? Granted, he wasn’t really on good terms with some of them, but stillllllll~ “I want a cool power too!” Rather than having him run scared, her display gained his envy instead, having diffused his interest in the ‘game’.

[Amber Ignis]

Amber felt like she had a devil and angel on her shoulder. One said 'go, go, go!" While the other urged her to stop. It made sense that Amber would have two polar opposites pulling her in different directions. She was bi-polar after all, though the medication she was on calmed her intense and unprovoked mood swings and really had no effect on her day to day annoyances. Bi-polar mood swings did not come about by any changes in one's life and were completely unpredictable. So Amber couldn't really blame her outburst on her disorder.

She hit and threatened this guy because she wanted to. She craved the drama and the tension. If this had been a different situation with the same person, Amber my have tried to flirt with him. He was very attractive after all, but today his smug attitude really rubbed Amber the wrong way.

It was when she pulled out her fire that the mood changed.. And not in a way Amber expected. Instead of continuing their standoff, or cowering in fear he - started whining like a baby. He wanted her power and wished he had one like it. Somehow their stand off turned casual right before Amber's eyes. She wasn't ready to completely give up this fight, but she decided to engage his conversation. "So then, what lame power do you have?"

[Deleted]

Oriel too was plagued by unpredictable mood swings. The triggers often came out of nowhere, and he rarely ever saw them coming himself. It could be as simple as seeing a mother with her child, and he’s suddenly reminded of the fact that he’s never had a family, and he freezes as he tries to not break down. Or someone interrupting him, and no matter how happily he was conversing, suddenly the person who interrupted him is the most malicious person in the world and deserves a fist in the mouth.

In this particular situation, Oriel was about ready to murder the first person who got in his way(but since that person was a girl, he had no choice but to hold back)…and not a moment later, he was more interested in complaining about her fortune vs his misfortune in power allocations, completely forgetting about his desire to sink someone to the bottom of the lake.

It was true though. Everyone else did get better powers than him. Even Phoenix’s was more interesting, albeit he’d never want drug producing wings as a power to begin with. “Mmm….ink manip.,” he explained cautiously. Strange indeed. Usually when someone asked that question, his quick response was none other than ‘fuck you’ and an award winning glare. “…sorta,” he continued. Oriel really disliked explaining how his power worked. It was always easier to show, and…he didn’t exactly have anything convenient to pull the ink out of at the moment. “I’d demonstrate, but ain’t got nothing to do it with,” he said blandly. Oh, so sad~

[Amber Ignis]

Though she still fumed, Amber was able to see a little bit of her in this guy. The way he seamlessly transitioned from anger to slight pleasantry felt all too familiar to Amber. Though her medication mostly regulated her manic/depressive swings, she never felt in total control. Maybe he understood that better than she originally thought. She knew what it was like to feel intense and uncontrollable anger come over her. She thought that probably related closer to her ability than her illness. The sadness was the illness, the anger was her freak…ehem…meta-status. Amber was trying to get out of the habit of calling herself a freak.

The boy told her his power with a bit of hesitation. It was almost as if he was embarrassed. Amber understood that. She didn’t flaunt her power. But his actually sounded kind of cool. For someone who liked tattoos, ink manipulation could come in handy. And at least his power didn’t have the ability to kill someone. Amber wasn’t allowed to go a minute without thinking about her ability or it could be the end of someone’s life. Amber quickly dreamed of all the cool things she could do with ink manipulation. She could write secret messages to people, change tattoos, rewrite books. He just needed to use his imagination.

And when he mentioned demonstration, she had the perfect way that he could. Today she wore a pair of skinny jeans and a loose black shirt with a skull on it. With the plastic bag holding her book still in hand she lifted up her shirt to reveal the tattoo on her ribcage. Not that she wanted to change the Robert Frost poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay, which tattooed her body, but she figured he could always put it back the way it was. “Anything you can do to that?”

[Deleted]

Everyone else always thought that his power was cool…and yes, in a way it was. It’d be even cooler if Oriel had any degree of artistic inclination in order to further exercise it’s usefulness. Unfortunately, the best Oriel had been able to do was a turd-snake and a collection of balls and dicks on his fiancee’s backside while he slept. One was much appreciated, more than he would have expected. The other was not.

It did occur to him that he could have a future in the tattoo business. Of course it was at the Old Guy’s tattoo parlor that he first discovered his power in the first place….but it was that artistry thing that held him up, honestly. If not for that, he jump into it head first. Still….there were a number of other things he could do.

Messing with existing tattoos happened to be one of them. He always had issues with that though. The fear that he’d mess it up permanently and be unable to put it back exactly the way it was before. The infinity symbol on his wrist, the one he got to match with his fiancee’s, was such an example. He’d taken it off once on a rage-filled impulse and desire to be cruel…and while he did get it back on once he finally came to his senses, it wasn’t the same as it’d been before. A little crooked, the lines uneven….Oriel wished he’d thought that through a lot more before doing it.

It was because of this past incident that Oriel lacked the confidence to mess around with the tattoo on the pyro-girl’s torso, and his face fell to reflect that. “Yeah,” he said hesitantly. “Prob’ly mess it up though.” That was a warning, by the way. Oriel sucked in a slow breath and released it just as slow, raising a hand to scratch at the side of his mussy hippie hair. “I don’t know…got a book or something else? Or a fucking bulletin board flyer?” Those were always well expendable.

[Amber Ignis]

It was probably smart not to let him mess with her tattoo, she thought as she pulled her shirt back down. Weren't they just arguing a moment ago? But the fact that he declined messing with her tattoo gave him a few points in her book. He could have gotten revenge on her by ruining her tattoo, but he chose not to.

She then remembered the book she held to her hand. She pulled it out of the bag and held it out to him. "Will this work?" She didn't really care if he ruined the book. She really just wanted to see how his power worked. Amber herself was very artistic. She imagined having a power like that, she would probably become a tattoo artist and correct those horror story tattoos she always sees on the Internet.

Having a fire power couldn't really have too much practical use, unless she was stuck in a snowstorm or the middle of the woods. She wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of other pyros out there using their power for evil.

While handing the book to her enemy she realized the strangeness in the situation. "So...uhm... This is weird." Amber pointed out the obvious. Someone the two were getting along.

[Deleted]

Oriel had a special place in his heart for tattoos. They always reminded him of home, honestly. Back in NYC. So he couldn’t imagine himself deliberately wanting to ruin somebody’s piece of art like that. He did like touching them though. He could feel the texture of the ink on his fingers. It brought him some comfort whenever he touched his own promise tattoo on his wrist. It was a simple sentimental gesture.

He was glad when the fire girl produced the book instead. Those he didn’t mind ruining. Unless it was like…one of those super old, one of a kind books that he came across all of never. Then maybe he’d give a shit. “Yeah, that’ll work great!” he said with a grin, taking it from her and flipping it open to the ‘copyrights’ page. Because that was the most useless page in most books.

Oriel was about to rake his fingers across the page as he usually did when he got sick of reading whatever assignment he was supposed to be reading, when she asked…no not asked…just stated. Spoke. About the obvious. “Uh….” he uttered dumbly with an equally dumb expression to match. “Is it?” he asked. “I don’t know….seems pretty normal for me.” Definitely for him, considering how most of his relationships started. Which was…terribly. Oriel smiled like the dorky kid he was, and held his hand over the page of the book. “Alright, you watching? Feast your eyes! Ahhh!” In one fell swoop, Oriel swept the letters off the page, the lot of them collecting towards the bottom of the page in a giant pile of teeny letter shaped blocks. “Not that great,” he said with a shrug. “But can be a little fun, I guess.”